Clubs host tournaments and chose their best fishermen who then go to the state Federation tournaments. Each state in the Federation then sends a 12 man team to the Federation Divisionals. The top fisherman from each state at those Divisionals then go to the National Federation Tournament, and the top man on each of the five Divisional team qualifies for the BASSMasters Classic. This has varied a little over the years but five amateur fishermen have qualified for the Classic through the Federation for years.
In the beginning each club member paid $12 to BASS for Federation dues. That $12 was to pay $6 for liability insurance for the club for its activities and $6 to BASS for expenses. A few years ago the dues were raised to $15 and the additional $3 were supposed to go to the National Federation Tournament.
A few years ago BASS made changes to the way fishermen qualified for the Classic and eliminated the 5 amateur Federation slots. This caused quite and uproar and the slots were reinstated. Due to the way the Federation was treated, the state presidents decided to elect a national Federation Board to deal with BASS.
Recently BASS announced it was raising Federation dues to $20. This was done without discussion with the Federation Board, Federation State Presidents or anyone else. When the National Federation Board resisted, they were kicked out of BASS and told they could not ever attend another BASS event or hold office in a BASS related organization. (the note in the above link was sent to all clubs in the roster update sent out the first week of December - about two months later than normal for BASS)
Ray Scott, founder of BASS, also sent a letter to Federation members.
BASS has also responded with a letter to Federation members detailing benefits and further explaining their side as well as explaining their future plans.
The National Federation Directors have responded to claims by BASS with their own letter to members. I am not sure why some Federation officers write with so many capital letter words - retired military, maybe?
Right now state federation boards are meeting and deciding what to do. Many like Georgia have decided to withhold dues until an agreement is reached with BASS or some other group. The Georgia Bass Chapter Federation had its directors contact each club and get their vote on what to do. Scroll down for results of that vote on this page.
The Alabama Federation President sent a letter to all members outlining the pros and cons of staying with BASS.
No matter what happens, the state tournaments will remain a function of the state and Federation Divisionals and Federation National should remain the same. In question is the slots in the Bassmaster¡¦s Classic.
The president of FLW has decided to make an offer if the Federation joins with it. In an interview Irwin Jacobs, President of FLW, made some remarks about Ray Scott, founder of BASS. The Boating News has a less than flattering article about Jacobs on its site.
BASS has gotten responses from some pro fishermen and others and posted them on its site.
BassFan.com has also discussed this situation with several people and posted info on their site.
I was a State Director with the Georgia Federation for over 18 years, from January, 1983 until May, 2001. During that time and since then it seems BASS has made more requirements on clubs without giving anything back. One example, BASS required all clubs to submit national dues no later than December 31 each year although most clubs had a year running from January thru December.
One club I am in does not meet in December and starts the new year off at the January meeting the third Tuesday of that month. We don¡¦t technically have any members until then but BASS wants us to change the way we have done things for over 50 years and conform to their desires.
Stay tuned to find out what happens to BASS and the Federation.
