2014 Michigan BASS Nation State Championship July 31 - August 2

[djkimmel]

The 2014 Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation State Championship (adult) is scheduled for August 1st and August 2nd. Meeting banquet is the evening before on July 31st.

Lake has not been set yet as several location proposals are still out.

The BASS Nation Northern Divisional is in Indiana, lake TBA though it appears it will probably be Lake Monroe in Bloomington, Indiana. Fishing days are August 13 - 15 with mandatory check-in Tuesday, August 12, 2014.

[markgoetsch]

What are the options they're thinking of for lakes?  Also why are they havjing it the same weekend as a BFL?

[djkimmel]

Lakes: the board has mentioned so many that I would have to list most of the big lakes. I thought it was about set earlier this year but it had to be changed. Then it seemed set before the last meeting but had to be changed again. I think the actual lake will come down to the best offer they get from a major lake not in the UP since they went to the UP last year. Don't quote me though! I think if I list the lakes they've discussed it might start a problem for the board that ends up not needing to happen so I'll just wait until the make their choice and announce it. It would probably end up being the one lake I don't list!

Date: I know part of the boards' date dilemma for 2014 has been that B.A.S.S. has changed the date of the 2014 Northern Divisional two, maybe three times. At one point it was scheduled for mid-July which was really going to mess Michigan up! I don't believe the board intended or wanted to schedule on any other event, but B.A.S.S. has changed a number of things for 2014 that left very few choices left for the board - maybe 3 total weekends they could have the event on. And they have to schedule the Jr State Championship on one of those weekends too - preferably a weekend they can get boats. MBN has always made it a priority to leave certain weekends to the clubs too so they avoid early season dates for the state championship most of the time.

I'm not on the board. I don't speak for the board. But I can recognize a rock and a hard place situation after hearing all the discussion on the changes they have to work around next season. The presidents get some of the story, but not all of the story.

Meetings would take 5 or 6 hours if they tried to do that (I know because they used to pick lakes at the presidents' meetings 25+ years ago and it took 6 hours just to pick 1 lake at one of those meetings way back. That was the last time they picked lakes at the presidents' meeting!! Thank goodness. I don't miss those olden days of all evening, often into the wee hours, Saturday night board meetings, only to get back up early the next morning with a headache and too little sleep to go into the presidents' meeting for another 3 to 6 hours! It always shot the entire weekend 4 times a year for the board members.

Some of this may smooth out by 2015 once B.A.S.S. is done with their changes. I would hope that's what happens. The best I can do is keep working on a longer bass season. Though I don't want to fight head-on for an obviously longer bass tournament season, I have always thought it will eventually happen due to changes in attitudes, and economical factors. I already see some of this happening. More so this year than I had expected already.

There's still lots of uncertainty about the future of the Michigan bass season, but I keep hearing good things, often from sources I expected years from now, that lead me to believe what I have thought would happen some day will actually happen (it wasn't just pipe dreams). Maybe sooner than I could have expected? Maybe not? We'll find out together anyway. Meanwhile, 2014 promises to be a little bumpy with change.

[djkimmel]

There was some discussion after the board found out these dates are the same as a BFL. No change suggested at this time. I don't know if they can change, or if they will consider it so leave it on the calendar for these dates at the moment.