Event Info
Lake Perris 4/16/2010

Tournament News:

An unfortunate turn of events happened this week and we are going to try and give you the facts on what has happened. At the
beginning of the week the Perris event had 27 boats with deposits for the event. On Monday and Tuesday we lost 17 anglers for a variety of reasons. The one most accounted for was DVL's boat inspection process and with the big 2 day event there this weekend anglers did not want to "unlock" their boat from the DVL inspection process. So on Wednesday early AM we had 10 boats registered, paid and scheduled to show up to the event. At that point we had to make a decision on the tournament. There were three options for us and all had negative consequences.

1. Cancel the tournament and reschedule: This is probably the best option for the CBC and the best option for anglers not registered or planning to fish the event. However, we do feel it would be unfair to the ten anglers that were going to fish the event, took the time off of work, paid their entry and were supporting the event.

2. Hold the tournament as scheduled: 10 boats for 10 spots - nothing else really on the line for the event. This is what should probably happen but, with the economy the way it is and the lack of participation in the event (only 10 boats) running this event, will only hurt the overall payback as expenses to run the event are about $500.

3. Consider the 10 anglers in the event qualified as if they would be had we done option #2. This is probably the one that would get the biggest outcry from anglers not fishing the event, qualifying elsewhere and on the internet forums. However, choosing option 2 only takes money out of the pot for the championship and still qualifies all 10 anglers that were signed up as we would do with option #3.

As we promise to our anglers and as we will always do we will give you all the details and not try to hide anything. After the decision was made early on Wednesday morning to choose #3 from the above list of options two anglers attempted to register for the event. However, as we have stated many times the actual deadline for the event is Monday of the week of the event - in order to eliminate pre-fishing and then making the decision whether to fish or not. We do take final payments for those with deposits in the event up until Thursday. Had these anglers signed up prior to the deadline or even on Monday sometime we would have run the tournament as planned with 12 anglers for 10 spots. When these anglers attempted to sign up we had already notified some of the 10 that the tournament would not be held and that they were automatically based on option #3 above qualified for the event. Once those anglers were notified, they began to make other plans for Friday including not taking the day off of work, not fishing, cancelling baby sitters etc. etc. So we were at a point of no-return.

I personally, Tom Leogrande, take full responsibility for this regions lack of success. I made the schedule in an area that I felt I knew relatively well (I am an Inland Empire native) and that schedule did not work out very well. Especially, with the new very strict DVL inspection process and the big 2 day NBW event immediately following the event. With that said, we are thrilled with the participation of all other regions including the upcoming Pyramid event and the future Nacimiento event which both have outstanding participation. Now we realize that the anglers in Region 1 (Southeastern) have had an easier process qualifying for the regionals - but there is a solid group of anglers in this region and the regional will be a tough battle on Big Bear. We also would like to note that these are the anglers that will also be travelling the furthest to fish the State Championship. Although, it may seem that they are getting an easier road, we do believe it all evens itself out in the long run with the Northern anglers who have been so supportive getting the Championship so much closer to home.

We really appreciate everyone's support in our ongoing first season and we feel it has been an incredible success. We still whole heartedly believe that the CBC is a new format, a fun format, a lucrative format and a format that man can afford. We look forward to finishing our first season with a bang as we move towards the regionals and the state championship. We do have some great new ideas in store for those events and we have many of the best anglers in the state already qualified and more qualifying in the weeks to come. We know there will be backlash on this decision, mostly on the forums online, but, we made the best decision we could given the circumstances for the CBC.

We will not be commenting publicly on the decisions made, please refer to this page for the details in the decision or contact us directly through the contact us page on this site.

Thanks again to all of you who continue to support our events and we look forward to our next event, next week at Lake Pyramid!

The 10 Angler's registered and paid in full are as follows:

David Baker

Brent Benish

Jason Smith

David Danel

Clint Anderson

Rod Wynn

Stewart Williams

Robert Schneider

Ken Cobb

Pete Marino