Upcoming Milner Tourney

Just wanted to send out an email to remind everyone of the upcoming American Bass, Rocky Mountain Region tournaments on Milner on August 19 and on August 20.

The teams that I believe are coming are:

Monday/Thomson
Vega/Jones
Quattlebaum/Strong
Hadfield/Wilson
Rounkles/Stacey
Felter/Rawlings
Golightly/Golightly

If you are in the above list and can't make it, please let me know as soon as possible.

Anyone else interested would be welcome. Again, minimum entry fees are $140 and you must be a member of American Bass ($30 per person, annual membership). Three $20 options pots are available but are not mandatory. Please let me know if you are interested in coming to one or more of the days.

Our sponsor for this weekend is Unique Advantage, LLC. Unique Advantage offers financial planning based on LEAP Systems, a financial planning system that I strongly support. Thanks to Kyle Christensen for his support.

Pictures from June 17-18 Weekend

Dee and Dave

Bretton and Marlon

Brett and Tim

Bill and Kent

Rick and Scott

Flaming Gorge

Great fishing at the Gorge, as the results below can attest! I decided that all the teams were weekend warriors for making the trip.

6/18/06

TEAM Total Big Fish

MONDAY/THOMSON 11.26 3.34
QUATTLEBAUM/STRONG 11.06 *3.72
FELTER/RAWLINGS 10.89 2.96
ROUNKLES/STACEY 8.26 2.02
HADFIELD/WILSON 8.10 2.52

Big Fish: Ricky Quattlebaum

6/17/06

TEAM Total Big Fish

ROUNKLES/STACEY 9.82 2.25
FELTER/RAWLINGS 9.45 *2.55
MONDAY/THOMSON 7.44 2.02
HADFIELD/WILSON 6.59 1.64

Big Fish: Tim Rawlings

Its Tourney Time!

See you all this weekend at Buckboard. Kent and I will be around the marina on Friday in the late afternoon/evening to set up. I hope that we can get paperwork done for most everyone on Friday. I'm staying at the RV campground if you can't find me at the marina...

Sunrise is 5:44 a.m. so plan on 5:00 a.m. for our quick pre-tournament meeting. Please just call or email me if you have any questions. A quick look at the point standings for the year so far:

Last Update: 5/11/2006

1 Tim Rawlings & Brett Felter 218
2 Bill Golightly & Boyd Golighty 217
3 Dee Rounkles & Dave Stacey 214
4 Bretton Hadfield & Marlon Wilson 213
5 Bill Monday & Kent Thomson 212
5 David Vega & David Jones 212
6 Scott Strong & Rick Quattlebaum 108

Flaming Gorge approaches...

Hey all. As the Flaming Gorge weekend approaches, I wanted to ask for some input. I have talked with American Bass about a few options that might improve participation...

1) I wanted to float the idea of reducing the number of tournaments necessary to allow classic qualification out of the rocky mountain region. This would allow folks to fish the final two weekends and still go to the classic. 2) I'd like to float the idea of possibly having, as an alternative, a seventh tournament. I'll bring both of these options up at the Flaming Gorge weigh-in.

Be aware both that you must fish at least five (5) of the region tourneys to have a shot at angler of the year from our region and that only the top five finishes count toward angler of the year for our region. Ask me if you need this clarified further...

I'm going to email this to those of you I have email for. For anyone trying to reach me, my phone has been down for the last week or so...

Top Five May 7 / Weekend Warriors

The Weekend Warriors (top two teams for the weekend) were:

1) Golightly/Golightly
2) Felter/Rawlings

Top Five for May 7:

Team Name	Weight	Big Fish
Golightly/Golightly	15.12	3.31
Hadfield/Wilson	12.72	3.37
Felter/Rawlings	11.84	3.31
Jones/Vega	11.00	2.30
Monday/Munk	10.73	2.30

Big Fish May 7: Bretton Hadfield

Top Five May 6

Felter/Rawlings	12.47	2.60
Rounkles/Stacey	12.18	3.12
Quattlebaum/Strong	9.78	2.45
Golightly/Golightly	9.62	2.35
Monday/Munk	8.72	2.09

Big Fish May 6: Dee Rounkles

First Weekend Complete!

Other than having a lot fewer teams than I expected, the first two tournaments ran smoothly and went off without a hitch. Thanks to all the participants and especially thanks to Kent for running them tournaments so well. Our first ever American Bass Rocky Mountain Region tournaments were conducted like clockwork.

I'll be posting some of the top results here, but they should show up on the main American Bass website soon as well with the regional standings. I just wanted to post my thanks to everyone who came and had a good time fishing with us.

A reminder: we have a limit on the number of teams that can participate in the Flaming Gorge tournaments, so to insure your spot you need to pre-pay. All of the teams that fished the first weekend have guaranteed spots for Flaming Gorge. I'll get more information soon.

Tourney Information

Kent has provided some space to host the entry form. It is located on cache custom lures' site. More information regarding the first weekend:

1) I will be at the ramp Friday evening to take membership applications and tournament entry fees. I plan to be off the water and at the ramp at 4:00 p.m.

2) Check in Saturday morning will start between 5:00 and 5:15 a.m. The pre-tournament meeting will start at 5:45. Blast off will be at safe light (which will probably land somewhere between 6:10 and 6:15).

3) Early registration will give you an extra draw for launch position! Friday evening is the deadline for the extra draw benefit!

4) Kent Thomson worked out a reduced rate for the Budget Motel. Just mention American Bass when you call. Their number s (208)678-2200.

5) I'm getting excited as hell... the time is drawing near! Email me at brettonh@yahoo.com if you have any further questions.

6) Thanks in advance for your interest in these tourneys. I'm doing everything I can to make them great!

Some Payout Information

I've had a couple people ask me about payouts, so I'm posting this to provide some more detail.

Biggest Bass is a one spot payout. Big Fish pays up to five spots. Red/white/blue splits the optioners into three fields and pays the top team in each of the three fields. Options pay back 100%.

The entry fees pay back approximately 81%, but approx 11% of that goes to fund the team of the year from our region ($775 last year) and to fund the divisional classic, resulting in approx 70% payout at the tourney. An example, if we have 20 boats, approximate payouts for entry fees will be: 1st $700, 2nd$ 500, 3rd $395, 4th $225. These payouts are based on a one in five scale that is provided to me by American Bass. So, a total entry of $2600 (20 boats) with payout of approx $1820 = 70%, plus the approx 11% that goes to the classic and to the region anglers of the year.

I have added a weekend team anglers cash prize as well. I had been thinking that I would either pay $400 to the top team for the weekend or $250 to team #1 and $150 to team #2. As of right now, I have decided to go with the $250/$150. This is added money I obtained and I'm sending back into the mix. That pushes the "at tourney" payouts back toward 80% each day, getting closer to 90% for the total payout. I really want as much money as reasonable to go back to the winners.

Also, there is no entry fee for the classic once you qualify -- I wanted to state that again so it is clear. Just email me if you have any other questions on this.

Co-sponsor for second weekend!

My firm has agreed to be the co-sponsor for the second weekend of the Rocky Mountain Region tournaments (June 17 & 18). It was a pretty tough sell. Just kidding. I'm grateful to my partners for their support. Our website is located at www.bplaw.biz. We have attorneys licensed in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming. My firm has a focus in litigation. My primary specializations are estate (wills/trusts and probate) and business law, including collections.

Entry forms available

You can email me for entry forms specific for the May tournaments. You can also fill out the form on www.americanbass.com and then send it to me. The only options that are available for now are Big Fish (pays up to five spots), Biggest Bass and Red/White/Blue (pays top spot of three groups). Just email me if you have any questions.

Co-sponsor for first weekend!

American Northwest Outdoors has agreed to be the co-sponsor for the first weekend (Milner, May 6&7). I'd like to thank Jim Wells for his support. His website is at: www.americannorthwestoutdoors.com. We look forward to seeing him at our tourneys! He's a heck of a guy.

Added Prize for Best Weekend Anglers

I am trying to arrange sponsors for an award for the best one or two teams for each weekend. I am hoping to arrange for a good cash payout. Teams will be required to fish both days to qualify for this additional prize. If you are interested in being a sponsor for one or more weekends, please get in touch with me.

Flaming Gorge dates changed!

The Flaming Gorge weekend will be on June 17&18th. This change was made because we did not want to conflict with the Mini Cassia Open held at Milner (on June 3). I have made it through the necessary channels to make the change official.

Perhaps changing date for Flaming Gorge weekend

I am speaking with the Forest Service and WY Game and Fish about changing the dates for the Flaming Gorge weekend. I am going to try to get the weekend of June 17&18. The reason for this change is that there may be a conflict with the Mini Cassia Open. I know that many people will want to fish that tournament so I don't want to negatively affect that tournament nor the participation in the Rocky Mountain region tourneys. I will keep this blog updated with my progress on this change.

Tournament dates set

The initial approvals have become official. I am now looking for additional sponsors to assist with payouts for the top 1 or 2 team(s) for each weekend. So I'm looking for three (3) sponsors. I am also putting together the advertisements and flyers for the tourneys and will begin distributing them. A big thanks goes out to Kent Thomson of cache custom lures/team bass cache valley for agreeing to be the official weighmaster for these tournaments.

I'm hoping to spend some time updating this site to include some pictures and more information. I will add a list of team bass tournament dates soon...

Initial approval for Milner!

I discussed dates for two weekends at Milner with Sharon Clark, Idaho Fish & Game. She indicated that the dates of May 6 & 7 and August 19 & 20 are set aside for American Bass Rocky Mountain. Excellent news! More details will be posted soon.

Preliminary approval for Flaming Gorge!

I received word from Mari Campbell with the Forest Service that I have inital approval to hold tournaments on the dates of June 3 & 4. The launch will be from the Buckboard, WY ramp. More details will be forthcoming.

Welcome to Bretton's ABA - Rocky Mountain Blog

This blog is the place where I am going to keep information related to the new Rocky Mountain division of American Bass. I decided to set up this blog to try to keep people even more informed regarding the division. Craig and Dave of American Bass do a great job with their website and official information will be posted there. However, information posted by me at this blog can normally be relied upon.