Delayed Start at Lake Mead Bass Pro Shops Amateur US Open Causes Pile Up at CallVille Bay
Red Flag Warnings at Callville Bay
On Saturday April 24, 2021 the start of this Bass Tournament for Amateurs was to commence but rough weather delayed this event until Monday the 26th. Because of that delay many of the anglers were upset since planning for such an event requires most, if not all, of these amateurs had to leave work with the costs coming out of their pockets and it shortened the time on the water.
The requirements for registration were clear and just about anyone with a Tracker, Ranger, Nitro, Mako, Sun Tracker, Triton and Tahoe boat qualified. There were restrictions for qualifying in that If you have ever paid an entry fee greater than $2,500, or if you have lifetime tournament earnings greater than $100,000, you wouldn’t qualify. Hence the Pro’s were excluded.
Lake Mead – Callville Bay
The temptation was huge… the total payout was $4.3 million in cash and prizes. The grand prize is $1 million, and the tournament champion also will drive home in a new Toyota Tundra with a Nitro Z20 bass boat in tow. The competitor who catches the biggest bass weighed in during the championship will also win a new bass boat. For $450 per adult, it’s a great escape.
But something happened that at this writing cannot be verified but by social media reports. We could not reach anyone at Bass Pro Shops to either confirm or deny what we are about to report.
Monday morning arrived along with 249 boats and 500 fishermen. The system that caused all the trouble on Saturday was still streaming out of the Baja, California. Small craft advisories were up and it warranted 2 red flags. That literally was a “red flag” that someone at the Bass Pro Shops should have taken into account. We don’t know, but we assume that the tournament director was involved at some level but anyone with a brain larger than a pea could have figured this one out.
Comment by Marc Townsend
The following compilation was part of stream of message coming from anglers who were present but couldn’t understand why they spent all this time and money to find that the navigation of this lake did not look good.
National Park Service
Prior to Monday, Rachel hopes and prays that Bass Pro Shops selects a whole new date. Note: They (BPS?) postponed the event but at a later time, rescheduled for Monday. It appears Rachel & friend took off for home implying that the Monday date was not clear until closer to Monday.
What is not clear is that system coming out of the Baja was not going to quit for some time and whomever was the decision maker for this event never checked with USGS. (seen in later comments, the accusations run wild for a 24 year old presumably at Bass Pro Shops)
So, here’s the official timeline of the two main notifications. For now, note the time difference of 1 hour and 24 minutes that, in this time frame, 249 boats are let loose in a SHOTGUN start. Although we don’t know the exact weather conditions, it’s easy to see the potential for accidents in the pictures and video below. Can you imagine the mayhem with huge boats and powerful motors trying to get out of Callville bay?
During 1:24:00 hours, the unthinkable occurs:
WHO AUTHORIZED A SHOTGUN START???