Why are all the big names from FLW moving to BASS? 2025
Fishin' Fool reply :
Just curious to what is everyone's thoughts on why the bigger names have left FLW (Wheeler, Tharp, MDJ) in the past year or 2 to join BASS? I know they don't have to take a co-angler fishing so maybe that's what it's all about but the prize money seems about the same. Maybe it's exposure on the BASS trail, because watching FLW pretty intensely over the past year you realize that Bryan Thrift is probably one of the biggest names in fishing that the average fan has never heard of. The guy is in the Top 10 of nearly every event.
A-Jay reply :
I'd say that there may be a belief that the move broadens one's overall Income Potential.
A-Jay
J Francho reply :
BASS is older and higher profile. Not sure the talent base is any different, though.
Fishin' Fool reply :
On 3/4/2017 at 2:20 AM, J Francho said:BASS is older and higher profile. Not sure the talent base is any different, though.
Not saying they aren't good fisherman but there are a lot of names that are new. You usually say Canterbury, Rose, Thrift in the Top 10 of every event. KVD is good but he doesn't finish Top 10 in every event.
fishballer06 reply :
Correct me if I'm wrong, but anyone can fish "pro" in the FLW. In order to fish pro in BASS, one must qualify through past BASS events and point accumulations. To add to that, sponsorships and payouts are better in BASS elite.
If you pay attention, a lot of these top FLW guys that have jumped (or are looking to jump) have been fishing BASS Open events in order to build up their points. Lefebre did it, Wheeler did it, Daniels did it, Scott Martin is currently doing it.
Team9nine reply :
There are a few things at play, I believe. One is that BASS has typically had more tour level tourneys per year than FLW. Another is that their sponsors tend to place a higher value on them fishing BASS. As such, sponsor contracts tend to be more lucrative for pros on the BASS side. Then there is the no co-angler part which most really like. Finally, the Classic is still "The Classic," and everyone of them growing up probably had dreams of winning it one day. It's a strong pull that even some of those guys on FLW that haven't crossed over have mentioned as being something they'd like to do one day.
On 3/4/2017 at 2:45 AM, fishballer06 said:Correct me if I'm wrong, but anyone can fish "pro" in the FLW. In order to fish pro in BASS, one must qualify through past BASS events and point accumulations. To add to that, sponsorships and payouts are better in BASS elite.
If you pay attention, a lot of these top FLW guys that have jumped (or are looking to jump) have been fishing BASS Open events in order to build up their points. Lefebre did it, Wheeler did it, Daniels did it, Scott Martin is currently doing it.
It's not quite 'anyone' as they do have a long list of priority entry status you'd have to go through to have a chance at the tour, but it's certainly more easily attained than with BASS, and not totally out of the realm of possibility. The Opens are about the only way to get into the Elites, but one could argue almost anyone could get into an Open division and with a good year (and a little luck), get an Elite invite. The big draw for many FLW guys to fish the Opens is to get the Classic berth by winning one event, not to actually make the jump to another circuit.
Fishin' Fool reply :
On 3/4/2017 at 2:45 AM, fishballer06 said:Correct me if I'm wrong, but anyone can fish "pro" in the FLW. In order to fish pro in BASS, one must qualify through past BASS events and point accumulations. To add to that, sponsorships and payouts are better in BASS elite.
If you pay attention, a lot of these top FLW guys that have jumped (or are looking to jump) have been fishing BASS Open events in order to build up their points. Lefebre did it, Wheeler did it, Daniels did it, Scott Martin is currently doing it.
You may be right but I thought you had "earn" your way through the next level down (Costa). But if you can actually just buy your way in, heck maybe I'll be a "pro" one day 
On 3/4/2017 at 2:45 AM, fishballer06 said:Correct me if I'm wrong, but anyone can fish "pro" in the FLW. In order to fish pro in BASS, one must qualify through past BASS events and point accumulations. To add to that, sponsorships and payouts are better in BASS elite.
If you pay attention, a lot of these top FLW guys that have jumped (or are looking to jump) have been fishing BASS Open events in order to build up their points. Lefebre did it, Wheeler did it, Daniels did it, Scott Martin is currently doing it.
Yah Scott Martin he's another big name too but has sucked so far this season.
Team9nine reply :
On 3/4/2017 at 3:03 AM, Fishin' Fool said:
You may be right but I thought you had "earn" your way through the next level down (Costa). But if you can actually just buy your way in, heck maybe I'll be a "pro" one day
Look at Wheeler - back then the Costas were called the Everstarts, but he completely bypassed that level and went straight to the FLW Tour after just 1 year of BFLs. It happens.
Fishin' Fool reply :
On 3/4/2017 at 3:20 AM, Team9nine said:
Look at Wheeler - back then the Costas were called the Everstarts, but he completely bypassed that level and went straight to the FLW Tour after just 1 year of BFLs. It happens.
And then kicked everyone's butt on the BASS tour a few weeks back at Cherokee Lk. The dude has talent no doubt but that win surprised me. He seems to be in his essence when it's 85 degrees out throwing a frog in heavy lily pads not when its 40 using a spinning rod.
OCdockskipper reply :
I was thinking about this last week but from a little different perspective.
It seems like the flow of really good anglers from FLW has been a bit longer, about 5 years & includes Jason Christie, Jacob Powroznic and Brent Ehler to name just a few. Heck, B.A.S.S. even had to change their definition of a rookie because guys like Powz & Ehler were winning ROY even though they had already earned hundreds of thousands of dollars fishing as a pro before joining the Elite series.
So now the Elite series has changed. Instead of a dozen or so hammers, 20 or 30 good fisherman and a balance of donaters, you now have 30 plus hammers and the donaters get bounced after 2 years. While this is making the series truly elite, it made me wonder if some of the better fisherman on the FLW tour are loving the change. They now have lesser competition for the same prize money, although as some of you have mentioned, the sponsorship money may be reversed. However, a guy like Scott Martin or Bryan Thrift can stay at FLW, cash in every event & dominate the tour, still make really good sponsorship money and not have their ego's bashed in by ending up in 37th in the Elite series AOY race.
It is kind of like poker, are you in it for the money or the challenge? If the latter, then yes, you put yourself up against the toughest competition and work your brains out to see where you end up. However, if it is a business for you, then you want to sit at a table of deep pocketed fish (pun intended). In fact, in poker, there are hundreds of great players throughout the country who many in the poker world have never heard of because these players prefer private high limit games against average players as opposed to the public bright lights of the WSOP.
frosty reply :
Can't they fish both organizations? I believe Ish Monroe does this. Why wouldn't a guy want to do that instead of limiting himself to one organization if it's possible?
flyingmonkie reply :
I know a guy that fished the Elites for several years, took a break, and is now fishing FLW. He has a young family and seemed pretty jaded by the expectations put on Elite anglers. He said he's much happier in FLW now.
So in that regard, I imagine a lot of it just comes down to personal preference. There are pros/cons to each.
CTBassin860 reply :
A lot of them fish the MLF Summit Cup too
wdp reply :
On 3/4/2017 at 10:52 AM, frosty said:Can't they fish both organizations? I believe Ish Monroe does this. Why wouldn't a guy want to do that instead of limiting himself to one organization if it's possible?
I think fishing both the Elites & FLW is probably too much for most anglers. Gotta figure they're never home which would be tough if you have a family & kids.
I think Hackney was doing it for a couple of seasons too, but I don't think he has recently. Might've been too demanding to fish both.
frosty reply :
On 3/4/2017 at 1:26 PM, wdp said:I think fishing both the Elites & FLW is probably too much for most anglers. Gotta figure they're never home which would be tough if you have a family & kids.
I think Hackney was doing it for a couple of seasons too, but I don't think he has recently. Might've been too demanding to fish both.
True, but if a guy was single, man that would be the life 
RichF reply :
I think a few of those crossover FLW guys have said the talent level is quite a bit higher in the elites. That makes a lot of sense to me since, like already stated, you always see the same half dozen FLW guys in the top 10 every event.
wdp reply :
On 3/4/2017 at 7:56 PM, frosty said:True, but if a guy was single, man that would be the life
Definitely. Ooh to be young & single again. Maybe getting fresh outta college with a marketing degree & having fished the college series. Yeah.... I'd def fish em both. Lol.
Team9nine reply :
If you look at the schedules over the years, you'll see a period of time where the two sides played nice together, and many of the biggest names in the sport at the time fished both. However, the "feud" escalated, and at least one schedule conflict or more has pretty much killed the idea of the "2 Tour" pro these days. Been many years since it last happened, but Ish and Steve Kennedy were both big fans of doing them all along with a handful of others. Any more, I don't think the two sides even try to avoid the schedule conflicts.
RoLo reply :
In the grand scheme of things, the anglers and the tours simply "follow-the-money" (Where is ESPN?).
During the Jay Yelas era, the paradigm shift was from BASS to FLW, but now we're witnessing a trend reversal.
Many things enter into the financial matrix, it begins with the 'payout' (bottom line), but also includes
the 'field of competition', 'qualification', 'off-limit periods' and of late 'hostile scheduling'.
It now appears like a food fight to the death, and that being the case there will only be one survivor.
Roger
Mike L reply :
I asked my pro that very question at last weeks Elite tournament on Okeechobee and he said..
"FLW anybody can pay to play, here you have to qualify, you make it here you're doing something"
Mike
Fishin' Fool reply :
On 3/5/2017 at 3:03 AM, Mike L said:I asked my pro that very question at last weeks Elite tournament on Okeechobee and he said..
"FLW anybody can pay to play, here you have to qualify, you make it here you're doing something"
Mike
Were you a Marshall?
Mike L reply :
On 3/5/2017 at 5:23 AM, Fishin' Fool said:
Were you a Marshall?
Yep
First time..Another check off my bucket list ?
Mike
Fishin' Fool reply :
On 3/5/2017 at 6:49 AM, Mike L said:
Yep
First time..Another check off my bucket list ?
Mike
They are coming to St. Clair this year. I thought about doing that.
Mike L reply :
You really should if you can.
Its not cheap but worth the chance to ride, listen and learn. And not only in the boat.
Just walking around and talking to all the Pro's before, and after their meeting, sitting with them at thier dinner and walking around the parking lot in the evening, really was the highlight for me.
I'd advise anyone to do it just once if you can.
Mike
imagine29028 reply :
Following up on this....don't you need to qualify from the Costa Series into the FLW?
Also one thing I've always wondered...once you make the elites can you drop off, by not earning enough points? What are the specific cutoffs for this? Is it just points, or just over a time period? Is this also why a lot of the Elite guys still fish the Opens?
12poundbass reply :
On 7/20/2017 at 12:19 AM, imagine29028 said:Following up on this....don't you need to qualify from the Costa Series into the FLW?
Also one thing I've always wondered...once you make the elites can you drop off, by not earning enough points? What are the specific cutoffs for this? Is it just points, or just over a time period? Is this also why a lot of the Elite guys still fish the Opens?
I don't know the exact number but it's around the bottom 5-10 get bumped out. If I remember correctly Chas Pipkins was one who was bumped out because of points, but requalified in the opens. Then there's guys like Nate Wellman who drop out for personal reasons and others for financial reasons (it's extremely expensive). So there's a steady flow of guys coming in and going out.
fishballer06 reply :
On 7/20/2017 at 12:19 AM, imagine29028 said:Is this also why a lot of the Elite guys still fish the Opens?
A few reasons why some of the pro's fish the opens.
1. Cheap(er) entry fee
2. Chance to win some decent money
3. Good practice because most of the open events are held on lakes that host Elite events
4. They're regional, and some pro's who live local to certain lakes may feel that they have a home water advantage
5. If they win, they qualify for the Classic
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