What is up with BASS? 2024

spotaholic reply :

Anyone have any inside information on the changes to BASS. I know ESPN has axed some of the best shows on TV. I was wondering the current status of BASS. Any insider information would be great. Thanks in advance.

sirmo reply :

I knew Bass Saturdays wouldn't last long. I know they still have some shows, but nothing like the introduced to start with.

It was to good to be true, it made it what?....1 year?

BD reply :

Ok I can see if not many viewers tuned in at 11am, but from 5-11 it used to be bass saturday.

so they probably got rid of the shows, because 'no one' watched as they would put it. Well mark my words down, they'll replace it with something like cheerleading, or rugby, etc. How many fans of these sports are going to WAKE up to watch these sports, at 5am?

Fisherman are already up.

I hate to see something we love, get lumped in with other sports. ESPN2 should also be geared towards different sports, like MTV2 for music.

Anyways, I am ranting....

RIP BASS Saturdays

fish-fighting-illini reply :

This was covered somewhat a while back and I think possibly several people overr eacted as did I. I'm not sure they canned the show as much as maybe just a seasonal thing. Same goes for all the shows on OLN. They are tailoring to hunting this time of year. I did read a quote from the OLN pres though that said they were going to turn the page to be more like ESPN 2 or something along that lines. The OLN I in fact read the quote. Re the ESPN "time of year" over reaction, it is just speculation on my part

mud reply :

The way things are going right now, all fisherman that seek education would be better off contacting OLN or Versus. They seem to be more intune with what viewers want than ESPN.

cart7t reply :

It's difficult to tell but ABC/ESPN just bought into Nascar rights for a very large sum of money. I'm wondering how long the bloom stays on the Bassmaster rose now that they got hooked up with a big Kahuna.

Gatorbassman reply :

Most of you may not believe me but BASS is broke and not bringing in any money and ESPN ain't gonna stick around much longer to help out.

fishbear reply :

BASS is broke???????????????/ is FLW to much competition???

My question is this..........

Most guys who would watch those shows are out fishing on Sat. and Sun. mornings right????????? Isnt that setting the shows up for failure???

volpster31 reply :

MY DREAM WOULD BE TO HAVE A CABLE CHANNEL DEDICATED TO FISHING ONLY....IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE A MAJOR NETWORK,JUST A FISHING CHANNEL....I ALWAYS WONDER WHY IT COULDNT WORK?

carySE406 reply :

My only question is why is BASS changing everything possible? Do they think by changing their magizine, website, forum, and Bassmaster U classes that "customers" are going to subscribe more, fish more tournaments, somehow promote BASS? Many, many, many people are just ticked off at BASS and dont want to subscribe anymore, if that was that their intention thay have succeeded.

RoLo reply :

BASS is not running on all cylinders, and have only themselves to blame for whatever comes their way.

For instance, I subscribed to 1-year of Bassmaster Magazine and they tried to coerce me into BASS Insider.

I declined of course, because it's the biggest Rip-off known to the angling world.

I received two or three Bassmaster Magazines and then they stopped coming.

It's just as well, I'm not even going to pursue it...They're Fired!

Roger

Hillbilly_Hooker reply :

BASS is broke... BASS stinks.... BASS won't be around much longer... FLW is too strong for BASS....

If all of the above is true, I'm curious as to why *** is reporting that several pros that fished both FLW and BASS this year will be switching back to BASS next year. Seems truly curious to me that the pros are switching back to an organization that is broke, won't listen, keeps screwing up everything, etc.

I'm a BASS member, a state officer in BASS, and a true believer. BASS has and continues to advance the sport like no other organization in history.

Just my $0.02 worth,

Hillbilly

YankeesWin reply :

Quote

Most of you may not believe me but BASS is broke and not bringing in any money and ESPN ain't gonna stick around much longer to help out.

Based on what I saw at the Fort Worth Expo, for the Memorial Tournament... they have a lot of work to do in order to bring the people that bring the $$$ to the sport, and ESPN will not stand for it long.. that is sure.

guest reply :

Quote
My only question is why is BASS changing everything possible? Do they think by changing their magizine, website, forum, and Bassmaster U classes that "customers" are going to subscribe more, fish more tournaments, somehow promote BASS

This is a sure sign that an organization is in trouble. I think the problem with BASS is not money, but that it is run by a bunch of corporate "suits" who wouldn't know a fishing rod from a hot rod. FLW is run by Forest Wood and he obviously knows what he's doing.

I also think a major factor in the succes of FLW over BASS is the diversity of the FLW program, Redfish, walleye etc. are included as well as bass. Their appeal is much broader.

BD reply :

Quote
MY DREAM WOULD BE TO HAVE A CABLE CHANNEL DEDICATED TO FISHING ONLY....IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE A MAJOR NETWORK,JUST A FISHING CHANNEL....I ALWAYS WONDER WHY IT COULDNT WORK?

It could work, but we would ALL have to have digital cable and pay for this channel monthly............and there would have to be ALOT of us paying......

Gatorbassman reply :

Quote

If all of the above is true, I'm curious as to why *** is reporting that several pros that fished both FLW and BASS this year will be switching back to BASS next year. Seems truly curious to me that the pros are switching back to an organization that is broke, won't listen, keeps screwing up everything, etc.

I'm a BASS member, a state officer in BASS, and a true believer. BASS has and continues to advance the sport like no other organization in history.

Just my $0.02 worth,

Hillbilly

I completely understand how you are looking at it. They have done great things, but I am looking at it from a business standpoint. It stirred my interest in checking into BASS was when I let my subscription laps. I got 5 letters and two phone calls begging me to come back. I am now waiting for a knock on my door with someone standing on their knees begging me for my money.

Let's discuss a few things,

BASS has lost a large percentage of subscriptions in the last few years. For those who are Lifetime Members they have already spent your money and aren't making any more off of you. They rely on those of us who get those yearly subscriptions and that just isn't happening as much.

Although ESPN wants us to believe that they ended the deal with Citgo it's actually the other way around. I was told that Citgo pulled out due to the low ratings. That falls back on what fishbear said. Why are you having shows about fishing on a Saturday morning while your target audience is out on the lake fishing? If given the choice to go fishing or to stay home and watch a few shows about fishing. I would have a rod in my hand.

As for the pros coming back to BASS. This is the first I have heard of it. But just as an observation. The competition in the FLW has gotten extremely tough lately. They may be moving back because the competition in BASS isn't as tight as it used to be.

In my opinion, if I was a potential major or minor sponsor and BASS were to approach me for money they sure wouldn't look very appealing at this point.

I hope I am wrong. I hope bass is just in a transitional period and will come out on top. They have done great things for the sport and deserve better things to happen.

Chug Bug reply :

I quit BASS in the 90's, didn't like it then. Besides the conservation and minor lobbying issues, with websites like this available, there should be no reason for anyone to feel the need to subscribe to Bassmaster. I think some anglers seek a membership simply for it's association with "pro" anglers and tournaments. And a cool sticker and two patches to make you feel like a pro.

FIN-S-R reply :

I really want to like BASS and want to believe they are doing good things for the bass fishing community, but i'm afraid its going down hill. I speak to two BASS pros from time to time, and the general attitude I get from them is uncertainty. ESPN is seemingly trying to push this thing in the direction of more convention sports, but the logistics to consider largely dont allow for it. I mean come on, I sorry but I only attend weigh-ins where I am weighing in or as a supporter for a couple of close freinds that fish the strens. Most folks arent going to drive great distances to watch a weigh-in, and they sure arent going to pay for entry like they would for a nascar race or football game. Another thing is Bassmasters mag., its getting to be pretty low-end as far as containing really good info. Why not get "A day on the lake with...." in every issue, or more on the water help articles as opposed to the "inventing the next great lure" article, and the wasted space columns like "destinations". Out of 110 pages this issue about half are full page ads, I know something has got to pay the bills, but the in-fisherman this month has 72 pages and and probably 50 of them are full of useful info. Its kind of disenchanting to realize the reality that mabe the only way for this sport to remain media relevant is to go the FLW direction.

Chug Bug reply :

Bassmaster was as full of useless information in 1991 as it is today.

basspro05 reply :

Yeah it is sad, the company I used to aspire to be apart of someday has let me down once again. The magazine in my opinion gets worse every issue, its the same old stuff every month just restated by a different pro. I renewed my subscription this year, and received three issues and have not received another for the last two months so i have no idea what people are talking about for BASS's new look. I have attended BASS U at johnson county community college the last four years, and it has been hard to find a seat, the info was great, the pros were great, and now, they discontinue it?? I will not renew my membership unless I need it to fish some BASS affiliated tournaments in the future, my 2 cents!

L-Train reply :

I dropped my BASS membership about 3 years ago. Then this year at the Legends tournament in LR, i signed up for 3 free months (why not). About a week after that I decided to go ahead and renew my old membership and join BASS Insider. All decisions have turned out to be a mistake. I have received nothing and it is going on about 2 months now. I just emailed BASS asking them what was going on. Hopefully they have something good to say to me ...but I seriously doubt it.

guest reply :

Hey I dont fish competion, but it was those early guys like Linder,Dance and Mann that drew me to BASS. The fishermen have had the rods yanked from their hands by the suits,now comes the fallout!!!! I posted a while back when everyone and his opinon was jumping all over that Ike guy. In reality just look where ESPN took the wiegh ins Spotlights,arenas and pyrotechnics >

This may be a good thing fellas the end of the road for the corporate money fiends at ESPN Sometimes things gotta crash before they get fixed

Mr.Scott took the money and ran, who can balme him? Maybe it will start to look more like a contest of fishing skills again and not an off shot of the WWF Full ContacT Fishing ;D

sirmo reply :

The only reason I joined B.A.S.S. was because I joined a B.A.S.S. federated club.

Then the federation shake-up, my club went FLW. As did many.

I see way more people tearing B.A.S.S. stickers off, than I see them getting applied.

Looks like the Federation was right. B.A.S.S. didn't care about the grass roots, and it has and is biting them in the arse.

Good luck B.A.S.S. You need us.

dodgeguy reply :

what do you exspect from a company that signs with chavez?i will not rejoin bass unttil they get rid of citgo and get their act together.

Matt Fly reply :

Does anyone have stats showing the decline in Magazine subscriptions. I could say FLW has seen a decline also, but that is just a statement without any merit.

ESPN does not control BASS. I believe the billion dollar company, Disney owns ESPN, and BASS.

Do you think Disney is going broke?

I have heard some of the pros chatter about the amount of practice time given on the FLW tour, which is unlimited, and they don't like that. But coming back to the BASS tour is not easy.

To get to the Elite trail, they would have to qualify for it through the 2007 Opens in the North and South trail to qualify for the 2008 Elite series.

ESPN shows darts, bowling, paintball, Lacrosse, poker,and don't forget the eating contests. Just how much money is ESPN making for those shows. NOT MUCH.

Do you really think they are gonna turn their backs on fishing?

Common sense also would say Citgo has heard the rumblings, and maybe felt the grumblings at the pump and that hurts their wallet. Why not back out, its better than being dismissed as far as press goes.

But does it matter, BASS reported that Citgo would not be there next year and now Citgo "supposedly" pulled out. Who cares, begone, that is what we wanted. Now, we got what we wanted and were gonna twist it to get our licks in.

Do you think BASS Saturday has a better chance to push college football over during the afternoon and Saturday night. Or compete with college basketball.

Compared to other big sports, fishing doesn't get the ratings needed to be a prime time entry.

I personally don't have the other channels, so what ever ESPN is showing is more than I would get elsewhere. No FSN, no dish, standard cable.

FLW is so much better, when does their show air? Primetime?

What does their magazine give you that BASS' don't? Same rhetoric, just formatted different.

I don't have a crystal ball, but do know lots of guys was watching something, too many posts on older threads that says different.

We need both tours to push each other. The only way we improve fishing is pushing the envelope.

We are so lucky, that Fishermen of today have more choices to persue their DREAMS. Twenty years ago, this topic wouldn't have a home because their was only ONE.

Hookem

Matt

sirmo reply :

Disney does run the show, but that doesn't mean E.S.P.N. and B.A.S.S. get unlimited money to make bad decisions.

Chug Bug reply :

Good post mattfly. I think there are too many aspects of BASS for everyone to be on the same page as far as a thread goes. The tour, The pros, the federation, the magazine, the website, the T.V. shows, the sponsors. I don't tourney fish, nor do I belong to any local clubs, so I can't speak to the BFL, FLW, or ABA. The magazine and membership benefits sucked in 91 and they suck now. Unless you are a teenager or pre-teen, I'm not sure what demographic the television shows are aimed at. MUDDY was right when he posted about the WWE. There is a suspicious WWE aspect sneaking into the BASS associated shows. It won't be long before the pyrotechnics are bigger, and the angler in the hot seat delivers a fake slap-blow to the upper chest of whoever takes his weight. Then a crowd of pro anglers can gather on either side and pretend to hold the two combatants back. Then the weigh in microphone can be stolen by an angler with a low weight and he can use his best cookie monster inspired voice and "call out" the winner for the next tournament. I for one think the only thing that BASS has done is give a false sense of hope to thousands of kids who think they are going to be pro anglers. Just browse the "resume" section of this board for a few minutes... pathetic.

kickbasskid reply :

bass saturday is on on ESPN2 from 7-11 am.

guest reply :

Just as an fyi. you can get a subscription to bassmaster on ebay for peanuts. I have a two year subscribtion that cost me 8 bucks total. It comes faithfully every month.

Like anything on ebay you have to be careful, but mine worked out great.

PS. I like bassmaster. It is only about bass and thats all I care about.

Sam reply :

Just to clarify the statement about what Ike did at the Classic he won in Louisiana, it was ESPN that asked him to break dance for the cameras.

Ike told us this at the Virginia Bassmaster University after he won the Classic.

And yes, Bass Saturday is on ESPN2 on Saturday mornings.

It is my humble opinion (IMHO) that B.A.S.S. is in the process of reinventing itself. My only hope is that the ESPN and B.A.S.S. executives understand what we are seeking and need and not put something together to suit their "city slicker" needs and not for bass fishermen.

All we can do is stay tuned and see what happens.

BD reply :

They did the city slicker thing already sam........it's called rods and wheels.

The city lawyer and the rough military guy.........yeah the movie city slickers comes to mind.

Pa Angler reply :

I think BASS made a mistake when they went to the new Elite format and the $5,000 entry fee before all you had to be to fish a tournament was be a BASS member and pay the $1,200 fee it would be like a vacation for the weekend angler fishing alongside the pros. BASS has lost some big names to the FLW because of the change Larry Nixon for one. Bassmaster is not what it once was I have been a member since 1996 and have seen a change. BASS INSIDER has been a waste of money for me and I think a lot of members have seen that as well and the cancelation rate must be high when my current subscription is done I'm done.

BASS wanted to be more like NASCAR is ridiculous it has been the weekend angler that has brought BASS to where it was before the Elite format. Although the pros were asking for the Elite series it may have become a double edge sword.

In my opinion ESPN will spin off BASS and BASS will be in for some difficult times if it has to stand on it's own also I believe BASS already has peaked and is in decline unless they do something now to be financially solvent.

Just my .02.

Chow

Matt Fly reply :

Quote
They did the city slicker thing already sam........it's called rods and wheels.
The city lawyer and the rough military guy.........yeah the movie city slickers comes to mind.

Why does BASS get blamed for what ESPN airs? Charlie Moore sells his taped shows to ESPN, Jerry McKinnis sell his old reel to reels to ESPN and BASS gets blamed.

Since when does a kid aspiring to be a pro fishermen hurt anything. False hope??? Thats a stretch, thats like saying POP WARNER football gives kids false hope to become a pro football player, less than a percent will ever play pro.

Lots of people doomed the ELITE series before it got off the ground, and what we saw this year was some good fishing, records being broken, and go back and look at past tournament threads on here, and see just how many guys started FLW threads during the tourneys.

I believe BASS dominated all threads, and should be given credit for lots of other topics. Ish's Tora Tora tubes. Swim baits on tour. Every time BASS aired, numerous topic arose from BASS event and hardly any FLW topic came from the other "guys".

Actions speak louder than words, and BASS is still our topic of choice over FLW.

Whats up with BASS? I'd say they still got everyones attention.

I'd say that most are reading the magazine, other wise, how do you base your decision that the magazine is a rag today if you haven't looked at one or two to base your opinions on. Someone must be getting the Magazines for you to look at to base it on. Thats just funny, either you read it and spoke up, or you spoke up and don't have a clue.

Matt.

Chug Bug reply :

Quote

Quote
They did the city slicker thing already sam........it's called rods and wheels.
The city lawyer and the rough military guy.........yeah the movie city slickers comes to mind.

Why does BASS get blamed for what ESPN airs? Charlie Moore sells his taped shows to ESPN, Jerry McKinnis sell his old reel to reels to ESPN and BASS gets blamed.

Since when does a kid aspiring to be a pro fishermen hurt anything. False hope??? Thats a stretch, thats like saying POP WARNER football gives kids false hope to become a pro football player, less than a percent will ever play pro.

Lots of people doomed the ELITE series before it got off the ground, and what we saw this year was some good fishing, records being broken, and go back and look at past tournament threads on here, and see just how many guys started FLW threads during the tourneys.

I believe BASS dominated all threads, and should be given credit for lots of other topics. Ish's Tora Tora tubes. Swim baits on tour. Every time BASS aired, numerous topic arose from BASS event and hardly any FLW topic came from the other "guys".

Actions speak louder than words, and BASS is still our topic of choice over FLW.

Whats up with BASS? I'd say they still got everyones attention.

I'd say that most are reading the magazine, other wise, how do you base your decision that the magazine is a rag today if you haven't looked at one or two to base your opinions on. Someone must be getting the Magazines for you to look at to base it on. Thats just funny, either you read it and spoke up, or you spoke up and don't have a clue.

Matt.

Another good post MATTFLY. However the Pop Warner Football statement is a very poor analogy. I don't know of any kid who became obsessed with professional sports by playing little league as a youngster. What draws inner city kids to believe that they can become pro basketball players? Rap Music, and flashy, media savvy players who tout the enormous amounts of money they earn. Professional bass fishing is slowly doing the same for caucasion suburban kids. Do you really believe that the large number of kids that post on this site about how to become sponsored or believe that they will turn pro obtained this obsession from fishing a few times a week? Or did they get it from the pyrotechnics at the televised weigh-ins, the fast boats with the flashy wraps, and the shirts emblazoned with sponsor adds?

It's simple, and easy to see from a sociological standpoint.....Mike Iaconelli is to white country kids, what Allen Iverson is to black city kids.

floridabassboy reply :

I always used to love bass saturday

R.I.P

Lane reply :

We live in a ever changing world, and that includes the mega corporations in angling

like BASS, FLW, PURE FISHING, PRADCO, and the list goes on and on! But the CORE

of the tournament angling world is the individual angler. As one poster stated, "GRASSROOTS".

The pros formed the PAA (Professional Anglers Association), because THEY are the

HEART and SOUL of professional angling. I know alot of weekend anglers that do not

fish BASS or FLW, and they are able to finance their love for the sport or passion without

the big boys. Some even make a nice little profit to boot! Smaller sponsors get more bang

for their buck! They don't care what BASS or FLW is doing, or not doing.

Media is even changing! I can now watch the, "Bass Professor" on my computer whenever

I want! I can even choose what episode I want to watch, and save parts of the show that

have useful tips for future reference. It is the wave of the future.

YOU ARE WHAT MAKES THE SPORT, NOT BASS OR FLW! Maybe that is why our little business

has been around for 16 years. It is the individual angler that supports this industry! Just my

02 cents for what it's worth.

fish-fighting-illini reply :

Update,

I can't comment on the health of BASS overall but I did read in a fairly recent issue of Bassmaster magazine that one of the BASS fishing shows is the highest rated show on ESPN2. I can't picture ESPN letting BASS fail completely. If nothing else maybe it bodes well for a fishing show staying on ESPN2 ????

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