FLW Tour pro Brandon McMillan and FLW Tour co-angler, Rayovac Series pro Cal Clark have practiced together for a couple of years

So neither man had any reservations about doing so for this week’s seaon-opener on Okeechobee. After all, they were on the official roster, right? Both thought so.

It turns out that Clark was not officially entered, according to FLW officials. Hence, the disqualification of McMillan who, unwittingly, fished with an inelligible partner.

McMillan is trhe 3rd pro to be DQ’d from this week’s tourney due to revisions FLW made to Rule #5. The pertinent text reads:  “Thirty days prior to the first practice day pros are only permitted on tournament waters alone or accompanied by a contestant in the tournament, a member of their immediate family (mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, grandparent, grandchild or spouse), approved sponsor representatives, approved youth age 18 or younger or approved media representatives. With prior approval from the tournament director, pros may participate in FLW, B.A.S.S. Elite Series, B.A.S.S. Opens, PAA and other pro/am tournaments featuring random partner draws within the 30-day window.”

Apparently, Clark had not paid his entire entry fee. But McMillan is paying a huge price. Which leads to the obvious question, ‘is there something the FLW organization can do, or should do, to prevent such unfortunate situations from arizing in the future?’

These recent developments will certainly lead some pros to stop practicing with anybody. That causes access problems for co-anglers who want to get out and see how the lake is fishing. Also, having a practice partner can help a pro cut dowm on expenses if expenses are shared between the two anglers.

Any solution will come too late to help McMillan and other anglers affected by the rule change.

Our friends at BassFan.com wrote an in-depth article on this situation – read it here:  http://bassfan.com/news_article.asp?ID=4776#.UvO9LrQl9vQ