Inside the cover of my new Classic Preview edition of Bassmasters Magazine there was an interesting article about progression of bass tournament as a sport and chart explaining the format of B.A.S.S. sanctioned tournaments.  This is a handy chart showing the general flow of how one achieves reaching the classic which is the pinnacle of bass fishing.



The thing I find most interesting, is that the Federation is above the weekend series.  I often regarded club fishing below "money tournaments", but I can see that when you combine all the divisional & national tournaments associated with the Federation, it is maybe a rung up from the weekend series.  Plus 6 federation anglers qualify for the Classic & only 1 Weekend Series angler qualifies.  All in all at the bottom level of the federation and the weekend series, I would guess the competition is a little stiffer in the weekend series tournaments over most club tournaments.  On the other hand, maybe this is an indicator of the importance ESPN/BASS puts on the Federation Nation compared to the Weekend Series.  The Federation is what drives all of B.A.S.S.'s youth & conservation projects, you do not see Casting Kids events at the Weekend Series events.  Well I am fishing both this year, so I guess I will see what the true separation is.

Rich
www.richlindgren.com
basstournament.blogspot.com