The ButterflyThe Redfish Tours EmergeApril 21, 2007 In this article I discussed what I felt to be the strong points and shortcomings of each tour. I also made comments about where I thought the tours were headed and the role each would ultimately play in the trek towards a gen-u-wine professional redfish tour. At the end of that article I made predictions. Go back and read them. Like butterflies just emerging from their cocoons the transition of each tour is almost complete. The Redfish Cup begat the Q Series which became the Redfish Nation Series which became the Redfish Cup East and West Open Division Series.
There is one thing, though, one shortcoming that I just cannot understand. Why in the world does the Cup still allow the use of such an archaic, unscientific, and inaccurate method of weighing our fish? I have written much about the current system of weighing fish which you can check out at this link - "Which Weigh Did He Go?" This excerpt from that article mentions several of the variables while the rest of the article outlines the absolute hopelessness of convincing anyone that these fish can be weighed to within 1/100th of a pound with the current method.
Now hold it in your hand and ask yourself if any two redfish placed in a plastic bag, in a large basket, on a small scale, in a random manner, in the outdoors, with blowing wind and fish movement and people movement and stage movement..... could possibly, by any stretch of the imagination, be accurate to the weight of that nickel!” I just have a really hard time understanding why it is ok to weigh fish in such a manner when so much is on the line. It would be like their cameramen going out with mini home video cameras to record the action for their TV production. They certainly would not do that! So why, why, why do they continue to allow such a poor excuse for an accurate scale and total lack of scientific method to be responsible for the outcome of such fine events?! It just doesn’t make sense and it undermines the anglers respect and confidence in the results. Ok, enough about that. I can only hope they are reading along and paying attention. There is more to the Cup. There is one additional level. The most important level. The level that will serve as the nucleus to spark the growth of this sport. Oh Boy! Oberto All Stars The All Star series is the real deal.
There is nothing like it anywhere. And it is only going to grow bigger every year. If you have any desire at all to play this game at its highest level - get involved in the Cup East or West series because it is the only way to get there! The FLW and IFA don’t even come close. Not a bad thing. It’s just the way it is. The FLW has strong competition and they run a tight ship. Their tournament production remains very solid with a dependable, consistent method of weighing the fish that remains unrivaled among the redfish tournaments. However, their TV production remains weak and they have two very significant shortcomings.
But, the FLW is here to stay with their open-style events, and inbred sponsor rep tactics. They will most likely continue to have a watered down version of a Championship because somewhere along the way their sponsors were told that there would be just such a thing – a 100 team Championship – preposterous! They will likely never have a professional circuit because it is much more lucrative for them to continue to hold their sponsors hostage while holding the anglers at arm’s length from the sponsor pie. And the IFA? Well, it’s just the IFA. It’s a well run, fun-fishing event for everyone, everywhere, every time. Bottom line? We’re getting there. Slowly and with a few missteps along the way. But we are getting there. And make no mistake about it; The Cup is leading the way!
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