Imagine Rory McIlroy or Jordan Spieth being told before the final round of the Masters or U.S. Open, or any PGA event for that matter, that they can’t use the golf clubs they brought with them and used during practice and the first 3 days of the tournament.
Instead, for the final day when the stakes and pressure are at their highest, they’re issued a set of stock clubs, nothing tailored to their preferences. Maybe a few of the grips are thicker or tackier than they’re used to. Maybe some of the club heads are dinged up or not balanced to their specs. Maybe they’re in pristine condition. Bottom line, they’re unfamiliar.
This is a model FLW has been following for several years on the final day of its Tour events, including its marquee event, the Forrest Wood Cup, where the winner walks away with $500,000. All anglers in the Top 10 must compete out of FLW-issued Ranger Boats equipped with Lowrance electronics and either Evinrude or Mercury outboards.
For NASCAR fans, the final day of FLW Tour events is the equivalent of the old IROC races in which drivers competed out of identical cars with identical setups. The only differences were the paint colors and car numbers.
It’s been a way for FLW to showcase their corporate partners and it’s a model that’s worked, but times are changing. Sure, FLW is trying to create as level a playing field as possible on the final day of competition, but at what point does that effort become counter-productive?
Following the day-3 weigh-ins, there’s a brief meeting between tournament officials and the 10 finalists, who are informed which boat they’ll be using on day 4. What follows is a sometimes hours-long process of moving tackle and other gear from their boat to the FLW boat and getting things arranged so when day 4 begins, fishing can be their sole focus.
While it may sound innocent enough, there have been times where anglers have forgotten baits or left other gear in their own boat because of the switcheroo.
Either way, having to change equipment in the middle of the biggest tournament of the year can be unnerving, to say the least.
FLW has made great strides in loosening its restrictions on what sponsors anglers can and can’t promote as a way to protect their corporate marketing partnerships. Anglers can now wear their own jerseys all 4 days of competition, but still need to cover (with stickers) sponsors' logos that conflict with FLW's marketing partners. For instance, Cup winner Brad Knight spent much of the post-weigh-in press conference peeling off the patches that obscured the Phoenix Boats logo on his shirt.
The time has come to take the next logical step and allow the anglers to compete out of their own boats and with their own equipment on the final day of Tour events, especially the Cup. Don’t we want to see the best anglers performing at their best using what they believe to be the best equipment?
There have been numerous instances in recent seasons where anglers competing on the final day in FLW Tour events have encountered mechanical or equipment issues while fishing out of the stock boats. Motors have blown up, trolling motors have quit unexpectedly, batteries have gone dead – all issues that could happen to anyone’s boat at any time, but when the boat is being provided to use in competition, the expectation is that everything should be in working order every time, all the time.
The stock boats also come with equipment that differs from what some of the anglers have on their own boats. For instance, the FLW boats don’t have a Hot Foot throttle control pedal. They’re all equipped with Lowrance electronics, which can create confusion and technical issues for anglers used to other manufacturers' equipment.
For instance, Scott Martin and Ramie Colson both have Garmin electronics on their boats and were highly dependent on the new Panoptix forward-shooting sonar at Lake Ouachita, especially when targeting brush piles. Each said they had spots that they were so dialed in on because of their electronics that they knew the exact cast they needed to make to trigger bites.
On the final day – both went out in the Top 6 – they had to use another manufacturer’s equipment. Neither blamed not winning the event on having to switch equipment, but there was evident frustration with having to work with different tools on the last day of the biggest tournament of the season.
The anglers know the routine upon registering for the Tour. This isn’t something FLW springs on them unannounced, but there’s a growing sentiment among the Tour pros that it’s time for FLW to treat day 4 like days 1-3.
I couldn’t agree more.
Ceisner is BassFan's editor.
