The BFL's are great. That is what I fished last year and had a great time. I was going to fish as a boater next year but made the mistake of moving back to MA LOL. These are one day tournaments and local weekend guys fill the fields. It is a random draw so most times as a co angler it is luck of the draw. I drew a few guys that knew the lakes and knew how to fish and a few guys I didn't even feel safe on a boat with or just had no clue what they were doing.
In one of the Guntersville T's I drew a guy with no electronics who had never been on the lake. As we are about to take off he asks me if I had ever been there before and knew where the boat lane was to get out of the creek we were in. Luckily I did and was able to point him in the right direction so we didn't DIE (running 65-70 in a minefield of stumps/rocks) and we went and fished some of my areas. Another guy I got paired up with could hardly cast and told me these tournaments were just an excuse to get out of the house and on the water which I totally understand and thats cool BUT sucks when you draw someone like that and are at their mercy.
For the evertstart series, with the higher entry fee I feel like you are getting a better qualified field of boaters who put in the time to pre fish and prepare for the T. Your odds of drawing a solid boater who will put you on fish is better. Some of the FLWTOUR pros drop down to fish these events so you can draw one of them which is cool.
Both the BFL and Everstarts are great circuits, just thought I would share my experience as food for thought. I was thinking of doing the whole northeast bfl trail but can't justify the gas money. Let me know if you do any and I would splits travel costs.
In one of the Guntersville T's I drew a guy with no electronics who had never been on the lake. As we are about to take off he asks me if I had ever been there before and knew where the boat lane was to get out of the creek we were in. Luckily I did and was able to point him in the right direction so we didn't DIE (running 65-70 in a minefield of stumps/rocks) and we went and fished some of my areas. Another guy I got paired up with could hardly cast and told me these tournaments were just an excuse to get out of the house and on the water which I totally understand and thats cool BUT sucks when you draw someone like that and are at their mercy.
For the evertstart series, with the higher entry fee I feel like you are getting a better qualified field of boaters who put in the time to pre fish and prepare for the T. Your odds of drawing a solid boater who will put you on fish is better. Some of the FLWTOUR pros drop down to fish these events so you can draw one of them which is cool.
Both the BFL and Everstarts are great circuits, just thought I would share my experience as food for thought. I was thinking of doing the whole northeast bfl trail but can't justify the gas money. Let me know if you do any and I would splits travel costs.
Thank you for response, That's awesome input. I understand slightly about luck of the draw. I fished state fish off on champ as non boater.
1st day i was paired with a guy in 17' bass boat with a small craft weather advisory. It was more like hang on than fish.hahah
I also saw the blue bomber and though wtf is that mixed in with all these bad-ass boats!
That was my 2nd day draw,hahaha
Both guys were great and i had fun. But no fish!
Id like to fish the wal mart series one at champ for 100 bux.
Then i saw 1000 islands too. These would be cool and splitting cost is even better. But i'm open for advice and direction.If one trail is slightly more but a better field I'd rather try that.
Thanks
1st day i was paired with a guy in 17' bass boat with a small craft weather advisory. It was more like hang on than fish.hahah
I also saw the blue bomber and though wtf is that mixed in with all these bad-ass boats!
That was my 2nd day draw,hahaha
Both guys were great and i had fun. But no fish!
Id like to fish the wal mart series one at champ for 100 bux.
Then i saw 1000 islands too. These would be cool and splitting cost is even better. But i'm open for advice and direction.If one trail is slightly more but a better field I'd rather try that.
Thanks
It is kinda funny that this topic came up because I was just doing research about this series. Since I am fishing in the FLW college series, and don't know any of the fisheries, I was planning on doing a couple of the BFL's as a non boater to hopefully get some spots for when I fish for my school. I'm for sure fishing the Potomac River BFL on June 1st because I have a college tournament there on the 22nd for my region and I've never fished there before. Also I am thinking about going to the Oneida tournament just for fun. Would be cool to get a few local guys to all head to one together.