Big $$!!! tournament

[grab the net]

Anybody put a deposit down for the $100,000 Super Slam series yet. 5K per team, for the season. 1st place pays 50K with a full field of 120 boats. Nothing I would consider, not enough time or talent to fish at that level. I know it will be tempting for some guys, a chance to see how you stack up, handle the pressure with big money on the line. One win your set for the season. Payouts down to 10th, $1,000. Hope it gets off the ground for a year or so. Would be fun to go watch a weigh in with that much money on the line. I read about it on Classic Bass.

[Pherris]

I am planning of fishing it. Deposit will be mailed next week. Hope it goes looks like fun and a chance for big $$$$$.

[bassNspear]

that would be a great time, if you had the money.

[MNBassGuy]

I'm not so sure about that circuit. The first place payout is nice, but there needs to be 120 boats for the $50,000 pay out. I don't like the payout structure at all really. You need to finish tenth to get your money back for the event.

Seems to me like they could pay first place a bit less and pay out another 5-10spots. That would make it look a lot more attractive in my opinion.

[Central Bassman]

I agree with MNBassGuy, I haven’t look at the schedule but i don’t think they will get 120 boats for the amount of money. I just don’t see it!!! Maybe if there was something work out with FLW or BASS to go to a national event the maybe.

[primetime49]

It looks like a big jump for anglers trying to get chance at $$$$$

I hope it gets the 70 some minumum anler teams needed by cutoff date.

If the 70 teams are not found than other tournaments can get to the DNR and hopefully hold tournaments on newly opened dates

I hope that when the DNR gives prmission to hold tournaments for so many dates they have for sure applications that actually are having tournaments.

As a tournament director its sometimes hard to jocky dates around in such a short season.

But like I said I hope they get at least the 70 teams minumum and more so this takes off.

Its a big challenge

[Prairiefire]

It sounds like a neat deal to me. I've already committed to other tournaments this year, but if it's around next year I will fish it (depending on the lakes). There is a comment on classic bass that they have had a great response and are looking to add an October event.

[Smallie]

Intreiging absolutley, however the Silverado is the for sure thing with the sponsors to back it up with this said I think the Silverado will continue to be the #1 circuit as far as MN tournaments go.

I sent in again for the Silverado & I know that the circuit already has 12 new pros signed in for the 08 season. This Super Slam series are conflicting dates with the Silverado.

I hope the new series can get some feet under it but I also believe that as far as a team format there are many more question marks raised for me.

[MNBassGuy]

I agree that the Silverado is the best circuit in the state, I'm looking forward to my first year this coming season (as an AM for now, and assuming I get in). My Fishers of Men partner was Am angler of the year this past year, so maybe he can rub some of that good luck on me!

Denny's circuit is really starting to ramp up as well. I know at one point last year they changed the name on Clasic Bass from "Super 30" to "Nissan Titan Tour". They are going to have a no entry Tournament of Champions for the top eight Titan finishers and the top two Wednesday Night finishers this year, with a pretty big cash prize. They are also going to televise some of the events as well. Talk about great sponsorship representation!

I'm not sure why the Super Slam wouldn't check the dates for Silverado, or any other major circuit for that matter.

*rant alert*

It always amazes me that some of the major tournaments have so many conflicts. I know that there are only so many weekends in the season, but you'd think some of the directors would cross-refence with each other. I'm disappointed to find out that I will miss two of the five FOM tourneys due to Silverado conflicts, one of which is Waconia (one of my personal favorite lakes). Qualifying for the Regional FOM Championship was a really great experience this past year, but with a requirement to fish in at least three FOM tourneys to qualify it really puts a lot of pressure on the three I can fish, and on top of that even if I do qualify there's a good chance that the regional will conflict with the end of the year on Silverado.

Just my two cents, for what's it's worth

[primetime49]

Bass guy

most all tournaments this year had to have applications in before cutoff date this past fall .

To pin down dates especially if you plan one or more events thruout season you have given the DNR in each application area a date and possibly a backup date '

Any weekend that is grandfathered in [having held tournaments on date for any years prior on that regular weekend that club gets date if their application is in on time.

Late applications ,and those vying for weekends not granfathered are lottery drawn,giving fair chance to all who apply.

Some lakes also only allow so many tourneys per month ,none on holiday weekends or openers.

So when you see two divisions with dates on same weekends its probaly because these are dates left available.

Ths Silverado allows its fishermen until certain date to have application in and after that new entrnats can apply if last years havent applied.I fished it 2 years ago and it was great.

The cost of fishing the Silverado is somewhat cheaper then this new tournament.

I now try to run some tournaments and can see how rules must be kept.

As far as the new mega money division I hope them the best of luck,but I alredy also have conflicts as have 2 tournament days same as theirs.

It should keep everyone a chance to get into some fishing most every time they want to enter a tournament.

We are planning on building our tournamnets into larger money ones by guaranteeing at least $6500. per date published and adding more as entry numers grow.Its seems to be working as we alredy have more entrys for this season than what actually fished last year.

Also we have a Friday,Saturday two seperate tourney format so guys can try one of these and fish somewhere else on Sunday.

Lots of tourney dates and so little time to fish,not a bad problem

[Central Bassman]

What tournaments do you run?? Midwest Sportsman??

There are way to many tournaments trails today in my opinion!!!!

[grab the net]

The number of tournament trails is a result of people not wanting or being able to afford to travel half way across the state to fish a tournament.

Mn is fortunate to have great bass fishing across the state. So with so many trails, you can take your pick, fish close to home, local lakes against local guys you know and develop a comraderie with, or strike out on the Silverado, or BASS weekend series and play with the big dogs, meet some new friends and get an education on different water you may not have fished before.

Plus all the week night leagues are a blast, low entry, low pressure, local lakes, just plain fun and a way for a guy interested in trying a tournament format to get his/her feet wet. Don't need a bass blaster, just a fishing boat, a trolling motor and a livewell.

If gas prices ever go back up again this spring, I do believe it will make the local T's even more atrractive and probably more of them.

I think it would be interesting for all of the trails in some way shape or form to have a Tournament of Champions, team of the year from each trail, square off for bragging rights. Question would be, where to hold it so no one could claim unfair advantage on home water. Maybe rotate it around from year to year. Any ideas?

[primetime49]

central bassman

I just started doing the bass thing couple of years ago

Had been helping with walleye tourneys since about 1994 and even put on sports shows[non metro]and published the Cabin Fever paper in 97 98 99.I also did some outdoor radio and land issue writing.

When our larger home area lake [green spicer]Bass restrictions lifted I felt the need to emphsize the need for respect for the bass.The reson being is I live in an area known to have Bass Assasons.Really there are people in my area that would bragging about Smallmouth throat slashing,compost for gardens etc.

.The two tourneys we are putting on in June are The Minnesota State Championships [American Cancer Society]Fundraisers.We will do two more towards late summer.

We allow teams to fish for Bass or Walleye but not both in same boat at same time.I think this is one of few times you could have fishermen going for both species without bad politics.

Last year we had pretty good first tourney with 39 boats in water for first ever tourney.Each tournament has $500.00 smallmouth ,$500.00 largemouth and $500,00 Walleye large fish guaranteed prizes .We also Guarantee $6500.00 minumum payout[CASH]at each event.The payout increases with number of boats.

Last year we had about 20 local sponsors that help to put on tournament,this year we also have non local backing.

Its fun raising moneys for good cause.Last year between tournament and fishing booth at relay for life and luminarie sales I think we gave close to $4900.00 to ACS Relay For Life Kandiyohi County.Besides the tournament I think we have roughly 35 persons involved in a Faith based 3 team group.We have done the fishing booth for several years.

[MNBassGuy]

Hey Primetime, all good info. I actually was going to fish your charity event last year, but couldn't get free for it.

My point from before was by no means meant to belittle the work that tournament directors do. I appreciate their work tremendously and definitely do not envy some of the politics that go along with it. I was considering starting my own match fishing circuit this year, but found out just how difficult the process can be.

On a separate note, can you do me a favor? Next time you hear about someone slitting the throat of a smallie in Green, or using them for mulch please either lay them down or get their name so I can do it. Dear lord those people drive me nuts! I have heard similar complaints there myself. The main beef being that smallies steal their leeches, or that they fight a nice fish in and get ticked when they see it's a smallie. I actually heard that there was an ad in the paper asking people to catch as many smallies as possible and get them out of Green Lake.

*rant alert*

Walleye fishing is not my cup of tea, but I at least respect their sport and do what I can to not destroy it. I would hope that they would have the same respect for our sport.

The other complaint is hear alot is how having bass in a lake depletes the walleye population. Really? Or could it possibly be that a majority of walleye fishermen keep everything that they catch? Why is it that lakes with little to no bass seem to have to be continually stocked by the DNR with walleye? Why did Red Lake have to be shut down for so long? I suppose that was bass too? Certainly it wasn't fishermen keeping too many fish.

Maybe the reason bass populations seem to thrive without stocking has to do with the fact that the people who intend to catch them also tend to release them, or practice selective harvest. Maybe it's because bass fishermen don't tend to go out on the lake with the intent of filling their livewell, and subsequently, their freezers.

My sincere hope is that the people who live on and around Green Lake understand that they have an absolute gem in their backyard. They have access to one of the absolutely best smallmouth bass fisheries in the state and maybe the region.

...and kudos to you Primetime for trying to raise that awareness!

[bassNspear]

Jason, your alright.

You bring up alot of great information. There is alot of circuts out there, to many in my opinon.

I fished Big Bass Bonaza last year with a buddy from back home. It was the first year that we fished it together. Doug P and the boys that run that dont screw around. They do it right, and they make sure that everyone is happy after the tournaments. The money is there, and you dont have to run all over the place.

TO me, there is alot more people out there that are trying to start stuff up, and i believe that is why the DNR changed that rule last year to take care of the smaller ones that really dont need to be there. Fish with the big guys, and get out and learn more. Your not going to get any better, if your fishing against the same 5 boats over and over again all year.

[Central Bassman]

Quote:

---

Fish with the big guys, and get out and learn more. Your not going to get any better, if your fishing against the same 5 boats over and over again all year.

---

Well said!!!

[primetime49]

Fish with the big guys-thats why I started Bass fishing again

I wanted to fish around Ted Capra Or Liefermann etc.or even with or against them

I did get paired with Doug two years ago for Silverado on Minnetoka and we didnt have time to discuss his tournaments as he fished hard and am sure he puts the same thoughts into running tourneys[last year I think they filled out number of boats at each event].I wasnt much of a team member that day as didnt get my first bass until last half hour and that was too small.

Now its fun to have bass fishing in our home town and see all you guys come around and enjoy it

I do get in the faces of slashers etc and actually enjoy it,I do attend the Waalleye meetings and even belong to a couple walleye based clubs and offer a different point of view[yes we have other multi species members also.

One possible stopping view is we could all start eating Walleye we catch when drop shotting for bass,but its not happening catch and release is same for all species,we are in it for sport and competition.

Its like Agape said last year when a Walleye fishermen ae boat landing in Spicer inquired about bite for silverado prefish {bass fishing would be better if you could keep walleyes off]

Sorry to get this $$$$$$ series blog off track

hope them good luck

[tritonman]

Has anyone called Brian yet to see how many people are signed up. I haven't locked my season down yet as far as what I'm going to fish. The way gas prices are I might just fish my home lake (green lake) all year. As primetime said yes we do have smallie slashers here but I think they have settled down on that. This fishery is awesome as everyone that has fished it knows and there is no way that a few people (smallie slashers) could even come close to controlling the smallie population. Besides that the largies are the ones eating the walleyes but don't tell them that.

[MNBassGuy]

Wow! I was just taking a closer look at the payouts on the Super Slam. I'm all for the tournament circuits making a little coin on the side, but WOW! These guys are going to make a fortune!

Yes, I realize there are DNR fees, etc, but here is how the entries vs. payouts works out:

120 Teams

Payout per tournament based on a

full field limited to 120 teams

1. $50,000 6. $3,000

2. $25,000 7. $2,500

3. $10,000 8. $2,000

4. $ 5,000 9. $1,500

5. $ 4,000 10. $1,000

That's a total of $104,000. Let's say the fees for the DNR and insurance is $2,000. That makes it $106,000. Subtract that from the $120,000 in entry fees and you have a profit of $14,000! And that's with no sponsor contributions!

The other thing that I sort of mentioned before, but I wanted to get a little more indepth with is the front end loading on these payouts. Essetially they are looking for the same entry fee that the Silverado asks for from their pros: $500 per angler. The top prize in the 49 boat Silverado tour this past year was $10,000. Why not cut the first prize in half, making it $25,000, and pay out another 5-10 spots? Just a thought.

The biggest challenge for this circuit though is simply this: it is a team tournament format. Think about it. The Silverado takes 49 pros and 49 ams. Do you think those pros are going to fish with their am partners in the Super Slam? Forget it! You're going to have teams of the best pros in the same boat. So in theory, if all the Silverado guys fished the Super Slam and paired up you'd have 24 boats. Now you have to find 46 more teams out side of those guys to even have an event. That's not going to be easy at $1000 per boat.

Then of course there is the deposit of $4,000! Ouch. So I'm supposed to plop down $4,000 for an unproven tournament trail that has a good chance of having a few events canceled due to lack of entries?

Of course, you add to that the conflict that they have with two Silverado events and you have a problem.

I take my hat off to the people who have the idea for this circuit, but it seems to me that they have a few things to iron out if it's going to work, starting with paying more of the entry money out!

[Central Bassman]

Great information MNBassGuy!!!

[ocf1]

For the season(based on 120 pairs):

600,000 of Entry fees

Minus 520,000 in payouts

Minus 10,000 in Entry Fees

Minus 10,000 in Resort renting costs, Weigh in equipment

Minus 2,000 in Tourney Directors costs(hotels, gas)

Equals

~58,000

Plus money from their 2 sponsors, Minnkota and Hummingbird.

SO... who wants too start a big money tourney trail with me next year?

[ocf1]

For the season(based on 70 pairs):

350,000 of Entry fees

Minus 303,165in payouts

Minus 10,000 in Tourney Fees(DNR)

Minus 10,000 in Resort renting costs, Weigh in equipment

Minus 2,000 in Tourney Directors costs(hotels, gas)

Equals

~24,000 in their profit!

Plus money from their 2 sponsors, Minnkota and Hummingbird.

[primetime49]

YOU DEFINATLY NEED GOOD SPONSORS NOT JUST FISHING TEAMS SIGNING UP TO GUARANTEE GOOD SIZED PAYOUTS.

WITHOUT THESE PAYOUT GUARANTEES 120 BOATS SEEMS TO BE A LARGE NUMBER OF OF FISHERMEN NOT PRESENTLY FISHING OTHER EVENTS THAT I DONT SEE STANDING IN LINE.

I JUST SAT HERE THINKING OF THE NUMBERS EVERYONE IS PUTTING TOGEHTER AND IT ALL JUST SEEMS LIKE 100 BOATS OR MORE IS A DREAM.

[primetime49]

I think we need to get the guys from the SUPER SLAM TO KEEP US UPDATED HERE

LATEST NEWS IS THEY HAVE DROPPED THE 70 BOAT MINUMUM TO ENSURE THAT THE EVENTS TAKE PLACE[GREAT MOVE, START WITH WHAT YOU CAN GET AND HOLD YOUR EVENTS]

I will try to e mail them to get them to post here as this is very interesting

good luck