BAU Classic is in the books!

[1javelin]

Congratulations go out to Justin Hahaj and John Gibson Jr. for their stellar finish, bringing in 19 1/2 lbs of Leelanau smallies!!  I believe there were only about 5 or 6 limits brought to the scales, and they trumped 'em all, plus had big bass @ 5 1/2.  A very slow day to say the least, a lot of controversy over not enough "paid" entries for a boat to be awarded, but all in all it was very tough.  Skeeterman190 and his dad brought up 4th with 14 1/2, Mangus had 3rd with 16 or so, Brad Augustine had 2nd with 17 or so.  The trail has promised a lot of new things for next year to try and draw boats back, so we'll see how it goes.  I won't be back, but that is my decision to make.  Too much disorder at this point.  It still turned out to be a good day on the water, even if the fishing sucked horribly.

1Jav

[thedude]

ahhhhh..... that explains why it was 85 freaking degrees all weekend.

[skeeterman190]

 Yes congrats guys way to represent the southside! Im glad i put a good bag of fish in the well. after a noso spectacular practice i had my worries i just knew those fish would make a move sometime with the weather staying steady and the water temps the way they were. i finally got them to go later in the afternoon. thank you Brian McCarter and Chris from Nemesis Baits your goby put my fish in the boat this week! Im up in the air as if im gonna fish with them next year? the have promised new things and better leadership so we'll see. i think all will run better.-skeeterman-

[blackbass]

I am very unimpressed with this trail also.
this is my first and last year.  I was not informed if I made the cut
to fish the classic until sept 30. 
I didn't even know if I needed to go to the wildcard tournament
or not until a week after it happened, if it did happen, didn't
hear anything about that either.  If they were
going to give away a boat you would think you would get an email,
or flier in the mail or something saying you made the classic.
The only reason there was finally a little page added to there
website was that I emailed every address on their website
and asked what the heck was going on. and if the
orginazation went under or what.
and then the only response i got was from the webmaster and another division director that ended up trying to put together the classic last minute, just like happened last year. 
I hope their sponsors figure out what is going on and find somewhere
else to put their money. 
not to mention that Jay told my division director in the spring that the
classic would be on saginaw bay or wixom lake, which,
looking back at it was probably just a scheme to get us all to
sign up.   oh well, back to fishing top bass and nbaa like i should have
stuck with.

[dartag]

how many boats did they have.

i had wanted to fish the series but they could not get St-Clair firm on there  schedule. then they did a 2 day on a weekend i was already fishing.  i would not have wanted to spend the money to go that far north for a classic so it worked out in the end for me.

NBAA for me next year also. 

[1javelin]

40 some-odd boats.  I know I was number 42 to launch, because for the second year in a row my name was forgotten on the roster after I signed up and din't get a boat number.  Even the day of the tournament was a hassle.  An hour and a half to get the boats launched and to the starting gate for launch. Boats 21 thru the end had to stage at the church, and we didn't even start launching until 7:15 when takeoff was supposed to be 7:30.  I understand things happen, but time after time after time?

1Jav

[jgip087]

Thanks for the congrats everyone! I need to know a serious question though from everyone. Justin and I did not recieve any notification that we even made the classic, we just went because we won our division. We did not even get invited to fish the classic when others did, 50% of each division will be invited according to their tournament entry form. Did anyone else not receive any paperwork or email, phone call, etc.? Also anyone know officially how many boats pulled out after the announcement was made that the directors would not count as "Boats" because they do not pay?

[LGMOUTH]

From what I remember there were 41 paid boats with 7 director boats after all the mess I believe there were 41 boats which means 7 boats left. I cant be 100% sure but thats what I remember. And congrats again John nice catch on a tough day...

[blackbass]

The only notification I got that I made the classic was from my division director.
He 2-way'd me on september 30.  I don't know what position we finished.
I know we had 9 teams at the first tournament and we got 5th place.
and I know we go 2nd place at the second tournament, but i'm not sure how many
teams were there.  I think more than the first one. not sure though.
I know both of the division directors I talked to before i sent the email out to
everyone, were not getting calls returned from the people running this orginazation.
I think i got the ball rolling, but it was too late.  My guess is they let anyone fish that
fished two of the tournaments.  All that would have had to happen is send out a
flier with the results from each division that showed who qualified, and some details
of the classic, and they would have had enough boats.

[rustydog]

If a bunch of boats wouldn't have backed out when the fishing was tough there would have been way over the 50 boats. Who says the fishing has to be easy before you show up. If that was the case it would be called catching instead of fishing. The conditions were the same for everyone. The business end was like everything else in Michigan now, mangement found a way cheap way out and took it. My opion.

[blackbass]

How did so many boats end up at the classic?
first lets look at the rules.  to qualify you must fish both tournaments,
and the top half of each division get to go to the championship.

lets do some math.

from the website,

Div 1 had 4 teams first tournament, 2nd tourn not listed, assume all 4 fished it.  =4
Div 2 had 11 teams 1st tournament.  2nd not listed.                        =11
Div 3 11 first, 9 second, so we will use 9.                                       =9
div 4 not listed, we can use an avg of the rest of the div and guess.  =7
div 5 not listed.  same avg                                                          =7
div 6  6 teams for the 2nd tournament                                           =6
div 7 4 teams for the 2nd tournament                                            =4
div 8 6 teams for the 2nd Tourn                                                    =6
div 9 no listed, but that's my division  we had 9 teams fish                 =9
div 10 not listed, avg is                                                                =7
div 11 6 teams                                                                            =6
avg = 4+11+9+6+4+6+9+6=55/8=6.9 round up to 7 teams avg to use for ones not listed.

add all those up, = 76 teams-11 tournament directors that automatically qualify,
you've got 65 teams, divide that by two, because only the top half qualify,
and you've got 33 paid teams that could have possible qualified according to their rules.


yes i did make some assumption, some for, some against, but i'm betting i'm not off by much.

so how the heck did they get 'way over 50 boats' up there?

[TritonTR20]

so since they didn't give away the boat...what was the payout?

[jgip087]

We won $4,000 for first. $500 for big bass but that was a seperate pot we all paid into. We also put 4,200 into the pot because 42 boats stayed and we all put 100 bucks in. I do agree with blackbass though it seems almost impossible. If you look as well you had to fish both and some guys didn't, as well as some fished more than one division so you can't double qualify. The more I look back I see why everyone was so upset at the meeting and Jay couldn't produce a certificate for the boat when asked at the meeting, I like him a lot but I thought that's a law if you are claiming to give something away you have to have the certificate on hand at the event. I know lots of guys were peeed about it so I had to ask when I got home and thats how I take it. They could not have opened it up either because I talked to the other teams from our division who fished two events and they were not notified. Heck we averaged more than 6 boats and the 3rd place team was not invited either.

[jgip087]

Awesome job to Don and Greg as well! It took a ton of skill to figure out how to get 5 keeper bites that day and they had some good ones, but when do they not!

As well where did the money from the co angler entries promised go? Did it go into the pot? That would consist for a chunk of the money they gave out from throughout the season, but it would have been nice to know.

[dartag]

how much was it to fish the classic and side pots.  looked like a good pay out just no boat.

[Eric]

The tournament entry was $100/boat.

I can't speak for any of the behind the scenes stuff, because I don't know (although I have been asking a ton of questions since).  Before I left, I was told there were 59 boats who had committed.  How many left because fishing was tough before the meeting, since there was no financial commitment until then?

I think the fact that the owner basically jumped ship made for a whole lot of disorganization.  Jay did what he could, but there is only so much time.  He plans to make a go of it again next year, now that the separation is behind him.  I think it has huge potential, but not without the anglers.  Jay gets a ton of sponsoprship support, but definitely has some areas that he is weak in.  Luckily, I thik he realizes that, and is getting people in place that are better than he is at those things.  It is up to each individual to decide if they fish or not, but as long the discussions continue and things continue to move the way the seem to be going, it could be good.  We'll see.

The certificates are all on the computer.  Just need to be printed.  Just like the certificate Tad got last year, and the duplicate certificate for the wall that couldn't be redeemed last year, and the Triton Gold certificate handed out, and the DEKA battery certificates handed out, and the Garneua Baits certificates handed out......No sense printing something that will not be validiated.

I have no idea who all for sure will be involved and at what level from here forward, or how active they are on the internet, but I will do my best to answer any questions I can, or share and/or address any concerns that I can.

[rustydog]

I know things got screwed up when Bruce bailed out but when is the last time you got to fish for a 4000$ first place with a field of 40 boats? The only time I have is the BAU chanp last year. If its possible we will be back next year. If guys give it a chance it could be good. Keep a open mind and see whats going to happen.

[jgip087]

Well in the Lake Drive Bass Tour only 25 boats I believe qualify for the championship and 12,500 goes to first, so this is by far not a lot when it comes to a quality organization. Nor am I displeased with how the championship was ran, Chris did a great job and deserves a lot of credit. I say thank you for putting it together! I am not displeased however with the win, nor that we all did at least receive cash this year for placing. I feel though, that as with CATT, this championship has led to the final decline in BAU. I feel bad for how much Chris and Jay have put forth on the effort and believe the former owner to be at fault for the decline, last season there were not 50 boats at the classic and a boat was given away. The bottom line is we, as an organization of anglers, fished all year for a boat. In posts by directors, representatives of BAU, on forums, which are advertising tournaments we were promised a boat. I can quote one for example..."So I talked to Jay...Yes we have the 50% that we need and we are sticking to that and we will have a boat at the classic, and yes we will be back next year again." It does not say we will have a boat based on 50 paid entries it says "we will have a boat at the classic." It is not the fact that we won the tournament that upsets me, I am happy with $4,000 it helps a ton with college, but I am so displeased that we were lied to over and over again through posts and verbally by representatives of the organization. Just to set the record straight I believe I am expressing the view of many anglers. Rather win or lose I would feel this exact way, as do many I know who did not bring home anything.

[LGMOUTH]

 Im sure you guys already looked at this but this should clear up a few things.

Bass Anglers United is proud to announce its 2008 Tournament Trail that has been designed for the fisherman in mind. This year's Trail consists of two qualifying Tournaments in each division paying over 100% of entry fees in cash and prizes for a minimum field of 25 boats. The top 50% in each division will be invited to the Championship Challenge. Note: If necessary, the aforementioned percentage of teams invited to the Championship Challenge may be increased at the discretion of Bass Anglers United. Any changes will be at the sole discretion of Bass Anglers United and would be in consideration of the total number of boats participating throughout all of the divisions. This may be done in an effort to help ensure a minimum field of 50 boats at the Championship Challenge.

Based upon a field of 50 boats, the winners of the Championship Challenge will receive a new Triton Boat Powered by Mercury!

We will also be paying the equivalent of 2 BASS Elite Co-angler entries at the Championship Challenge.



This is the official outline of the classic off the web. This is how they got more than 50 boats. Like John said the only question I have is where was the equivalent of 2 BASS Elite Co-Angler entries....Was it added to the total payout, if so that was fine it just wasnt announced that way..

This wasnt the most organized tournament trail out there but I do think they have some potiential. We will have to wait till spring to find out how its going to turn out..

[jgip087]

I tried to call you 3 times today as well Don, so if you have caller id the 269 numbers were mine lol Our checks bounced and Justin almost had a financial nightmare because they deposited into checking and accounted for the checks so they wrote a couple checks for bills and the bank calls saying that the check bounced and to take action. The bank didn't have to but they called and told him so they cancelled their checks in time because they were being cashed tomorrow so you might want to check your account. I hope I am not making a bad name by this but you guys who won must know and check.