Lowrance Pro Team Walleye Circuit

[Golden]

Just got this from Billy, it's also posted on his website at
http://www.westernwalleye.com

Some changes have been made to the Lowrance Professional Team Circuit for 2008.

The North Dakota DNR sent us a letter that we could not hold a tournament in Bismarck in April, May, June, or from September 1st to October 15th..even during the week.....so we will not be holding a North Dakota Division this year. Teams that entered will be sent refunds or they can transfer their entry to one of the other tournaments.

We'll run with two divisions. First come first serve. Entry fees will be $1000 per tournament.

Top three division places will pay cash. Top fifteen places per division will have no entry fee for the 2009 championship. Championship will be drawn from a hat between Mobrige, SD, and Boysen WY. Championship entry fees will be as followed: teams that fish three or more tournaments $500, two tournaments $1000, one tournament $1500.

South Dakota Division:
Lake Francis Case, Chamberlain, SD April 16th, 17th, 18th
Lake Oahe, Mobridge, SD May 21st, 22nd, 23rd

Wyoming Division:
Glendo Reservoir, Glendo, WY May 30, 31, June 1, hosted by Glendo Marine (307) 735-4216
Boysen Reservoir, Shoshoni, WY June 20, 21, 22

[Finally]

we have been entered for some time. Nice to see the web site updated. Hope everone can get in touch with them now.

[Rapman6]

Thats great but a Little late. I know we are not fishing the first tournament in fear of a no pay. The way I look at it the way things have been going you have 13 teams pre paid already. So, out of those 13 the top 2 will fish for money. And if you do get lucky to be in the top two will the check cash????? Its not worth it to me to pre fish for a week with 3.30 gas plus motel, plus food to MAYBE get a check that might not be any good.

The other thing why didn't BIlly post a message instead of Scott????

So, we've made other plans on fishing a sure thing

[thanx]

Thanks for the encouragement for other anglers.I am pretty sure Billy is going to do everything he can to take care of his anglers.Why would Billy put his head on the chopping block if he was not going to make things right.Some people just love to make things more miserable I guess misery loves company or maybe it was a long winter.I will fish Billies circuit,Billy will confront his anglers and hopefully take care of things.There is not a funner circuit out there to fish,anglers make the circuit and this circuit has alot of great anglers that all get along with each other and they always welcome new anglers.If the money is not there I guess the tournaments will not be there also.

[Magic unlogged]

I too will fish 3 of the tourneys, thanx Billy!

[letsfish]

We too will fish at least 3 of Billys tournament. We are glad to see the website was finally updated. We also hope Billy will become bonded. This will give piece of mind to the fisherman so they know that this situation will never happen again. Everybody knows this is and was a bad situation for the circuit, but all we can do now as fisherman is come together and show up to fish and have fun like we have in past and hopefully everything will work out!! I know people are thinking there are alot of variables here but I beleive the fisherman can stll make this circuit go because it is made up of alot of great people!

[10 Pound]

I think if you are going to put thousands of dollars into an oganization that has bad debt and bad checks you should have your head examined. Sorry to be so blunt but think about it! North Dakota was smart enough to cut the rope.

[What am I missing]

I can't for the life of me understand why someone would fish a circuit that has had so much controversy. How many frustrated posts have there been in the last two months. NO communication from Billy, some issues with bad checks to the fisherman, states not allowing permits until bad debt is paid up. I thought this circuit had a lot of potential when it first came out but unfortunately it has been managed poorly. With so many options out there to fish, I'm confused as to why people would still fish this circuit. I don't wish ill will towards anyone, I love to see people succeed in life but when you get screwed once...shame on them, when you get screwed twice...shame on you.

Good luck to Billy and the fisherman that fish the circuit, I hope it works out for you. I lost the trust and am moving on to other circuit opportunities. Billy just hasn't done anything to get the trust back. If he was sincere, he would be humble and come out and communicate with the fisherman he wants to support him.

Respectfully,

[not paid]

i bet the payout is huge this year with the three excited posters signed up to fish the circut.at least the weigh in will be quick!wtf!

[I agree]

10-pound said it very well, and so did "what am I missing." I'm somewhat perplexed that people are willing to stick their neck on the line and thousands of dollars knowing full-well this has been a troubled organization the past year. Be very careful what you wish for, because in this case you could certainly become easily disappointed. It says alot when a state won't issue permits and I for one, was one of those who received a bad check at last year's championship. Billy has done absolutely nothing to reassure his anglers or to try and regain their trust by communicating personally with them. An email to me this past week stating that the North Dakota division has been dropped and that everything else is status quo doesn't even come close to working for me. A personal letter in my mail box and an apology along with an explanation of what really is going on quite possibly could have gone a long way, but to be smug and to think that everything is honky-dorry doesn't work for me---at all. For those of you who rolled your winnings last year over into tourney fees this year I truly hope you get to fish. We're headed down the road to where the payout checks are good, to where the tourney director openly communicates with his anglers, and to where people truly appreciate the support of the anglers, because this isn't it. Sorry to be so blatant and not to bash anyone, but Billy deserves every harsh word sent his way because he has handled this very poorly. "Pro Team"---I don't think so.

[chadk66]

why not turn the bad checks over for prosecution?

[10 Pound]

For the same reason you don't pee into the wind

[chadk66]

that's a criminal offense where I live. I'm not sure what turning the checks over to the states attorney has to do with peeing in the wind. Your probably not going to get your money but the one issueing the checks will get their due at least.

[concerned]

Suppose they will have to purchase another $16 subscription to Western Walleye Mag again for 1 issue????

[GoodLuck]

Anybody that still puts there trust in Billy and gives him $1000 to fish his tournaments needs to think twice.
-First of all his excuse that the ND G&F wouldn't allow a tournament in all those months isn't true, I had called G&F 2-3 weeks ago and they had told Billy no tournaments in APRIL or MAY because of local tournaments and the walleye spawn, nothing about June,July,Aug,or Sept. Also no tournaments until ALL DEBTS are paid to fishermen and the G&F for 2007 tournaments. He does not mention anything about the DEBTS OWED, that is the reason he is not welcome in ND!
-Another thing you must ask yourself, WHY DID HE HAVE ALL HIS PHONE LINES DISCONNECTED? If he really had someone embezzling from him why didn't he just come out and explain himself, instead he chose to hide and hold onto everyones money and make them wonder what was going to happen.
-Good Luck to the 3 posters that are sticking with Billy, apparently your states don't have enough tournaments to fish. Maybe half the excitement is wondering if your check will clear? Like it was stated earlier Billy has done NOTHING to gain back our trust!

[GoodLuck]

Anybody that still puts there trust in Billy and gives him $1000 to fish his tournaments needs to think twice.
-First of all his excuse that the ND G&F wouldn't allow a tournament in all those months isn't true, I had called G&F 2-3 weeks ago and they had told Billy no tournaments in APRIL or MAY because of local tournaments and the walleye spawn, nothing about June,July,Aug,or Sept. Also no tournaments until ALL DEBTS are paid to fishermen and the G&F for 2007 tournaments. He does not mention anything about the DEBTS OWED, that is the reason he is not welcome in ND!
-Another thing you must ask yourself, WHY DID HE HAVE ALL HIS PHONE LINES DISCONNECTED? If he really had someone embezzling from him why didn't he just come out and explain himself, instead he chose to hide and hold onto everyones money and make them wonder what was going to happen.
-Good Luck to the 3 posters that are sticking with Billy, apparently your states don't have enough tournaments to fish. Maybe half the excitement is wondering if your check will clear? Like it was stated earlier Billy has done NOTHING to gain back our trust!

[Mike D of SD]

Rumor has it that all prizes at Chamberlain will come in the form of cash. No checks! I think Billy deserves another chance. See ya in Chamberlain.

[Mike D of SD]

Rumor has it that all prizes at Chamberlain will come in the form of cash. No checks! I think Billy deserves another chance. See ya in Chamberlain.

[Will Billy]

have an armed guard? All cash, wow, that's risky.

[Risky]

Billy has ample time to prove himself and he has done some bad things with bad check and not paying who he needed. People please fish these at their own risk. I know I will never fish again.....no trust. I wish Billy would get on here and come clean.

[Walt P.]

I agree he does deserve another chance but only when he comes clean about everything. Lying, not communicating, denying the facts, don't help.

Like I said lets see how the first one goes before we jump in.

[Rapman6]

I agree come clean wipe the slate clean is the first step he needs to do. By ignoring everyone is only making matters worse. Salvage what's there and prove yourself and hopefully people will trust you in the future to want to fish it again.

[Jign]

I agree I think Billy should get a second chance. Every body out there has had a second chance probably more than once. It was not a good thing that happened but it did. And I think that Billy as soon as he is able will take care of our money issues.

[Jign]

P.S. I'm fishing the tournaments also

[Josh Loebs]

I'm not going to speculate what has happened but I'm sure eventually he will explain what the deal is. I've fished the tournaments in the past and they are run professionally and field some of the best anglers you will find on any tournament trail. Like I said, I don't know any of the details and hope that they will make everything right with the people they supposedly owe money to.

Josh Loebs

[waunderer]

I would not want to be in Billy's position period. I have had several e-mail conversations with Billy over the past 4 months trying to collect the money owed to myself from the championship in 2007. He has not kept his word to me for repaying the debt owed, he has lied to me about the status of his getting it straighten out time frame. He has stated in writing that he owes money to 12 teams, I have personally talked with 5 of these teams teams are owed between 1000-3000 apiece from the championship. This does not include contingency money that was put up by the sponser of the tournaments but not paid out by Billy. I'am currently working with the Wyoming Attny General to file charges for extra charges to my credit card from the championship. I have been told several times within the last month that i will be getting money that week from Billy but no nothing. AS far as excuses I have e-mails with two different versions from Billy. I will be willing to work with any other anglers that are still trying to collect from this fiasco. I have committed myself and my lawyers to getting this taken care and as much information out to the fishing industry and the tournament participants. In the near future I will be posting the e-mails sent to me on this site if the lawyers will allow it and is they feel it is in the best interest of the Anglers still owed money.

[disappointed1]

"Top three division places will pay cash. Top fifteen places per division will have no entry fee for the 2009 championship."


SO unlike the past, they will only pay the top 3 spots and not pay the top 10 spots. What kind of bull is that?

If Billy would have just come out and responded to some emails and phone calls and made a public announcement what the heck was going on, people would be more than happy to support him and the tourney.

But how can I trust anyone who will not respond back to me and not tell me whats going on. Let alone charge my partner and I a $1000 per tourney and expect to only pay out the top 3 spots? That is not right at all.

Just for this, My partner and I will not be fishing any of Billy's tourney's this year!

[arnie]

Wanderer, unfortunately my brother had to drive across about 5 states to go to court to get his money as well. It worked, the judge awarded him his money and subsiquently got his money but it is really unfortunate it had to come to that. How anybody can fish this circuit after all the negative press, bad checks, people still owed money, and absolutely no communication simply blows me away. I am a human resource manager with a company of 400 employees so I fully understand second chances but you have to come clean, own up to your mistakes, be humble, and people will generally forgive you...even give you another chance. Billy has done none of this. You give people second chances that you TRUST, not to people that don't communicate or return your calls, hide, and then have the balls to try and run a circuit again. Wow. I'd be ashamed if my integrity and character resembled what he has done. It's too bad, he runs a really good tournament, he seemed like a really nice guy, just no integrity to stand behind the circuit.

Those of you who support Billy as a person, kudos to you and I hope you can be a positive influence on his personal life. Those of you that support his circuit, shame on you for being an enabler to someone who has stole other people's hard earned money. I usually stay away from topics like this but this hit too close to home.

Good luck to all of you that are still owed money, you deserve to get it and I hope you do.

[Contact Billy]

disappointed1


2008 payout based on a full field of 70 teams. The cut will for the final day will be 12 teams based on a full field.

1. $10,000
2. $7,000
3. $6,000
4. $5,000
5. $4,500
6. $4,000
7. $3,500
8. $3,250
9. $3,000
10. $2,500
11. $2,250
12. $2,000
13. $1,000
14. $900
15. $800
16. $700
17. $600
18. $500
19. $500
20. $500
$58,500

[I thought]

I thought the first place payout was originally $50,000, thus the word pro in the name. At $10,000 that's no more than most of the MWC events which are not pro events.

[Mike D of SD]

"""Top three division places will pay cash. Top fifteen places per division will have no entry fee for the 2009 championship."


SO unlike the past, they will only pay the top 3 spots and not pay the top 10 spots. What kind of bull is that?

If Billy would have just come out and responded to some emails and phone calls and made a public announcement what the heck was going on, people would be more than happy to support him and the tourney.

But how can I trust anyone who will not respond back to me and not tell me whats going on. Let alone charge my partner and I a $1000 per tourney and expect to only pay out the top 3 spots? That is not right at all.

Just for this, My partner and I will not be fishing any of Billy's tourney's this year!"""


THIS IS FOR TEAM OF THE YEAR!

[Wrong]

Billy's is paying the top 20 places, if a full feild. The top 3 places you list are team of the year or division winners, not tournament payouts.

[Juls]

That's what MikeD said.

Most of his post was quoting another poster.

If you read his last line, he explained it to the other poster.

Juls

[fishing these]

I like the idea of Billy paying cash to all the top fininsher in Chaimberlain. No wondering if the checks will be good. If he pays cash, that takes all the if's out of the equation. We will be at the Chaimberlain tourny.

[10 Pound]

Billy has said many things that he has not done. Just because he said he will be paying cash, don't count on it. If you are going to throw your money away....can I have it?

[walleyehunterCO]

How can he pay "cash" to people when he already owes money to people with bad checks? If he owed me money, I would be there at the awards cerimony with my hands out!!!!

[what to do]

So what are all the teams supposed to do that prepaid last year at the championship. Keep in mind when they prepaid for this year, they had no idea there were any bad checks out there or that there were going to be any. We just want to fish. When you keep posting all this negitive stuff on here, you are hurting us just as much as Billy. I don't like what has happened either, but we have been paid since Devils Lake and like I said, WE JUST WANT TO FISH.

[walleyehunterCO]

Negative?....yes. Is it true?....yes. I for one am glad that this has come to the surface. I was going to fish this circuit until all of this came out in the open. You say "what to do"? Only you and your partner can answer that. My partner and I already have. It will be interesting to see what happens in the future. You would have to agree that sending registrations and monies for a tournament series when last years teams were not paid is a little risky?

[Do this]

Turn off the bilge.... This ship has sunk.

[PRIMETIME49]

would you rather hunt with Cheney or go for a car ride with Kennedy?

What does a sponsor like Lowrance say when this stays so much of a topic?

Obviously a lot of people still put a trust measure in this fellow whom I have never met.

I would almost fish it just to see what kind of crowd activity is at weigh ins

[not sure]

If all this negative stuff were true, and i'm not saying it is or it isn't, Why would Lowrance allow their name to be a part of this for so long?

[in progress]

well if they are like most companies there marketing budgets are done up prior to scandals like this. some of the budgets get decided in november and sign the dotted line. so they are problably stuck with it for the year. or it was a 2 year contract. and its not worth the legal hassel to get out of a contract. i'm sure it will be topic of discussion at the lowrance booth this year.

[he said she said]

I wish Billy would just grow a set and get on here and fix this all himself. He is the one that has created all this and he is going to be the one to fix all this. I would not trust him with ANYTHING! You guys are crazy fishing this circuit and supporting a guy that has done what he has. Alot of you don't know everything that has happened.

[he said she said]

I wish Billy would just grow a set and get on here and fix this all himself. He is the one that has created all this and he is going to be the one to fix all this. I would not trust him with ANYTHING! You guys are crazy fishing this circuit and supporting a guy that has done what he has. Alot of you don't know everything that has happened.

[Juls]

It's been decided to lock this thread since nothing new or constructive is being said, and Billy has taken his beating on this site long enough.

Thanks,
Juls

[Juls]

It's been decided to lock this thread since nothing new or constructive is being said, and Billy has taken his beating on this site long enough.

Thanks,
Juls