Cabela's Top Gun

[Gary]

Is anyone keeping an eye on the development of the new Cabela's Top Gun tournament? I think it has the potential of becoming a large championship event as it takes the top ranked anglers in the world from both the major tours (FLW and BASS) and pits them against each other. They use the State Farm Bassfan.com World Rankings as the guideline, which are fast becoming the standard for ranking bass fisherman in a similar fashion as golfers or tennis players. The championship takes place this week, Friday to Sunday. Check out bassfan.com for more info and maybe jot down some opinions here about the event.

Also, as a matter of interest, practice started today for the Weekend Warrior Championship on Eagle Mountain Lake, Fort Worth Texas. The event runs on Monday and Tuesday, and is the best of the weekend warrior circuits, such as BFL, the Bassmaster Series, etc. This could become a big championship event of the future, as well, for the weekend tournament anglers.

Let's hope both these events are a huge success. They will help to grow our sport and provide more opportunities for the serious pro, and the weekend tournament hobbyist alike.

Cheers!

Gary

[Pete]

Hey Gary,

I heard about it on the weekend but no great details. I heard that they were going to take the top 12 from the Citgo Bass tour and the top 12 from the FLW tour to compete in a tournament. I also heard that KVD would not be at this tournament because he already planned a family vacation before all of this was put together. I heard the organizer of this event was one of the guys on the show loudmouth bass on ESPN.?

They are saying that it depends on whether or not the market wants another circuit out there for the pros to fish in.

I personally believe that the 1 tournament for the top pros is a good idea but not another circuit. Just my opinion.

However, it will be interesting to see what happens.

Pete

[Gary]

Pete,

Yeah I agree, we don't need another circuit right now. The two big ones are busy enough fighting with each other. They need to work together to provide more opportunities for people to make a living at this sport.

But the Top Gun is a great idea I think. It's not actually the top 12 from both sides, it's actually the top 25 anglers in the world as rated by the independent State Farm World Rankings. They also take the AOY from each tour if they are not already in the top 25. Everyone gets $4000 appearance fee, an extra $1000 if they are a member of the PAA, and first place gets $100,000. Jay Kumar, one of the guys from Loudmouth Bass, is the CEO of BassFan who is putting on the event along with Cabela's.

Kevin VanDam did have prior commitments so he won't be there, as did Aaron Martens. It should still be a good event though, despite the lack of a couple marquis players. I hope it works out and becomes a true championship of ALL pro bass anglers, not just one circuit.

Gary

[Pete]

I like the idea of the ranking system but the one thing that I would like to see instead of them using that ranking system is taking the best from BASS and the best from FLW and put them against each other. More so for the fans than for anything else. I'm sure that there are fans of just BASS or fans of just the FLW tour. I think that if the fans get involved, so will the advertisors and we all know what happens once advertising dollars are at stake.

To get more information on this event click on the link below:

www.bassfan.com/

This will expand a little more as to what Gary is talking about.

Pete