New Bilge Podcast with Bill Lowen-Interesting talk about current state of Elites

[mattmann7]

Have not seen the Lowen video yet. I was at my girlfriends sons house this past Sunday. He had the playoff NBA games on. I have not followed NBA since the last time the Celtics won the championship. That gave me a fresh set of eyes on the sport and my take is they have loosened up considerably on the rules to up the scores to make the game enjoyable for the fans that demand non stop excitement. Essentially thats why I stopped being a fan. FFS in my opinion represents a similar allowance to change the sport to appeal to an audience that wants more points (catches). To me its letting the tail wag the dog. After 30 plus years watching the sport of bass fishing its gone from a sport to a game of entertainment/fan appeasement. I could go on about all sports because the same is true. The days of pitching duels and 4 man rotations carrying a team when the plan was to have a solid defence that backed up small ball baseball and the best ERA is now the live ball era. Fans want runs and long balls so thats what its become.

[Hoot]

Bass fishing is not a sport and they are not athletes. It's a competition for sure but Bill Lowen is not the image that comes to mind when think of an athlete. No offense Bill, you are a good dude, but out working someone at fishing? There is a reason why ESPN doesn't recognize the winner of the classic or any tournament results. It's just not popular. less than 1% of the population cares about pro bass fishing. most non tournament/bass fisherman even know who KVD is. But I promise non basketball fans know who Lebron and Jordan are. Put it in perspective

It’s always been amusing to read the Pro Bass Fishermen Athlete Arguments on the Bass Boards over the years then see the Term Athlete used on their Social Media Pages. When you take a look at the photos of them it becomes evident they have really expanded the definition of Athlete.

[Bass in the grass]

Bill likes to talk about “well rounded anglers”. Is a guy who trolls down the bank throwing at bushes all that well rounded? Sounds like a bank beater, not what I’d call well rounded.


”Dolla’ Bank Beater Bill”

[JBIGUNS]

I agree with Bill! Livescope is whack!

[west_tn]

.https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7AaSlkL_Jh/...

Logan Parks.....

Not much of a fan of his, but really liked what he had to say here.

[Blazers93]

.https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7AaSlkL_Jh/...

Logan Parks.....

I agree with everything LP said. The complaining by some of the veteran anglers is getting old.

[VA Bass]

It’s always been amusing to read the Pro Bass Fishermen Athlete Arguments on the Bass Boards over the years then see the Term Athlete used on their Social Media Pages. When you take a look at the photos of them it becomes evident they have really expanded the definition of Athlete.

[west_tn]

Lot of Elites in the comment section giving this young man encouragement...makes me wonder where the divide really is.

And Bill Lowen himself in the comments apologizing saying he's so sorry, he did not the podcast would be titled what it is.

[DylanSam]

Not much of a fan of his, but really liked what he had to say here.

He was on point with this. Agree with everything he said. I'm sure it gets tiring of all the podcasts complaining about anglers and never actually naming names. You just get thrown into a group.

[78Staff]

.https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7AaSlkL_Jh/...

Logan Parks.....

Isn't this Tucker Smith's "partner in crime" from the now defunt BPS 1 million dollar tournament a few years back...

[blade1970]

Isn't this Tucker Smith's "partner in crime" from the now defunt BPS 1 million dollar tournament a few years back...

Yes, that is correct...

[Mcjenson]

Isn't this Tucker Smith's "partner in crime" from the now defunt BPS 1 million dollar tournament a few years back...

Such a bummer that thing got cancelled. Had an incredible event for boat owners and from what I heard it was a mess with DQ's and the lake mead cancellation.

[AKRISONER]

imagine competing in a "professional sport" but thinking that you deserve to compete because of your history and not because of your current performance. I guess Wayne Gretzky and Tom Brady should also lace em up again...good grief

I dont know about the rest of you guys, but tournament fishing has a way of being ultra competitive and cuthroat...you can expect that at the absolute highest level, people are going to exploit absolutely every single advantage available to them. This isnt a local club derby for $200, people are putting their entire livelihoods on the line. If you are not doing absolutely everything you can to win, you can expect to lose and be off of the tour. Its as simple as that.

[WAWI]

In 5 years nobody will give a rats ass about anyone in that video. We all get it, old guys are big mad because the world has changed

[WAWI]

imagine competing in a "professional sport" but thinking that you deserve to compete because of your history and not because of your current performance. I guess Wayne Gretzky and Tom Brady should also lace em up again...good grief

That's what they think it's pretty clear. They aren't there to compete, they are there to sell baits. The youtubers are kicking their ass doing that to.

[VA Bass]

imagine competing in a "professional sport" but thinking that you deserve to compete because of your history and not because of your current performance. I guess Wayne Gretzky and Tom Brady should also lace em up again...good grief

I dont know about the rest of you guys, but tournament fishing has a way of being ultra competitive and cuthroat...you can expect that at the absolute highest level, people are going to exploit absolutely every single advantage available to them. This isnt a local club derby for $200, people are putting their entire livelihoods on the line. If you are not doing absolutely everything you can to win, you can expect to lose and be off of the tour. Its as simple as that.

Gladly take Tom Brady over Dak Prescott right now

[Rick Pierce]

The wonderful thing about this thread is there are roughly 1,000 plus views...
The Bilge has roughly another 20,000 views...
Good for Chris as he and Trait may be able to coin a little from this controversy.

That other controversial podcast on a YT channel has been gaining up to 34k viewership.
One can assume some of that is the same viewership.

That means there are at least roughly 480,000 Bassmaster members that will have never watched or read about this controversy.
There are roughly 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 (yes million) freshwater anglers in the USA that are fishing annually and buy a license.

The vast majority of those are not exposed to the issues man spend their time here challenging. Most won't know who Bill Lowen or Chris Zaldain are.

They also won't realize that quietly, my friend Chris Zaldain has squeaked in the 14th position in the AOY, and hasn't injected how much FFS played into that level of his accomplishments.

Half way through the season and he's inside the estimated Bassmaster Classic by 72 points. And he's 121 points outside the AOY position Trey holds. So we now have Hank Cherry (31), Brock Mosely (26), Jason Christie (40), Jacob Powroznik (30), Stetson Blaylock (18) and John Cox (21) inside the line.

And how do the Johnson boys get a pass on these conversations as they obviously have those skills sitting at 3rd and 4th for AOY? They are right behind Jordan Lee who has proven he can catch them anyway you want, including live scoping.

Well.... So this new EQ bunch can catch'em! Have you heard that? And you can bet they aren't playing around much during this little part of May and almost a month away from fishing the Elites. They are on the water just like a running back should be in the gym.

Just some thoughts.

Rick

[Mcjenson]

The wonderful thing about this thread is there are roughly 1,000 plus views...
The Bilge has roughly another 20,000 views...
Good for Chris as he and Trait may be able to coin a little from this controversy.

That other controversial podcast on a YT channel has been gaining up to 34k viewership.
One can assume some of that is the same viewership.

That means there are at least roughly 480,000 Bassmaster members that will have never watched or read about this controversy.
There are roughly 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 (yes million) freshwater anglers in the USA that are fishing annually and buy a license.

The vast majority of those are not exposed to the issues man spend their time here challenging. Most won't know who Bill Lowen or Chris Zaldain are.

They also won't realize that quietly, my friend Chris Zaldain has squeaked in the 14th position in the AOY, and hasn't injected how much FFS played into that level of his accomplishments.

Half way through the season and he's inside the estimated Bassmaster Classic by 72 points. And he's 121 points outside the AOY position Trey holds. So we now have Hank Cherry (31), Brock Mosely (26), Jason Christie (40), Jacob Powroznik (30), Stetson Blaylock (18) and John Cox (21) inside the line.

And how do the Johnson boys get a pass on these conversations as they obviously have those skills sitting at 3rd and 4th for AOY? They are right behind Jordan Lee who has proven he can catch them anyway you want, including live scoping.

Well.... So this new EQ bunch can catch'em! Have you heard that? And you can bet they aren't playing around much during this little part of May and almost a month away from fishing the Elites. They are on the water just like a running back should be in the gym.

Just some thoughts.

Rick

The running back in the gym analogy is great. I almost couldn't believe when I heard that angler at Toledo bend say he hadn't picked up a rod since the fall. Hell, even fishing low stakes club tournaments around here I'll do my best to get a practice day in if I hadn't fished in a while just because it takes a little bit to get back into a groove. Can you imagine if Steph Curry hadn't touched a basketball all offseason and then complains about committing turnovers and bricking shots come regular season?

[basscatcher89]

I have a hard time anymore telling if some of this stuff is legit or podcasts just looking for clicks. I'm sure there is some tension on tour but I feel like alot of these shows are just trying to be the match to light a fire and blowing little things up to make them bigger.

With the way society craves the negativity today I'm not surprised were here but I definitely find myself following less and less cause it's so over played its made things boring.

I can't remember if it was Hank Parker on his youtube show he does now or what but someone was talking about how ESPN started it with trying to sell the angler rivalries like NASCAR.

[rjfulks]

Luke Dunkin, Both Zaldains and Slick J are cancerous to the pro fishing industry. They are doing it solely for the clicks and money. None of them are doing a thing to help the industry they are only dividing it for self profit