Thought I'd share a few impressions with you about the tug-of-war over the Federation.

The Happy Side: Federation Folk

Apparently a majority of the state Federations feel like they're going somewhere where they're more appreciated. Regardless of whether you agree, if they're happy, you should be happy for them. People in the Federation work hard. They deserve more than they've been getting – from all of us, not just BASS.

Some of you may know that I went down to Florida to make a presentation to Federation leaders about BassFan providing a website for the Federation. Apparently they liked the idea. But that's far from the best part of what happened down there for me.

Two nights in a row, I hung out with regular bass fishermen – Federation presidents, other officers, and just plain members. As you'd expect, these are guys like you and me. They love to fish, and talk about it. Sure there was some talk about BASS and FLW, but mostly it was the usual: jokes, fishing stories, good-natured ribbing. We've all done it a million times and it never gets old.

A couple guys from Florida spoke with awe about being out fishing and watching porpoises push mullet up on a beach while pelicans dive-bombed the whole mess. Awesome. Wish I'd seen it. Other stories, mostly from Tennessee and Virginia, involved notable smallmouth catches, always a favorite topic of mine.

When I got back home, I told my wife what a great experience it was – not the business part, the social part. It's always great to be reminded why we do this bass-fishing thing. Not just for the outdoors or the fish, but for the fellowship.

I have to confess, though, that the state Federation presidents (and reps) I met were anything but "regular." These guys, and other state Federation leaders, work hard – you'd be amazed that they all have other jobs. They're smart, experienced, knowledgeable, wise and proud. It's no surprise that several are ex-military.

I wasn't surprised by it – I've talked to some of them over the years – but it was great to see again.

I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks for having me, guys.

The Sad Side: Ray Scott

I thought it was a little upsetting to see Ray Scott caught up in the whole thing – everything from the "cancer" comment, to the shots from Irwin Jacobs, to being part of that overly emotional first day when BASS "met" with the state presidents. (How about a high-five for the BASS PR folks for ramming some common sense into their executives that night.)

Ray is a guy who literally created an industry. He's like the Thomas Edison of bass fishing or the Henry Ford of bass fishing. Only a few human beings ever have that much of an impact on an industry, or on life.

I understand that it must be tough for Ray to see some of the changes ESPN is making to what he created (his "baby"). I have to assume it's painful for him to see what he's called the "beating heart" of BASS partly lost (maybe – who's to say clubs won't join more than one organization?). But I honestly thought I'd never see the day when someone of his stature would get caught up in something like this.

Often I'm naive. I might be this time. But I will say this: Even though he insulted people who in my opinion didn't deserve to be insulted (the divisional reps, the presidents who elected them and the Federation members who elected the presidents), he's gotten his just desserts.

From now on, I hope Ray stays out of whatever messes might come his way. Ray Scott is bass fishing, and an awful lot of people just want to love the guy for who he is and what he's done, including me.

And for what it's worth, even though I think the world of Forrest and Nina Wood and what they've done for bass fishing, I don't believe Ranger Boats made B.A.S.S. (meaning Ray Scott), as Irwin Jacobs said. I think it's closer to the other way around. But either way, both products were good and both sides benefited, as should be the case in any business relationship.

The Kool-Aid Side

Some people on what may or may not be the "losing side" of the Federation battle have it in their minds that Robert Cartlidge and the rest of the Federation reps have been conspiring all along with Jacobs to move the Federation out of BASS. (It's even gotten to the point that it looks like some of these people wanted to lose, just so they could restart their political-football manufacturing plants.)

Never mind the many, repeated statements about wanting to stay with BASS made by the reps and the presidents over the years. Never mind that the alienation of the Federation wasn't even a remote possibility until 2001-02, after ESPN bought BASS. Never mind that ESPN and BASS have had repeated chances to make things right with the Federation, almost exclusively at the reps' prompting.

Those are all facts. So I guess if you're a Kool-Aid drinker, you're left to assume the conspiracy theory is true because Cartlidge (or was it Jacobs?) got all the reps and presidents hypnotized so they follow him like he's the pied piper, and because Cartlidge and some other reps run Rangers.

God forbid you own anything with a brand name on it in bass fishing. If you do, you're automatically co-opted into whatever political nonsense is going on. Pretty soon everybody will start sanding the brands and stripes off their boats just so they can be left alone to fish.

To wind this up, that conspiracy theory, in my opinion, is bull. C'mon people. Does everything in bass fishing have to be a conspiracy? If so, this would be the only industry on the planet that operates by conspiracy instead of by market forces.

If you feel like you lost, at least lose gracefully and learn from it. That's what we were all taught playing sports in high school, and that's what competitive anglers re-learn all the time.

Also, winning and losing often are only states of mind. If the bottom line for everyone is the health of bass fishing, it looks to me that so far, no one lost.

And hey – was all of this about winning and losing? It's a matter of perspective, I guess. To BassFan, it was about contributing.

Let's Get On With It

In case anyone missed it, 2006 has started already. So:

> Let's let the chips fall where they may, and go fishing.

> Let's not forget that the biggest tournament in bass fishing, the Bassmaster Classic, is about a month away. All Classics are great, and I'm sure this one will be no exception. Bring on the hype. I love it, every year. (Did I mention that Kevin VanDam could set a record if he wins this one?)

> Let's get ready for the craziest season of tour-level professional angling in the history of the sport: three circuits (four if the three Majors count as a circuit); 28 events, including three championships; and more tournament-related TV on ESPN and FOX than you can shake your remote at.

> Let's see who wins the tournaments, and learn how they do it.

> Let's get this show on the road – in fact, it already is. Shinichi Fukae came home with a big paycheck after last weekend's Okeechobee FLW. That's what I'm talking about.