The Brandon Belt Tournaments are canceled for 2025 and my never start up again. These were the highest paying team trail events in the country giving away 50,000 first place at every event and 100,000 at the championship. Why is gone?
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I started fishing when I was just a young kid and instantly fell in love with Bass Fishing. Started fishing tournaments when I was in high school and have been fishing them ever since. For years I fished every tournament I could enter sometimes fishing as many as 45 tournaments a year. I qualified for the Elites when I was 30 but didn’t have the sponsors or money to compete so I turned it down. Got sponsor support later and fished the FLW Tour for 2 years and having been fishing the Toyotas since 2006. I’ve won 5 Angler of the Year Titles becoming the only fishermen to have more than 3 AOYs in the Toyota series. Won numerous events along the way that has helped shape my way into working for Strike King as head of product innovation. Along the way, I picked up a camera and started filming my endeavors. I have now fallen in love with making videos about fishing and delivering it to you. Follow along the journey…it should be an honest and fun ride!
Todd come out west fish the bam trail with ish there IN GOOD HANDS AND ITS BLOWING UP
Only fished one (Conroe) thought that field would definitely have them coming back for the new season. They ran a great event.
I have seen those Gravy Trains come and go.
Which trail was this? Is (was) it similar to the ABT (Alabama Bass Trail)? When the ABT first started it was around $1,200 for the series… I believe it has gone up to $1,600. They aire the entire season on local TV and I hear nothing but good things on how it is run.
So can someone not pick back up and take it over?. What kind of help do you need.
That is why Sealy Big Bass Tournament is still around for almost half a century! Great Run Tournament
I love the Team Tournaments.
Congratulations Todd. You and other anglers have whined and cried non stop for the last several years. I hve fished my entire life and now cannot stand the site of fishing for money. You have a bunch of professional cry babies!
Why don't you start it back up
With the state of the economy I’m amazed more trails aren’t calling it quits
Todd come fish Louisiana Team Trail this year, seems similar but we’re doing it on our own time and money
Here are my thoughts on this situation.
Brandon Belt Fishing created the best team tournament trail ever. I think there were a few things they could have done or “tweak” and it would have help financially for sure. But he definitely wanted to make it what it was, and for that he succeeded.
Were the numbers lower than they wanted, yes.
BUT in a time where pretty much every tournament trail saw a reduction in entries. BBF almost doubled from year one to year 2. Which is HUGE.
When bass champs, TTT, and others seemed to be down 25% or more.
So the model was resonating with the anglers and it was trending in the right way for sure. I don’t think the concept of the high entry tournament trail could ever see a 250 boat sustained field. But 150-200 is where I thought it would land.
The grand slam (I never fished) seemed like a great tournament but the participation dropped off dramatically each year. So I thought we would have seen that go away in interest of saving money and focus on the show because I thought it had the most potential.
Nevertheless, it was an awesome tournament. I know it’s something a lot of people will talk about it in the future and realize just how good it was.
Thanks to Brandon for giving us fisherman the chance you did. I wish this would have lasted for many more years.
Why don’t you do it. You always have great ideas and know bunch about tournaments . Get strike king and lews and skeeter involved and run it
There are better career paths than trying to run a tournament trail.. which is a gamblers table trail. Remember that Todd. It’s gambling what u do as a career. It’s a chitty career and should only be a hobby:
Thanks Todd You nailed it we were all in for this year. Fact I wanted to be there last year but had some health issues. But everything happened for a reason I guess. Thanks for the insight
Thanks for doing this video. I hope another trail will pop up, & model their business plan Ike the BBT.
Was planning on fishing it this year until I found out the news
Thats a shame i was hoping it would catch on across the country
👍👍👍👍👍
You can’t guarantee the payout imo. I agree about putting the product into the factored payout for sure. If you give away a boat for first it should be like first place is valued at x. Pretty much like the BBS. The guarantee on a first place of 50k is super tough though. With higher entry’s your gonna have more people who are in and out. If they get on them they wanna spend anything but if they’ve lost money the last 2-3 tournaments and not in good shape in AOY they’ll pull out and not finish the trail.
Brandon isn't playing baseball anymore and he probably didn't want to waste his money making up the difference. There is no way the entry fees were covering what they were paying out. Just do the math. So the balance would be sponsorship money or out of his pocket. It was a great idea and trail. But I don't blame him if he was coming out of pocket to support it
Sorry for the bad news bro…I can tell that it hit you hard.
Bummer about the series going away. I would think a format like that would be the future of tournament angling.
I'll never understand how guys have a 100K loaded boat, 100K truck, and balk at a $1000 entries. I know you have made videos about it in the past, but man with lodging, fuel, tackle and time commitments, as anglers we need to be more willing to drop a little more cash in entries so you can actually when some money when you cut a check.
Also, we need to be a little easier on tournament orgs. If they have lousy payout or rule enforcement, don't show up. But don't go to good tournament trails and constantly complain about little nitpicky things.
I have never heard of it. Which is a shame. Might have done it.