TBF Membership Update from the National Board Of Directors

Due to some recent changes in our industry we felt it prudent to reachout to our membership base and answer a few questions that have come up recently on the current state of the national grassroots programing.  First let us say that The Bass Federation (TBF)

is in great shape, we can always use more members so we can speak with a bigger voice on issues important to anglers and clean waters everywhere that we have been involved with such as lead bans, anglers rights, culling issues and season limits and aquatic invasive species over the past months and years. “Bigger” makes us all stronger and means more for all our members, but our foundation is solid both from a membership standpoint as well as a financial one. Part of the advantage that TBF has is because of the way we are built, no other company in the outdoors has some of the advantages we have in business.

• We are the oldest & largest grassroots, fishing, youth & conservation organization in North America.

• We are 100% member owned and the only member owned organization in all of the fishing industry.

• We have a great long term sponsor base of companies fully committed to you the members and with the horsepower to get things done.

• We have much lower overhead in many areas but especially in staffing.

Starting with our National President, Robert Cartlidge and including the National TBF Board of Directors our leadership all is very fortunate to be able to work without pay to lead our federation on a daily basis just as they always have. It is the same with all the State Federation Presidents, State Youth, Conservation, and Tournament Directors and other state officers and all the TBF club officers who also work without pay and always have, to provide you with the very best opportunities. That is a powerful volunteer force and a huge overhead cost savings that TBF does not have to incur that no one else has been able to match. It helps make us a very solid company long term.

We are members too! All members of our leadership team are competitive anglers ourselves just like you, all of us have spent decades in the federation program. We all have a love of the outdoors and for the camaraderie of the membership coupled with a desire to include, enhance and protect it all for the next generation.

Over the course of the last few weeks many of you have contacted our offices and staff asking about “possible future cuts” by TBF due to the newly announced program cuts and changes recently unveiled by B.A.S.S. to the B.A.S.S. Nation program. As many of you obviously know, B.A.S.S. recently rolled out some significant cuts and changes to their Nation program. Changes that as we understand it include a new dues payment structure that will in many cases double the dues costs for smaller bass clubs nationwide and cuts that include HALF as many (down to 3) Classic spots moving forward. Changes outlined also include cutting their current 6 division championship schedule in HALF down to only 3 regionals nationwide, thereby greatly increasing travel costs for the anglers. Some of you have questioned if The Bass Federation (TBF) will “follow suit” and we want to be very clear that idea is not even on our radar, we have no plans to make sweeping cuts to our programs, quite the opposite.

We intend to keep leading the charge of grassroots angling programs as the federation has for 45 years and keep it centered on the federation’s founding principles of Fishing, Youth and Conservation.

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery” it is said and some of the new BASS Nation changes announced do imitate some of our current TBF program highlights such as, sending 2 from each state to a national championship like TBF has done since 2006 and it includes a version of our long established TBF Living The Dream program. (Which TBF started in 2005, the last year we were affiliated with B.A.S.S.)

In 2005, TBF awarded the very first TBF Living The Dream prize package to Jamie Fralick from South Dakota to fish the Bassmaster Elite series in 2006. TBF and our sponsors paid a full ride including: Fully paid entry fees, use of a custom wrapped Ranger boat, etc. into the elite series for full year even back then, almost 10 years ago now.

Today, with the full and complete support of FLW, since that first year in 2006 the TBF Living The Dream program has expanded to our Federation National Champion each year including a guaranteed spot with FULLY paid entry fees into the FLW tour as a pro, use of a custom wrapped Ranger boat the full season & a tow vehicle to pull it with, a clothing package, custom trading cards AND expense money for each event!

For our co-angler National Champion we offer fully paid entry fees, a clothing package and expense money to fish any FLW Rayovac series of choice! PLUS for the last 10 years TBF anglers earn 14 spots in the BFL-All American and 2 spots in the world richest payout event, the Forrest Wood Cup! In many areas of the US (the West coast, some New England states and Canada, TBF currently is the ONLY path to the BFL All American from those states. There is not another program like it in the industry, even today.

In 2010 TBF turned its focus on youth and started the High School Fishing movement nationwide. FLW was the very first partner to join in as was Ranger Boats and it has very quickly taken the industry by storm. Our High School Fishing Program contacted more than 10,000 anglers last year alone!

In fact, we will tease you a bit to say that some members of the TBF board have for many months now been turning our focus on the adult program just as we did with High School in 2010 and drafting some expansion ideas to greatly EXPAND the TBF Federation Adult program. We are focused on increasing opportunities and benefits to every TBF affiliated adult member, TBF member club and TBF state federation.

The TBF board will spend several days in face to face meetings at the upcoming TBF Federation National Championship in April putting all their considerable effort and experience into discussing these ideas to see if they can develop an expansion program that makes since to be presented to the state federation presidents in August at their annual meetings to implement and carry the federation forward for another 45 years into the future!

So as you can see, the TBF leadership and staff under the guidance of the TBF Board of Directors, in harmony with our “Partners in Fishing” at FLW and with YOUR input and that of the state federations is not only committed to our national program we are actively looking for ways to expand it.

We can assure you that FLW is as committed to TBF as ever and to you as we are. FLW is as true of a partner as their ever has been. FLW and our TBF leadership team work closely together and have a great relationship. They routinely discuss ideas and ways to jointly improve both of our programs and our completely separate businesses together and we will keep building ideas and looking for ways to add on where it makes since to do so.

Please pass the word to your local clubs and friends to come and “JOIN US” at TBF as we value them as members and as friends and we always have a place for them to fish!

Please feel free to contact us or the Federation National Office anytime with any questions or ideas. We hope this helps answer some of your recent questions we have been receiving and we want to thank each and every one of you for being a member of the Federation and for your support and hard work at the local level because it is you and always has been you,

“Doing the work that makes the difference.”

In Unity,
The Bass Federation, Inc. (TBF) Board of Directors