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Obedie Williams and Clint Groenwold
multiple Big Fish
payouts at each event – actually 95 percent of the questionnaires reflected that the anglers wanted to have five Big Fish payouts at the events; but they didn’t want to have an “option” pot, where guys couldn’t easily see how many of the anglers were in the “Big Fish option”.
We came up with an idea that keeps the Big Fish payout as transparent as the entry payout. The Big Fish money will be automatic with every entry. It will be added on to the entry; so all anglers that are entered will have paid it and there will be no worry that 100 percent of the money isn’t being paid back to the anglers.
For the Pro/Am’s, we are going to add $50 to the entry fee, so all registered anglers will then be in the $50 Big Fish payout. The $50 Big Fish money will be a separate pot paid for Big Fish awards only. Anglers will see the extra $50 added to the entry for the Pro/Am events and know that every angler is entered in the Big Fish money. There will be the same number of anglers in the Big Fish pot as there are fishing the event.
This will be for both pro and co-anglers.
The Big Fish awards will be paid evenly for each of the five biggest bass of each event
(during full field days) on the respective pro and co-angler sides.
WB: Will it work the same for the team events?
DOBYNS: Yes the Big Fish pot will work the same; but the amount added to each team’s entry will be $25.
WB: The new tournament schedule shows that Pro/Am events are going to be held for three days each (instead of two), what was the reasoning behind that?
DOBYNS: Another change per the questionnaire was that the guys wanted a top-10 field cut on the final day. That is why we went to the three-day format. The entire field will fish the first two days. The final day will only be the top- 10.
That is what I meant by the Big Fish money will be paid for fish caught full field days. We are doing the Big Fish payout for the first two days only, because all anglers will be able to compete for it on those days. It would be unfair to give some guys a third day to fish for the Big Fish money.
WB: Will the top-10 co-anglers fish on the third day or is the final day only for the pros?
DOBYNS: We’ve got a big twist coming with that. The co-anglers are going to fish the final day; but they are going to do so as a boater. This will allow them to control their own destiny.
The pros will fish for their fish in their own boats and the cos will fish for their fish in a separate boat. The cos can either fish from their own boat or they will be appointed a boat, if they don’t have their own boat.
It should be an exciting thing. Right now, the co-anglers are worried about catching fish behind the pros and the pros are worried about how they fish with the cos behind them. It can become a battle within the boat. This new format will alleviate all of that and be a 100 percent benefit to both the pro and the co.
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