Expecting me to light someone up? Not this time. Well, maybe just a little.

Cuts to Zero

Some pros like it. Some fans even like it. I'd bet a minority of both. I'm in the other camp. I don't like cuts to zero.

Fishing tournaments are about most weight caught – over the entire tournament. Not half the tournament.

Weight is glory. It's everything.

Weight is how fishermen score. Okay, the Giants are playing the Cowboys. After the third quarter, the score goes to zero. And only the players on the field when the points were scored can play the rest of the game. Make sense?

Even the goofy Nextel Cup points system is a little better: After the 26th race of the season, the Top 10 drivers are reallocated points in a staggered manner, though only 5 points out of more than 5,000 separate each place.

Why did NASCAR change to that "virtual zeroing" system? It's supposed to be "more exciting" to viewers, which will raise the TV ratings. Maybe so. Someone once sold that same concept to FLW Outdoors and BASS.

To me, it's a gimmick.

Bass fishing doesn't need gimmicks. It's an endurance sport. Leave it that way. Admit the whole zeroing weights thing is a gimmick and move on.

> One final note: Can "anyone" really win with cuts to zero? Theoretically, yes. Really, no – guys who are hotter usually stay that way – and the weight margins usually are close, no matter what the weight or points system used.

Get 'Em Together

The leagues can go on and on trying to one-up each other about who has more tournaments, who has the true world championship, who has the world's best pros fishing their events and whatever else. But here's the bottom line for me: It was bad enough having the best pros split between two competing trails. Now, counting the FLW Series, there's three (on the plus side this might bring a few future stars to light).

Not only that, because of the number of events, fewer pros than ever are fishing both BASS and FLW.

Remember when Kevin VanDam had to sit out at Santee Cooper? All I could think about was that Jay Yelas, Larry Nixon, Mark Davis, George Cochran, Clark Wendlandt, Dion Hibdon, David Walker and a host of other of the world's greatest fishermen (you better believe it) were sitting out too – the whole BASS season.

I sure hope all the best guys have a chance to fish against one another more than just at Top Gun every year.

What I Like

I'll set aside the critical eye right now, and talk about a few things I like that the leagues are doing.

Things I like that ESPN/BASS is doing:

  • Requiring pros to put their names in big, block letters on their boats and jerseys. I've suggested to pros for years to stay away from that unreadable-from-more-than-3-feet-away script name on the right chest area and to plaster their names in big letters all over their trucks. A few took me up on it. A lot more took BASS up on it because they had to. Bravo. That's how you get people familiar with your name.

  • I still don't buy the hype about wrapped boats. They look cool, which is good, but they really don't make it onto TV – when the anglers are fishing, that is. But ESPN does a good job of showing the wraps on trailered boats when they mention anglers. Good job on that. I hope they take it a step further and let the anglers fish out of their own boats on all competition days.

All this and more amounts to differentiation among the pros. I love it. Having 50 or more pros at a tour-level event all wearing Triton or Ranger jerseys is a holdover from the days about 20 years ago when there were really only 50 pros at the tour level. Now, according to the latest BassFan World Rankings list, there are over 500.

Pros are not just billboards. They're interesting people, and as in all sports, it's about the competition (number one) and the people.

It's a small but significant step to go from saying "some Triton/Ranger guy won" – which sometimes is all you can remember when there's a new winner every week – to "the Gatorade guy won." It's even more significant to go from "the Gatorade guy won" to "that guy who always [insert activity here] won" to "[an actual name] won."

If we continue in this direction – and sell sponsors on the merits of the sport, not its theoretical potential – the next evolution is certain brands being associated with certain pros, and then pro personalities coming out. I hope it happens.

Things I like that FLW Outdoors is doing:

  • Expanding – Competition is key to fishermen and this industry, FLW Outdoors recognizes this and Irwin Jacobs is the only one doing it on a multi-species platform. He's always said he's in this to sell boats, so if you fish for bluegill competitively out of boats and can convince him there's a market, he will start a Bluegill Tour (just my opinion). But with so much of this sport and every other enthusiast market being driven by competition, he's not only on the right track, he's helping the whole industry be on that track too.

  • FLW Series – Was the FLW Series in the works before Jay Yelas and Mark Davis talked to Jacobs about it last year? Did they bring it to him fully formed or did Jacobs, Charlie Evans and company cook it up fast?

    Who cares? It's an interesting animal. It almost has the feel of an independently operated business unit, even though it isn't. Why do I say that? The rules for the FLW Series are significantly different from the FLW Tour. They're more BASS-like and more strict when it comes to issues like practice time. I hope the FLW Tour adopts them next year.

    In a way, it's unfortunate that the FLW Series is called the FLW Series. Because pulling anglers from the former Bassmaster Tour and the FLW Tour, and with more-strict practice rules, it looks like it could be a stand-alone premier trail.

  • TV – Like I've said here many times, I don't watch much TV, especially this time of year. And unless there's something about DirecTV I can't figure out, I can't get the FLW tournament shows. But once in a while FLW sends me a DVD of its coverage, and once in a while I watch it.

    For what it's worth, I think the FLW show is good – the best it's been since Jerry McKinnis' company stopped producing it and went over to BASS. It's different than the ESPN/BASS/McKinnis style – more stripped-down – but I like it. Good graphics, good fishing information, good video (some interesting angles), good info. I just hope they stop making anglers wear those power-packs for the hat-cams. Because like I said, this is an endurance sport and those things definitely help wear the guys down.

Mano a Mano

If you're reading this, chances are you like competition. And in this sport, there's plenty of it: competition between anglers, between manufacturers, between Federations, between leagues – and regarding the latter, not just in bass fishing.

So if this is a competition between FLW and ESPN/BASS to be the king of competitive bass fishing, or competitive fishing in general, who's winning? I'd be interested to hear your thoughts. Click here to air them.

Video Game

BASS has had this video game out for a while now. It's a "plug-and-play" game for kids (ages 5 and up) called BASS Angler Championship. I'm not a video game guy and my kids are still too young to get into that kind of stuff, especially when it's warm outside. But when it was cold this winter, the game was good for their 5-minute attention spans.

I say that because they were "fishing," and learning about it.

  • We were picking lures – I was explaining the pros and cons of lures considering the time of day, diving depth, etc., and they were picking lures whose colors they liked ("I like the orange one, dad").

  • They were casting – Not really, because I didn't want them accidentally throwing the handle through the TV screen.

  • They were reeling (really).

  • And most important to me, they were learning fish names: smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, northern pike, walleye.

Plus they'd get psyched and high-five when they caught, as my son would say, "a 300-pounder!" Really a 3 1/2-pounder, but no reason to tell him that. I liked hearing him brag about that 300-pound bass to grandma.

There's more to the game – the reel and handle vibrate with a strike, and there's some conditions info – but for us it didn't really matter. It was more of an educational tool – at least that's what I told my wife when the little tykes ran me into the ground and I pulled the game out of the cabinet.

Last time I checked, BASS Angler Championship retailed for about $19.95. Money well spent, in my opinion.

Revo, Where Are You?

Abu Garcia is coming out with a new low-profile casting reel called the Revo. I had the opportunity to fish with one recently, and honestly, my expectations were pretty low.

That's nothing against what we all know – that Abus are the workhorses in the reel category. They're like a Timex or Brett Favre: they just keep on doing it. But I've been a Shimano Curado guy for a long time now.

I fished with the Revo over a couple of days, and I liked it. No one sold me on it beforehand, so it was an unknown quantity. Why did I like it? It was smooth and the braking system was great. I'll readily admit to not having the best-educated thumb – plus I only had one casting rod in the boat, and switched baits a few times – and the Revo allowed more fine-tuning and gave me more feedback than a Curado.

But I couldn't take it with me.

I fished two weekends ago with my kids, got to make maybe two casts in 2 hours (hah!) and immediately missed the Revo. I couldn't believe it. I found myself thinking, 'I could make that cast if I had the Revo.'

I called Abu the next week with a serious case of GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). I told them I had to have the reel. But apparently it was a prototype, so I'll have to wait for the production model – and the first reels don't ship until July.

Great.

That was my experience. I'm writing about it because of that moment when I found myself thinking about a reel different than the one I've used for what seems like ever. Ever happen to you? It was a first for me. Weird.

A quick disclaimer: This isn't a commercial, I only fished with it 2 days and you might not like what I like. I know you'll make up your own mind, but there you go. Something to look forward to at the tackle shop, anyway.