Tough Decisions -Part 1
2021 was the year of the tough decision on what to fish. Made even tougher by lots of good options and details or complete schedules missing by the time I had to make a decision. A quick glance and there were 5 options for guys wanting to fish against large fields, great competition, and for some good money. In part one I’m going to lay out some of the great options we have this year.
The D&R series is always first on my radar of things to fish. However no schedule and no details were available by the time I had to decide. Since then they’ve come out with a very cool schedule with 3 east side tournaments and 3 west side tournaments. It will be a great opportunity for those on the east side to finally experience some of the great team trails we have in the west. However there is a major conflict with the D&R classic. I haven’t really seen all the details of the D&R format yet but I don’t think I am going to pay for a classic and not fish it. I really wish schedules could have been worked out beforehand as I know I am not the only guy this is going to affect.
West Michigan Bass HOTD is another one that is always worth looking at. I generally fish a few of these every year but have never committed to fishing the whole schedule. I already know I will be missing the bay tournament this year due to a conflict but I would expect I’ll make some of the local ones. The big advantage here is it isn’t a prepay series and that any West Michigan Bass member can show up and fish. Fishing Monday nights should qualify me for their classic so I will have that to look forward to.
Big money is shelled out at Payback Bass events so they are also worth looking into. I probably am not going to travel for any of those but when they come to the Grand River I will likely sign up. They also have a classic but I haven’t even looked at the dates or if you can still qualify by fishing one tournament. They also don’t announce the classic location until way late so it won’t be an incentive for me to be sure to fish the Grand River.
Shoreline Bass is under new ownership (congrats Scott) and from what I am hearing have made some positive changes to payout structure. Because of their payouts I haven’t really looked at Shoreline in a long time other than their Dylan Compagner Open. But it may be time to put it back on the radar depending on what membership is and if they will just let you jump back into tournaments. In recent years it has been pre pay only so just jumping into one hasn’t been an option. For the record I actually like the prepay format in the series I am fishing. It prevents guys who happen to have a hot school going just jumping in and ensures that people have to show up whether they are catching them or not. Sometimes it is good to have to really struggle and be forced to figure something out.
The newcomer to the party was Big Stack Payback. I’d known about this series since invites went out last year. There were many things that I really liked about it and others that I was uncertain about. It would be a singles format with a capped field and money on a whole different level than anything I’ve previously fished. However committing to it would really shake things up compared to what I’m used to. It’s something we have never seen in the state before with the potential to be something really big. I would be foolish to not look hard at switching things up and fishing it.