My Last Post for BCC

With the conclusion of the Indian Lake tournament, I have fulfilled the commitment I made late in 2012 to attempt to keep the circuit open by helping Jeff this year.

I've done my best to improve the circuit--during the year, we had consistent rules, increased the numbers of places paid, added some new lakes, added additional sponsors to existing lakes, had our first "open" tournament, made sure the winners of each tournament were posted the same day and that the rest of the field was posted to the web site early the next week (except the Classic--not sure why Jeff hasn't posted the pics and results on the web site yet), improved the communication across the board, and generally tried to run a better circuit.

Despite those efforts, participation declined this year and we only averaged 15 boats. The guys who attended the Classic were encouraging and many of them asked me to take over the circuit from Jeff, as he will not be able to run it in 2014. But I think the Indian Lake tournament proved my point--the circuit appears to have run its course. Only 4 of the 15 classic qualifiers showed up for what was to be the first tournament of 2014, with only 4 other tournaments to be scheduled. Had they come, we would have had over 20 boats, with new teams and the return of some old teams as well, which perhaps might have made me rethink my position.

It's now up to someone else to step up, as I did in 2012, if the circuit is to continue. If someone does, I'll help out by showing them what I've learned, and perhaps others will help as well. If that someone is you, please reach out to Jeff Tobin at 419-305-8762. He remains the keeper of the equipment, PO Box, web site, and bank account.

I want to thank the folks who participated this year--great folks, every one of them, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Good luck and tight lines!

See ya on the water!

Frank