I am a trendsetter, never done before!!

[Eric]

I got to be the first ever boater turned away form a Michigan BFL.

Even though there were less than 100 boats at Muskegon Saturday, I got sent home and was not allowed to fish. Yep, that's correct. As a boater, I was sent home and not allowed to fish. They called me up right before the partner draw, and told me that there was an odd number of boaters and I was "the odd man out." How do you like that. There goes the season. Vacation time used to fish, money spent to fish (since 1998), all out the window. Had reliable, good fish going in both White and Mona, was up pretty high in the standings, too.

I don't know what the next step is, I'm awaiting a callback from Ron Lappin. We'll see what he has to say. I'm obviously out of the regional race now, not sure if being told I can't fish means I can't go to the wildcard or not. I love FLW Outdoors!!

[PoorBoy]

thats weak man! seems to me that they could have found an 'observer' to ride with you.

Its amazing that a company would be willing to just tell you to go home, regardless of where you are in the standing, how far you have traveled, or how much money you had into the tournament ( travel expenses, hotels, tournament fees, etc). it really seems like there is something they could have done.

hope everything works out for you, but if not there is always the ABA ;D

it might not have as big of a payout as BFL, but its still fun. and if more people fished it, the payouts would be bigger. And our national event is just as big as the BFL all american, except its not free, and there isnt a ton of media but there are some great sponsor giveaways ( Triton boats gives 3 fully rigged Tr21x boats away) Lowrance, AiRRUS Rods, Pure Fishing, etc.

Last year Gerald Swindle emceed the weigh in all 3 days. I wasnt there...but i was there in 03 when Ray Scott emceed and Earl Bentz hung out all weekend. Cool guys, pretty cool feeling to have Ray Scott call out your weights as you stand on stage in front of a couple hundred observers in the bleachers.

Plus, i got about $250.00+ worth of free stuff from sponsors. And i won an Abu Garcia Torno reel. which i bartered to repay my tournament director. Free Lucky Craft lures, free berkly trilene, and power worms, lowrance and mercury hats, all star rods, etc, etc, etc... it was like halloween for the tournament angler. walk from booth to booth with your bag open and get free goodies.

PoorBoy himself

[blakstr1]

Man Eric, I am hurting for you..that is one of the sloppiest bit of tournament running i've heard of in a while. I know they call for even numbers but they could have sent somebody, anybody with you. They tend to forget we work hard to finance our tournament fishing and like you said it has been a commitment and preparation beginning back as far as '98. Somebody should come to your aid, somewhere.. Oh yeah and how did you become the odd man out??? did they draw names and were you aware of it? did they go by entry date, were you given a list of everybody's entry date? i'm very curious about this and the more i think of it the more questions i have. no one should get left behind or on the bank, usually it is a problem of too many non-boaters but your case is just plain rediculous.

good luck and please keep us updated on what happens, it is about to change my feelings toward the organization for the worse...

[MBell]

I had to drop out of that tournament due to work, but I have not been impressed with the first two. At the meeting for the second tournament the director asked that everyone register earlier, because everyone was showing up 15 minutes before the cut-off he said we could "do better". If the meeting wasn't in Monroe it would be a little easier to get too, especially in rush hour traffic. I've had good and bad experiences with flw in the past, unless they change the schedule to include some different lakes I'm not going to fish BFL's next year. If you sit down and look at the numbers a 100 boat bfl isn't really worth fishing with all of the expenses associated with the event, you better be having fun.
-Matt

[savage912]

What a rip! I can think of some new initials for B.F.L.! I would be in someone's tail about exactly how YOU came to be chosen as the guy who went home. For crying out loud, the tournament director or someone affiliated with the tournament should have rode along as your observer! What a joke. If you find out more about how it happened, i would really be intersted in more detail. As the V.P. of my club (and maybe future tournament director), I like to think I can learn from other people's bonehead mistakes in order to keep my tourmanents running smoothly. I know in the opens we run, you would have fished!!!!!

[djkimmel]

To follow up on the situation, FLW Outdoors is paying Eric’s entry into the next BFL tournament.

FLW Outdoors does not allow non-fishing observers to go out in their events because it is unfair to all the other participants who are fishing 2 to a boat.

They try very hard to have an even number of participants at each event, but we are having quite a few anglers signing up now after the entry deadline, which means the tournament director can’t do a lot about making sure enough boaters and co-anglers are at the meeting.

We also don’t have near as many co-anglers showing up at the meetings hoping to still get in as late boaters sign up. I don’t blame them for not wanting to drive all that way possibly – maybe likely – for nothing.

The keys to getting in to a BFL are to sign up before the priority deadline and sign up with a boater or co-angler to guarantee your entry. If you don’t do that, at least sign up before the entry deadline. It will save you the $25 late entry charge too and increase your odds of getting in over the boaters and co-anglers who enter at the meeting.