why not more members BASS Federation in MN?

[beeflover]

I heard on TV that MN only has about 600 BASS federation club fisherman compared to many times that many in other states of similar size?

To many other tournaments or species?

Not enough promotion for new members of Federation clubs?

[Deitz Dittrich]

Beef-I used to be a member of bass federation... I still get he mags, but do not fish any of the tounaments any more. I am a school teacher and they always have the state meet on thursday and friday of the first week of school.. which I cant justify taking off.

There are other issues, but I would rather not go into it.

[beeflover]

hi deitz, had a club get together Saturday. Stellar Bass.

There's a new State Federation deal for associate membership or something like that. I guess it's a minimal support level for the many tourney bass anglers fishing larger money tourneys and not just weekend Federation club contests.

I believe the value is related to regulatory lobbying. Best for all anglers to join forces politically and the Federation already has a pretty good effort started. There are lots of concerns about more local lake associations negative attitudes for tourneys etc.

I've been a Federation club angler for two years and its been great for advancing my bass fishing skills and enjoyment of the sport. Maybe other folks just need more info. It's a great deal for anyone with a boat or without even.

[Wayne Ek]

Beeflover: I think Deitz will agree... I learned more from club fishing than I could have picked up any where else. I fished with Sportsman and Vikings, prior to moving upto Alex. My problem with staying in a club is a time issue. Between money tournaments, quiding, doing shows for sponsors and sitting at the computer trying to finish written articles... well, something had to give. Deitz.. this would probably be a good thread for the bass site.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Wayne- I too thought about moving it to the Bass Forum.. however I think it fits well right here as well.. as the federation is all about tounaments.

I will say this... I think the federation has gone a long way to improvement in MN... I know when I was in it.. the top 6 people in each club made it to state.. well then all everybody did was have 6 person clubs.. I still think they need to reduce the size of people that make it to the state tournament.. but they have come a long way. I believe now its a % of people make it from each club. I too was a memeber of the Sportsmens bassmasters... They were an awesome club, they were about making everybody in the club better. There were no kept secrets..

However, it just got to be too much of a drive for me...

[Chris Haley]

They have changed the state TOC allocations, it is now based on the club size. There only X number of people allowed at the TOC, after the clubs are locked in they divide that number into the total state membership and that's the figure for how many people from each club go. It's usually around 1 for four members. I was president of the Bemidji chapter for a few years and I guess this year they lost their charter because they missed one too many state meetings. This was always a sore spot with me when I was in because the meetings are always in the cities. Four hour drive for us to go!! I also had a problem with the boater/nonboater thing and getting stuck in a boat with a bonehead that THOUGHT he was a good bass fisherman. Having to argue about who gets what four hours, who's boat do you use, just too much talk. Now I just fish money tournaments!!!

[Daze Off]

Having had a grand total of one-year experience in the federation and having done one state tournament, I would say that the real value is (1) a way to become a better fisherman and (2) a way to get your feet wet, in a relatively inexpensive way, in tournament bass fishing. Of course the political activism and young angler development is very good but leaving that aside.

Over-all I think the membership is low compared to other states due to the relatively low profile of bass as a target species in this walleye/panfish state - and I, for one, would like to keep it that way! <g>.

Daze Off

[Daze Off]

Sorry but had another thought as I looked at the 600 number - I would doubt it strongly because there were just over 200 anglers in the state tournament and about 30-40 in the alternate tournament so that would mean almost half of the BASS members would have been competing. I know our club sent 6 + alternate but we have around 20 guys or so and I assume that most other clubs were similar - I also realize that there are "paper" clubs that exist only to fish the state tournament too - but 600 seems kinda low....

Daze Off

[Chris Haley]

I would say that is at least 200 below what it was when I was involved. The numbers usually ran about 1-3.7/1-3.9 for the state TOC ratio.

[kpj5br]

Hey Deitz,

A guy named "Poe" in IL says hi...

[Deitz Dittrich]

Thanks KP...Brian(poe) is a great guy!