The end of the FLW?

[DTro]

I guess all good things must come to an end:

From Ted Takasaki just minutes ago:

We just finished up the rules meeting a bit ago. We received some major news tonight. FLW will no longer run walleye tournaments in the future. A new organization headed by Ranger will run profesional walleye tournaments in 2013.

[harvey lee]

Seems these tourny deals change alot.

[hnd]

i think it will be better. flw was real restrictive sponsor wise. i think this opens alot of doors.

[hanson]

Was kind of bittersweet watching Danny Plautz hoist that Championship trophy this weekend on FLW Live knowing no walleye angler will ever do that again, unless the FLW jumps back in at some point in the future. This was pretty cool as I got to fish with Danny on Lake Oahe this year... he almost won that one too!

The FLW was a bit difficult with promoting sponsors that conflicted with their sponsors, but if I recall correctly a long time ago when the tourney industry was rocking and rolling, you almost had to fish out of a Ranger to fish the FLW. The RCL was Ranger Crestliner Lund by invitation only, wasn't it? Thats when they fished for $400,000.

Anyway... I'm excited for the new tour (Cabela's National Walleye Tour) and we'll see what happens. As a co-angler, I'm still glad there is a venue to play in. I'd fish AIM as well but there is no financial incentive to fish it as a co... least with FLW and the NWT, you can win some pretty nice money and cover expenses. Even as a co-angler, those expenses add up.

[JohnMickish]

Please keep in mind that the FLW IS NOT GONE. They are just no longer going to have a Walleye division. A few years ago they cut the Walleye League as well as the Redfish division too. They are going to concentrate on Bass fishing which is the most popular fishing in the USA anyways.

I had a good talk with Sharon Reynolds at the bar Friday night and she gave me the lowdown on what brought all of this around. We won't go into details here but one of the Walleye sponsors failed to live up to it's end of the agreement and failed to pay. Irwin Jacobs (who owns the FLW outright) is not the kind of man to run any business at a loss, and it's a business, so the Walleye side got cut.

Long live the FLW but bring on the NWT!

[hanson]

We won't go into details here but one of the Walleye sponsors failed to live up to it's end of the agreement and failed to pay.

I was thinking more along the lines of a couple of their big sponsors not renewing for next year... particularly the National Guard and the political mess that happened this year with military sponsorship of sporting events & athletes.

Oh well... nothing in life is certain and thats certainly been the case in the tournament walleye world the last 5 years.

[JohnMickish]

Chris, it was a very interesting conversation. Alan Gray was there, as was Krista from Evinrude. I'll tell you about it over some chicken wings.

[hanson]

Chris, it was a very interesting conversation. Alan Gray was there, as was Krista from Evinrude. I'll tell you about it over some chicken wings.

Sounds good! I owe you some money too!