Didn't we have this same talk last summer? I was talking about a regional at Detroit river and sending 12 anglers to the ALL-AMERICAN from the MI division? Whatever?
eastside/westside FLW does not care? I said if the BFL had a REGIONAL EVENT AT THE DETROIT RIVER in Oct. fishing for a NEW truck and boat. They would draw 150+ boats at every tournament. PERIOD!!
Skeeterman and ebond said no problem fishing against locals at Ft. Madison. Now I hear people talking about how 5 locals are going to the ALL-AMERICAN fishing their home water?
FISHING THE DETROIT RIVER 3 or 4x's?
BASS TIP: Put 3 gallons of gas in boat and never leave the Trenton channel? Can you say retreads!
To anyone that cares I have been calling it the "smallmouth division" for the past 3 yrs!
I perdict the Burt/mullet bfl will draw less than 100 boats? sad but true? no state fish off on Sunday, 22 1/2 lbs to cash a check, and Chad pipens going for 3 in a row??? hello MUSKEGON!!
Shouldn't the Michigan BFL represent Michigan? Right now it only represents one small portion of Michigan and it is very confusing as to why the schedule is the way it is - HELLO MUSKEGON IS DEAD ON!!!! Look at the data and it is easy to correlate the draw to the schedule, when you only represent a particular demographic you will only get that particular demographic to participate. Go to the FLW Home Page and it is very clear that when the Michigan BFL represents Michigan numbers are great.
1995 - 3 West/East - almost 200 (190 on the Grand is a pretty good indicator that the West Side will support a true Michigan BFL)
1996 - 2 West/4 East - the West Side Phase out begins and numbers are still decent (195 on the Detroit River where a guy from GRAND HAVEN won with another west side guy in the top 5)
1999 - 1 West/5 East - still a glimmer of hope for the west side with 1 tourney on the Grand and the draw is still pretty good (206 the 1st tourney)
2000 - 0 West/5 East - PHASE OUT IS COMPLETE & NUMBERS ALMOST CUT IN HALF (116 1st event, and a whopping 68 at 2nd tourney) Maybe it's just a coincedence? Probably not.
2001 - 1 West/4 East - Alienation of 1/2 of the Michigan angler demographic is almost complete (Granted it was the 1st event of 2001 but the GRAND RIVER drew better than St. Clair twice and the Detroit River twice - I'd say the theory of the West Side not supporting the BFL is no longer viable!)
Fast forward to 2009 and the Michigan BFL only hits the 100 mark ONCE and has a tournament in Ohio - which if my geography is right isn't part of Michigan. 2010 schedule is already set but when they do the 2011 schedule hopefully we can have a Michigan BFL that represents Michigan again so we can see 150+ boat draws. I'm crossing my fingers!!!!