Qualifier confusion

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on June 17, 2009 at 6:27pm

It is crytal clear now, just don't ask me to explain it.

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on June 17, 2009 at 6:34pm

Dave I like the TBF (flw affiliated) I was lucky enough to go to nationals a while back and they treat you like kings, it is an awesome experience. The first step is making the state team through the state qualifiers. The state sends 12 anglers to Western Regionals ( I heard there might be a new region out here) The top 2 from each state at regionals go to nationals. If you win nationals you get a birth to the FLW Cup. You still get one more shot because the top 2 out of each region goes to the BFL all american. If you make it this far you automatically get a check. I if you are lucky enough to win the All American you go to the FLW Cup.

Usually this whole process after you make the state team is paid for with the TBF

Permalink Reply by Eric DeLay on June 17, 2009 at 6:37pm

I doubt that luck was what got you there. Are you going to start fishing these things again Dr Hobbs?

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

Dave I like the TBF (flw affiliated) I was lucky enough to go to nationals a while back and they treat you like kings, it is an awesome experience. The first step is making the state team through the state qualifiers. The state sends 12 anglers to Western Regionals ( I heard there might be a new region out here) The top 2 from each state at regionals go to nationals. If you win nationals you get a birth to the FLW Cup. You still get one more shot because the top 2 out of each region goes to the BFL all american. If you make it this far you automatically get a check. I if you are lucky enough to win the All American you go to the FLW Cup.

Usually this whole process after you make the state team is paid for with the TBF

Permalink Reply by Keith Brooks on June 17, 2009 at 9:28pm

The best place to start to understand the Federations is within a club. If you are not yet a member of a club I strongly suggest you take the time to check out a few clubs in your area and ask questions of the more experienced members. Both Federations do require that you be a member of a club to fish their events. Fishing the Qualifier Series tournaments is a great way to learn alot from some great anglers at a reasonable cost. I wrote a blog on the site a few months ago that was intended to answer many of the questions people have on the issue, I bet it is still available for you to read if youre interested.

Permalink Reply by Dave Massey on June 18, 2009 at 8:33am

OK. I think I am finally getting it. How many coanglers does each take? I feel that I am not proficient enough on any of the tournament waters to enter as a boater yet. Especially west side lakes since I have never even been on them before.*hint hint looking to back seat some weekend*

Permalink Reply by Daniel on June 18, 2009 at 9:04am

the same amount of boaters. you have to register with a boater so the numbers are even.

Dave Massey said:

OK. I think I am finally getting it. How many coanglers does each take?

Permalink Reply by Dave Massey on June 18, 2009 at 2:58pm

I meant how many coanglers does the state send to the Western Regionals? Is that also the same so it would be 12 or does the 12 include so many boaters and non boaters?


danielt said:

the same amount of boaters. you have to register with a boater so the numbers are even.

Dave Massey said:

OK. I think I am finally getting it. How many coanglers does each take?

Permalink Reply by Zackery Shaff on June 18, 2009 at 3:52pm

12 includes both boaters and non boaters. Don't qoute me on this, but the BASS Fed Nation state team is composed of the top 12 anglers with a minimum of four nonboaters included. So if no nonboaters are in the top twelve, 4 still get to go, but that means the bottom four boaters are out. I don't know if the TBF works the same way.

Permalink Reply by Daniel on June 18, 2009 at 7:34pm

On tbf 6 boaters and 6 non. But its the top 12 in standing after the 3 qualifiers so that means that non boaters rarely make that cut. The 6 non boats for state were most likely boaters in the qualifiers.

i think thats right...?

Dave Massey said:

I meant how many coanglers does the state send to the Western Regionals? Is that also the same so it would be 12 or does the 12 include so many boaters and non boaters?

Permalink Reply by Dave Massey on June 19, 2009 at 3:37pm

that would be nice if they had a western region. the only series that does is the national guard western and there is tons of other series that are mostly on the eastern side of the us. or am i wrong? i mean like stren series and stuff like that.


Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

Dave I like the TBF (flw affiliated) I was lucky enough to go to nationals a while back and they treat you like kings, it is an awesome experience. The first step is making the state team through the state qualifiers. The state sends 12 anglers to Western Regionals ( I heard there might be a new region out here) The top 2 from each state at regionals go to nationals. If you win nationals you get a birth to the FLW Cup. You still get one more shot because the top 2 out of each region goes to the BFL all american. If you make it this far you automatically get a check. I if you are lucky enough to win the All American you go to the FLW Cup.

Usually this whole process after you make the state team is paid for with the TBF

Permalink Reply by Steve Hastings on June 22, 2009 at 1:59pm

I started writing this the other day after my first reply to Daves post and got mostly through it, but threw the finishing touches on today. I know It’s a lot to read, but hope with the examples it helps. I am aware that some of it is now redundant of the other posts, no need to point this out.

Here goes….
In either Federation’s case, whether “Washington State Bass Federation” aka WSBF or “Bass Federation Nation of Washington” aka BFNWA you do have to be a member of an affiliated club of that Federation. Each of these organizations has National Affiliations that allow their member clubs, and there by those clubs members, to compete in Divisional and National Tournaments against other states and those states members. You also have to be member of the National organizations also to compete at the qualifier and on up level.

WSBF is a State Federation that is affiliated with a national organization called, "The Bass Federation" aka TBF, which has a relationship with FLW, to provide its member states, entry placement in the Bass Fishing League aka BFL All American and the Forrest Wood Cup. BFNWA has a National Affiliation with Bass Anglers Sportsman’s Society aka B.A.S.S, which was purchase by ESPN in April of 2001, and also has a relationship to provide entry into the Bassmaster Classic.

Where a lot of confusion exists, is in the fact that as of January of 2006, WSBF and its member clubs split off from B.A.S.S and developed an affiliation with FLW through TBF. This split prompted the creation of “The Federation Nation” and its new affiliate state federations such as BFNWA which filled the spot vacated by WSBF in Washington State with B.A.S.S. For clarification, TBF and its state federations left B.A.S.S. and partnered with FLW, and B.A.S.S. created the Federation Nation and new state federations and clubs were created and joined this new national federation.

To demonstrate the relationships, I’ll use myself as an example. In my case I am a member of Mt. St. Helens Bass Club aka Mt. St. Helens Bassmasters. This club is a WSBF affiliated club. As a member I pay $65.00 in dues of which $15.00 goes to WSBF (State) and another $15.00 goes to "The Bass Federation" (National). Your membership in FLW is required to fish qualifiers and above it is done online and not at the state level. The other $35.00 is club dues that pay for things like trophys, etc. This is what I will describe as a fully functioning club, with a tournament schedule, conservation activities, Youth activities, etc, and in my opinion, simply the finest bunch of folks around. Each WSBF club is allowed a 10 man state team who pair up Boater/Non-boater, and fish three qualifiers, this year 1 on Banks and 2 on Lake Washington. The top 12 anglers from those qualifiers make the State Team. Places 1-6 are boaters, 7-12 are non-boaters. The State team starting in 2010 will fish against only Oregon, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming in the new North Western Divisional. This is less than half the states it was this year, which improves your chances of progressing beyond the TBF National Championship to the Forrest Wood Cup. It use to be 11 Western states and you’d have to finish first in your Region to go to the Forrest Wood Cup, which means you were competing against 11 anglers where now you are competing against only 4 others. So the progression in Washington state works like this, Up to 10 anglers from each club compete at the State Qualifiers, the top 12 anglers make up the Washington State Team and move on to the North Western Divisional the following year, and the top two anglers from each state at the Northwestern Divisional go on to the TBF National Championship. The first place angler from each state is the boater and the second place angler from each state is the Non-boater. At the TBF National Championship only the Boaters are competing for the “Living the Dream” prize which is prize money, the use of a truck and boat for a year and their professional entries paid to either the FLW Tour or the FLW Western or Eastern Series, approximately $100,000 value. The Non boaters are only going for prize money. The top 14 anglers, 7 boaters and 7 non-boaters representing the 7 Regions go to the Forrest Wood Cup and BFL All American. Last April, Washington State took 1st at Lake Havasu, with Chris Lambert 1st in Wa State and overall making him boater. Jeff Abott was non-boater. This year in March, Chris Lambert was 8th at the TBF National Championship for the boaters and Jeff was 40th for non-boaters. Neither progressed on to the BFL All American or the Forrest Wood cup. WSBF has been very good about supplying the traveling members of the team with expense money over the years and the trips to the BFL All American and Forrest Wood cup are most expenses paid for by FLW and TBF. So for your average club angler this process is going keep costs pretty reasonable.
I am also a member of The Firecreek Bassmasters, it is a BFNWA affiliate club, it is for all practical purposes a "Paper" club, which does not fish a club schedule, no formal conservation, no formal youth activities, etc. Its purpose is to qualify anglers for the BFNWA qualifiers and on up. Boater non-boater pairs sign up as early as possible ( Both Federation's leadership want teams to sign up as early as possible, but most important is the turn out) Some penalties can and do apply for late sign up. Similarly BFNWA holds 4 qualifier events, this year 2, 1 day tournaments on Banks Lake and 2, 1 day tournaments on Lake Sammamish. The top 8 boaters and top 4 non boaters make up the state team. This provides a non-boater a better chance at making the state team as you have a 1 of 12 possible spots, and the boaters are 1 of 8 possible spots. ( this may change in the future) This State team fishes the Western Divisional, this year was at Tri-Cities, we got 1st place over 10 other states winning a $30K boat for BFNWA, the monies of which will be used to support future State Teams travel needs when its not so close to home. Only each State’s winner ( Don Hogue this year from Washington) moves on to the National Championship, which is on the Harris Chain of lakes this year in October. Last years representative from Wa. State at the National Championship was Les Whitley, who placed 25th overall and 8th in the region, but the 6 Regional winners qualified for the Bassmaster Classic and placed 6th, 8th, 17th, 25th, 37th and 49th out of the 51 angler field. Hey nice work guys, all but two of you beat KVD.

While this is a bit long and if you sat through it all, you might just have a better understanding but I really posted it, so folks could go back and use it for reference, because admittedly, there were parts of it, that I had to re-look up. Keep in mind that FLW and ESPN are competing for your attention and participation, so rules change often, which will probably make this at least partially out of date in the next year or two.

Laters,

Steve

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