PAYBACK BASS WEST feedback

[Crankinsmallies]

With capping it at 25 boats the entry fee should be more than $250.  $2500 for first, thats not much of a payout. And we have to go up to Leelanau and Portage.  I think your numbers of people showing up just went down.  You may want to reconsider the lakes like Grassmonkey suggested and change the number of boats to 50.  Just a suggestion.

[Waterfoul]

Oh I don't know... ~$2500 for first in a 25 boat tournament is pretty good money.  I mean come on... it's only 25 boats.  We've all fished tournaments that size for the chance at $500-1000 (or even less).  I wouldn't be against upping it to 50 boats though.

Higher entry cost might push some away, like me for instance... I basically live on an "average" fixed income and that has always been one of the reasons I don't fish some of the larger money tournaments.  That's one of the reasons I liked Lake Drive.  It was a good payout, reasonable entry fee circuit.  I know there are many others that feel the same way... retired teachers make up a decent percentage of the tournament anglers out there... all living on fixed retirement incomes.  I don't think Tim and Jeff are trying to be the next FLW or BASS.  At $250 per event I think I can find a partner to go in for half.  More than that, I'm not sure.

That's my $.02.

[Dan]

What 25 boat tournament around the state pays more than $2500? I don't think winning a BFL pays much more than that. Most guys that fish tournaments that average that many boats aren't in it for the money, because you are never going to get close to covering expenses. Just your boat payment alone is going to be way more that what you make in a year, and that's if you are one of the sticks that seems to dominate an area. Also most tournaments if not all are front loaded. If you don't win you barely cover your gas expenses. Without sponsors you're not going to make money fishing. Many of the Elite series pros are week to week anglers that if they don't make a top 50 cut are sleeping in their trucks.

[Braidman]

Hats off to T. Cook for trying to get this off the ground, us "westies" have needed a circuit like this for a while now. It would be great if you could draw 50 boats at  $250, at 95% that would would be a total payout of $11,875 and $625 towards plaques and your expenses.You deserve to have your expenses covered because you will have earned it! Good Luck.

[TCook]

With capping it at 25 boats the entry fee should be more than $250.  $2500 for first, that's not much of a payout. And we have to go up to Leelanau and Portage.  I think your numbers of people showing up just went down.  You may want to reconsider the lakes like Grassmonkey suggested and change the number of boats to 50.  Just a suggestion.

Trust me I want what you want and we hope to get there next year. At this point as we are just getting started in our first year we simply don't have the resources needed nor are we comfortable running large tournaments yet. We were given advice to start out small and get a feel for everything this year before moving up to 50-75 boat tournaments and we took that advice. You do not have to go to leelanau or Portage this is not a tour with a classic these are opens you can fish whichever tournaments work for you. I'm sure the numbers went down only reason those two lakes were chosen is because its capped at 25, the launches there couldn't hold 50 anyways. I do have a question for you guys, what does everyone have going on opening weekend? I checked out the more popular circuits and only tournament I see is WMPPT on Monday. I really think Leelanau would be worth the drive for you guys, it would be an even playing field during what I suspect to be the peak spawn on an amazing smallie lake.

On a side note I believe 1st place is paying 48% which is $3000 and big bass is going to be $500. Jeff will be posting the official payouts on Payback Bass facebook page soon. If you guys want too keep up to date on any information like the Payback Bass page there.

[Waterfoul]

I think the Never Enough Outdoors Al and Bob's series has an event on opening weekend.

RIO's Shootout is on Muskegon the 26th.

[TCook]

Gotcha, would june 9th work for you guys interested in the first open on leelanau?

[Crankinsmallies]

At 25 boats I would keep it on opening weekend. 

[Dan]

The Tear Drop Bass Tournament Trail has a tournament May 26. They are a smaller group and shoot for around 25 as well. They are a 100% pay back trail with six tournaments. They sell ads in a flier to get money for a Classic at the end of the six events. The tournament director gets an automatic entry into the Classic and that is his only "payback." I don't begrudge tournament directors a cut. There is a lot of work and they take on a lot of liability. I know they incorporated to help protect the tournament organizers, and they also have a insurance policy. They also have, as a rule, that you must present your personal liability boat insurance prior to the first tournament. Their schedule for the season is on teardropbass.com .
I am not fishing tournaments any more, at least for a while, but I applaud T. Cook's efforts at getting this going. The Tournament Directors do a ton of work and take a lot of grief from everyone without hearing much in terms of thank you. Good luck Tim, and I hope this works out. If I were fishing I'd be signing up. Sounds like a good time and a great pay out.

[TCook]

West side schedule is up on the Payback Bass facebook page. Stay tuned for payout charts, entry forms, and sponsor contingency programs. Here is the Payback Bass FB link:

http://www.facebook.com/?ref=tn_tnmn#!/PaybackBass

[customfishn]

You might want to check with all the other clubs, its going to be very tough this point in the game to find any open weekends on the west side with out a conflicting dates.  Everyone peees and moans about not enough boats but double stacking a tournament would only draw both tournaments numbers down.  And thats my $.02.

[Crankinsmallies]

What else is there to fish with this kind of payout? Pretty sure I and a 24 other boats will be fishing this instead of a tournament that will payout less.

[TCook]

Payback Bass Nemesis West Division flier is now available. Registration is open, message me your email address and I will send it to you.