Ranger owners tournament change

[Pkleppert]

FYI.  This is the best opportunity to qualify for the FLW Championship, $200 per team and a one day tournament. There will also be a drawing at each tournament for a fully rigged Z20.

PK


Ranger relaxes regs 2/15/2007
In response to requests from Ranger owners nationwide, Ranger Boats has opted to open its Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series events to all anglers. The move will accommodate Ranger owners wishing to fish the team-format events with friends and family members who are not Ranger owners.

The original rules for the series, which will qualify eight anglers to compete in the Forrest Wood Cup, stated that both teammates had to be Ranger owners. This limited anglers in their choices of partners. The revised rules require only team boaters to be registered Ranger owners.

Teams must compete out of a Ranger boat, however, and cannot wear any other boat manufacturer?s apparel during competition or weigh-ins.

Boaters now may also substitute partners in the case of schedule conflicts as long as FLW Outdoors is advised of the substitution prior to each tournament?s registration meeting.

Kerr Lake in Henderson, N.C., will host the first series event April 13-14, and Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, Mo., will host the second tournament May 11-12. The entry fee is $200 per team, per event.

Teams can register by calling FLW Outdoors at (270) 252-1000. Anglers who have fished the FLW Tour, FLW Series, Bassmaster Elite Series or Bassmaster Classic as a pro in 2006 or 2007 are ineligible.

Each tournament offers a payback through 100th place and a top prize of a $10,000 Ranger purchase certificate, plus a berth in the Forrest Wood Cup. Second-place finishers receive a $7,500 purchase certificate and a Cup berth. In both cases, the team boater will advance to the Cup as a pro, and the boater?s partner will advance as a co-angler.

Ranger will cover all travel expenses for both qualifiers to compete in the Cup and will supply all qualifiers with apparel to be worn during the event.

[BigSmallie]

Thanks for clearing this up Pat.   Looks very inviting!

BS 

[gothooked]

I don't like changing the rules in the late hours, I think it stinks. They should have left it like it was this year and if there were going to be changes do it  the next year. I'm sure Ranger owners could have found a partner w/a ranger that didn't want to fish as a boater, I did. Must not of filled the field as fast as they thought huh.

[plumley]

this is the message I sent to Ranger!

I'm confused, it was the Ranger Owners Tourneyment, now what is it? It
was 8 Ranger owners going to the big game, it could be 4 non-owners
going to the big game on the non-boater side, all sponsered by my
purchace of a Ranger boat. it was one lucky Ranger owner was going to
win a new Ranger boat, now it could be one lucky non-Ranger boat owner
winning a new Ranger boat. I can appreciate the costly endever you are
doing, but to give it the name Ranger Owners event, ok I and my wife
were looking forward to competing against other Ranger family members.
Now I have spent money on entry fees, money on hotel rooms, and
scheduled time to come to a Ranger family event, to fish against
non-Ranger boat owners. so what is it now, a marketing event instead of
a Ranger family event?

[OUTLAW]

this is the message I sent to Ranger!

I'm confused, it was the Ranger Owners Tournament, now what is it? It
was 8 Ranger owners going to the big game, it could be 4 non-owners
going to the big game on the non-boater side, all sponsored by my
purchase of a Ranger boat. it was one lucky Ranger owner was going to
win a new Ranger boat, now it could be one lucky non-Ranger boat owner
winning a new Ranger boat. I can appreciate the costly endever you are
doing, but to give it the name Ranger Owners event, OK I and my wife
were looking forward to competing against other Ranger family members.
Now I have spent money on entry fees, money on hotel rooms, and
scheduled time to come to a Ranger family event, to fish against
non-Ranger boat owners. so what is it now, a marketing event instead of
a Ranger family event?

Very well said I agree totally, If you want to fish it buy a Ranger. If you don't go fish the Skeeter tournament, Triton, champion or Bass Cat tournament.

[gothooked]

 >:(There's another issue I'd like to clear up. My buddies co do not fish national tourneys so he had no use of signing up for Ranger Cup but he did to fish this event, should he be refunded his ranger cup money? because the non-Ranger owners don't have to have a ranger cup membership. I'd like to see what's next in March. Sorry Pat I know it's not your decision  but I'm not feeling this change in the rules.
James

[djkimmel]

I do not know for all other boat manufacturers, but the ones I do know about only require one person - usually the boat driver - to be the boat brand owner. I have always seen people fishing the various marina and boat-brand events who I know personally do not own the boat brand for the event they are fishing in. So it looks to me like this part just matches what other boat owner tournaments are doing.

Maybe some of the boat-brands require both anglers to own that brand, but not the ones I have seen in and around Michigan.

It's similar to my situation when last year several members asked to fish the DK Open with family members instead of other forum members. I said it was ok because the majority seemed to be okay with it. It looks like a lot of Ranger owners want to fish with their family member or regular fishing partner too.

[djkimmel]

I can appreciate the costly endever you are
doing, but to give it the name Ranger Owners event, ok I and my wife
were looking forward to competing against other Ranger family members.
Now I have spent money on entry fees, money on hotel rooms, and
scheduled time to come to a Ranger family event, to fish against
non-Ranger boat owners. so what is it now, a marketing event instead of
a Ranger family event?

I thought that the original rules stated both anglers had to be Ranger Boat Owners - meaning two boats, so unless your wife owned her own boat, she couldn't fish with you and now she can. Ranger Boats and FLW Outdoors are both family and youth-oriented companies so I'm not surprised they made this change. Not too many Ranger families have more than one Ranger Boat in the family.

Without going back and reading the rules, I would think it is not a huge deal if they allow other family members to fish. Since other boat companies allow your buddy to fish with you who doesn't have to own the same brand, it's not much different. I imagine this does allow many other people to fish and be happy they own a Ranger Boat for the opportunity.

It's about rewarding as many Ranger owners as possible and promoting the family and friendly attitude of the company I would think. There is a potentially big reward at the end and some aspect of promoting the brand too. There has to be. The brand has to be very successful to make the potentially huge reward possible in the first place.

[OUTLAW]

I do not know for all other boat manufacturers, but the ones I do know about only require one person - usually the boat driver - to be the boat brand owner. I have always seen people fishing the various marina and boat-brand events who I know personally do not own the boat brand for the event they are fishing in. So it looks to me like this part just matches what other boat owner tournaments are doing.

Maybe some of the boat-brands require both anglers to own that brand, but not the ones I have seen in and around Michigan.

It's similar to my situation when last year several members asked to fish the DK Open with family members instead of other forum members. I said it was ok because the majority seemed to be okay with it. It looks like a lot of Ranger owners want to fish with their family member or regular fishing partner too.

Thats true but none of them give you a chance to fish the FLW chapionship, or anything close to that.

[djkimmel]

I do understand why that is going to affect things differently for some people. Makes it a challenging situation for all concerned.

[yukonjack2]

It seems to me it wasn't really a family decision - they had in the original rules that a family member could fish from the back seat if they lived in the same household.  I would think there was alot of flack on the partner having to be a ranger owner, rather than the usual tournament partner that opened up the entry requirements. 

Jack

[silverminnow]

Jack, are you going to fish either of these events and if so with whom?  Also, are you wanting to do something with that drive of yours in the Spring?  Give me a call this week if you have a chance.

One more thing,  It looks like the Ranger co. is giving out purchase vouchers for the winners  in the amounts of 10,000.00 and 7500.00 to the winners.  Maybe they also figured that a lot of Ranger owners aren't in the  positions to or even want to purchase new boats this year.  This is a good way to give a non-Ranger owner an incentive to buy a Ranger boat when they may not have even considered it before.  Also a way of exposing non-Ranger boat owners to their product first hand with all of the latest and greatest.  At the end of  the day we all know it is about selling boats and making money or they would not be able to even have the FLW or the Ranger cup. 

Sad but true, it is always about the bottom line. It has to be in order to survive. Talk to you soon.

COME ON SPRING!!!!!

[plumley]

This is how it worked for me. I had let my owners membership lapse, no  problem send some money. Yes my wife could be my partner (lives with me), my membership in FLW is good to 2010, ok, THEY GAVE HER A FREE 6 MONTHS MEMBERSHIP, now she also gets a magazine. We chose the Table Rock event to visit new areas. We know someone else will win, what the heck, some always wins. Now it seems the rules have changed to allow non-ranger non-boaters that may have good intelegence of that body of water to fish alongside the boat owner, this opens the event up to cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct. Do I object, yes on the intent. It was a family event, now it's a tournyment with very big prizes. Do you think with the stakes available that cheating will not happen, what do they have to lose $200. IMHO

[djkimmel]

Maybe a few people will try to get a local expert. I think most just want to fish with their regular fishing buddy. There really aren't a lot of anglers who are lucky to have their spouse/significant other fish with them.

As far as cheating, it is inherent in any team tournament that cheating has a higher potential. I prefer to fish draw/pro-am events partly for that reason. I know there are some bad eggs out there, but I also know that a well-run event with good rules and anglers who are willing to protest rule violations make cheating much less likely to occur.

You can do good down there if you concentrate on what the biggest bass should be thinking about - spawning probably, and just ignore all the other possibilities. It's a good, but all your (good eggs in one basket kind of event. Go for broke, and good luck!

[OUTLAW]

This is how it worked for me. I had let my owners membership lapse, no  problem send some money. Yes my wife could be my partner (lives with me), my membership in FLW is good to 2010, ok, THEY GAVE HER A FREE 6 MONTHS MEMBERSHIP, now she also gets a magazine. We chose the Table Rock event to visit new areas. We know someone else will win, what the heck, some always wins. Now it seems the rules have changed to allow non-ranger non-boaters that may have good intelegence of that body of water to fish alongside the boat owner, this opens the event up to cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct. Do I object, yes on the intent. It was a family event, now it's a tournyment with very big prizes. Do you think with the stakes available that cheating will not happen, what do they have to lose $200. IMHO

I think it would be easyer to cheat with a family member than with a fishin buddy or a guy you just hooked up with for that tournament.

[plumley]

Well Kieth called and talked to me. Seems that southern draw always sooths me a little. His explaniation was lack of participation as metioned in another post. Well he did set the record on a couple of things. The boat draw goes to a team not to front or rear of boat. The first and second place certificate goes to the team, not sure who gets the 1099 probably the boater (that's $2800 in taxes), Keith did offer to refund my entry and Ranger Owners fee, (nice of him). The wife and I will be at the Table Rock Lake event.. I reserve final judgement for after the event. Heck of a program..

[thomas]

Gentlemen,

Do you have to be the original owner of the Ranger Bass Boat? And how new doe's the boat have to be? I have a 1994 Ranger and I'm the second owner. Or is this tournament for only people that can afford the $50,000 rig.

thomas

[djkimmel]

"Kerr Lake in Henderson, N.C., will host the first tournament April 13-14, and Table Rock Lake in Kimberling City, Mo., will host the second tournament May 11-12. The events feature a team format and are open to all Ranger boat owners that are 2007 Ranger Owners Group members, except for those who have fished the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series or Bassmaster Elite Series as a pro in 2006 or 2007. The entry fee is $200 per team, per event, and entries may be made by calling FLW Outdoors at (270) 252-1000 starting at 8 a.m. Central time Dec. 12.

The rules require only team boaters to be registered Ranger owners. Each boater?s partner does not have to be a Ranger owner. Teams must compete out of a Ranger Boat, however, and cannot wear any other boat manufacturer?s apparel during competition extending through weigh-in."

Ranger Owners Tournament web site

To join 2007 Ranger Owners Group, you just need to own a Ranger Boat.

Ranger Owners Tournaments on Ranger Boats

[thomas]

Thank you.

Well I'm a ranger owner, anyone with a newer Ranger interested in a back seater? I'm 63 yrs of age, but the fish don't know that. I would like to fish some new waters. tkvalead@yahoo.com
I'm a pretty good netter.

thomas

[djkimmel]

thomas, I'll get you that TBF info this weekend too. Just behind on everything right now, but starting to make some gains.