Thursday, February 16, 2006

BASS Federations Nation vs. BASS Weekend Series

Tougher competiton: Federation Nation or Weekend Series?
Inside the cover of my new Classic Preview edition of Bassmasters Magazine there was an interesting article about progression of bass tournament as a sport and chart explaining the format of B.A.S.S. sanctioned tournaments. This is a handy chart showing the general flow of how one achieves reaching the classic which is the pinnacle of bass fishing.

The thing I find most interesting, is that the Federation is above the weekend series. I often regarded club fishing below "money tournaments", but I can see that when you combine all the divisional & national tournaments associated with the Federation, it is maybe a rung up from the weekend series. Plus 6 federation anglers qualify for the Classic & only 1 Weekend Series angler qualifies. All in all at the bottom level of the federation and the weekend series, I would guess the competition is a little stiffer in the weekend series tournaments over most club tournaments. On the other hand, maybe this is an indicator of the importance ESPN/BASS puts on the Federation Nation compared to the Weekend Series. The Federation is what drives all of B.A.S.S.'s youth & conservation projects, you do not see Casting Kids events at the Weekend Series events. What do you feel is the higher level of competition? Well I am fishing both this year, so I guess I will see what the true separation is.

Rich
www.richlindgren.com
Bassin' Blog

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