THE BUSINESS NEWS OF FISHING.

Best on Tour will bring you a business perspective of the fishing industry to help keep you up to date. 2019 will be the biggest year pro fishing has ever seen!

PRESENTED BY: Sunline

Pro anglers with the most subscribers

PRESENTED BY: Big Bite Baits

PRESENTED BY: SPRO

What it cost Italian angler Jacop Gallelli to fish the Bassmaster Classic?

Jason Lambert – A new trail in 2019

Adjusting to the format and rules of the MLF Bass Pro Tour is an ongoing learning process for many of the anglers on the roster. Having fished some of the MLF Select events gave me a slight head start on making some of those adjustments, however I wouldn't say it provided an advantage. One of the many questions I get from fans across the country is what has been the most difficult adjustment that I have had to overcome so far. The obvious answer might be the shorter practice period, or the any fish over one pound counts rule, versus the best five fish limit format. However, those have not been as difficult to adjust to as one might think. Fishing the FLW tour for the majority of my career I was able to use a landing net during tournament competition. Thinking back on it, I probably didn't need it the majority of the time but there is something to be said about having the security blanket of being able to use the net if you needed to. In the Bass Pro Tour format we are not allowed to use nets, and when boat flipping a fish we are penalized if that fish touches our body or the carpet of the boat. I have to be honest when preparing for the 2019 season I didn't go out on the water and catch fish and practice landing them without a net, I am sort of learning as I go and it has been going well so far. I can't recall a time during Bass Pro Tour competition where I have wished I could use a net, although now that I write this I'm sure that moment where it may have allowed me to land one is just around the corner. The move to the Bass Pro Tour has been a net positive in my opportunities with sponsors, and the ability to showcsae their brands so I am very pleased with that as well. Three events into the inaugural season I think the tour is making huge strides in the right direction, and I am excited to see what the future holds.

Often times in the world of fishing tackle the more things change, the more they remain the same. From the early days of Fred Young and his hand carved Big-O, to the ever popular Bagley's Balsa B, balsa crankbaits have always had a place in avid bass angler's tackle boxes. The art of hand carving and painting balsa crankbaits is alive and well, and they are flying off shelves and selling out online everywhere. A few of the baits that we are seeing in top pros boats are the  Black Label Cliff Pace Slim Balsa  and the  PH Custom Lures Skinny P .  

Follow up. We told you about the Rk Crawler in issue #1 of BOT, it continues that momentum with over 1,000 sold at the Bassmaster Classic last week.

PRESENTED BY: Gamakatsu

B Lat

Brian Latimer recently won the FLW Tour Event on Seminole which should only help grow his rapidly expanding following on YouTube. His channe l is entertaining and has lots of good info.

PRESENTED BY: Denali

New jerseys just for the Classic.

The anglers that switched to the BPT trail in 2019 all had to get jerseys made for the Bassmaster Classic with the B.A.S.S. logo added. Those jerseys will only be used for that one event, so many of those anglers are donating them to charities or sending to sponsors for use in displays or promotions. Jerseys typically cost around $75 to produce, will they become more valuable as collector items in the future for those anglers that have fished their last Classic?

Traveling to a lake and looking for the best place to stay, launch your boat, get gas or buy tackle? See the top choices for Lake Chickamauga here:

PRESENTED BY: AFTCO

It has often been reported that a lure winning the Classic would be worth a million dollars in sales. Is that still case? Here are the last five Classic winning lures.

2019 Ott DeFoe- Arashi Vibe, DT4, unnamed vibrating jig

2018 Jordan Lee- Unnamed stick, soft plastic stick bait, home made vibrating jig, unnamed jerkbait

2017 Jordan Lee- Home made jig, Strike King 5XD

2016 Edwin Evers- Andy's Lures jig, Megabass Flap Slap, Zoom Z-Craw, War Eagle spinnerbait

2015 Casey Ashley- Home made under spin

2014 Randy Howell- DT6 and Livingston Howeller

Home made lures have played a major role in the recent Classics as well as "unnamed vibrating jigs"(cough, cough Chatterbait/Jackhammer). Interesting to see also, that many of the anglers are no longer with the brands they used to win a Classic in recent years.

Have ideas or business news you would like to see in the next issue, let us know at info@bestontour.net