Professional Tourney Angler - making a living or winning?

[Texas Transplant]

After watching all the hula-ba-loo the past several months, regarding BASS vs FLW and who is gonna fish where, I have come to a new understanding of something (simply my personal opinion).



The one thing that I was having trouble figuring out, is why in the world would a professional tournament angler not want to have the ability to fish more tourney's for a bigger purse? I just really couldn't get my arms around it.



With the comments that have been made by 'many' of the pro's in various forums, I believe I finally understand it.



There is a group of Professional Anglers, that go out to win every tournament. They want to win, and that is simply where it starts and stops. Some of the names that probably go on that list are:



Kevin VanDam

Greg Hackney

Peter T.

Rick Clunn

Denny Brauer

Gary Klein

Mike Icaonallei

a number of others . . . . .



There is another group of Professional Anglers, that intend to fish a trail, earn 'some money', and make a living. They do not appear to be there to win, but rather to compete and earn a lving (along with their sponsors contributions).



The comments by Mike Auten (on Bassfan today), really sealed it for me. I appreciate the fact that he has other business interests, and see's the FLW Tour to be his chance to do two things (compete as a pro angler and also grow his media business). He certainly does not seem driven to 'both compete and to win'. And for him, the lower cost of entry into FLW (along with sponsor and business ties to Fox Sports Net), makes sense to him. Link to his article below.



Don't get me wrong on this, it's a personal decision that he (and all the others had to make). Just seems that some of the anglers come to win. Others come to make a paycheck.



Of course, I could be all wet - also. Wouldn't be the first time.



Tex




http://bassfan.com/ontour_lucky_article.asp?ID=46

 

[Greg J.]

Just guessing, but to me it seems sort of like the group of NASCAR drivers (sometimes mentioned as "field fillers", I think) who seem to be in a lot of the races...but never win, or place near the top. Somehow they make a living at it without ever being a superstar of the sport. :wacko:

 

[Texas Transplant]

Very good analogy. They just want to make the dance, and start the race.



Tex

 

[Jim B]

There is a big difference there. In Nascar every place in the field gets a payout and that payout is more then the entry fee to get into the race.



Most of the pro tournaments dont payout every place so you could lose money in that case. Look at the elite series. If you dont finish in the top half of the field as a "pro" you get nothing for a tourney that cost you 5k to enter plus expenses. In nascar all you have to do it take the green flag to finish "in the money". Thats not the case in bass fishng.

 

[TrepMan]

I didn't know that about NASCAR Jim, thanks for enlightening me. But I also think the "cost" of getting to the dance is MUCH higherin NASCAR then it is in Pro Fishing. The costs of a 19-21ft Tourney boat (new is nice but you can fish, if you have the $$ and the skills, out of a 10yearold boat as good as you can out of a new one) is a LOT less then the cost of a Pro level NASCAR vehicle, parts, crew...).



I have no clue of costs to get into NASCAR events, and honestly very little about cost of Pro Fishing events either, but I do see Pro Fishing as a much less money intesive sport.

 

[Texas Transplant]

Jim,



No gripe with your comments. I don't believe that Greg (nor I) meant to say it's an apple to apple comparison. It's just that some in NASCAR are there to make a living. They are not really there to win.



Much as I love the Petty's, that's where they fit right now. They are not willing to do what is necessary to get to the winners circle, and they are content to 'compete'.



Tex

 

[Jim B]

Tex, i see the point but its really not a fair comparison. Its just two totally different things in my opinion.



In my opinion in bass tournaments you really have to go in with the goal of winning or placing high to be able to make a living fishing just tournaments. Ill point to the elite series again. To fish the series you have to cough up 55k to enter. Say you went in and fisished in the last place on the boaters side (100) in every tournament you would be 55k in the hole plus travel expenses. . If you finished in the last payout position (50) you would net 110k but subtract the entry fees your down to 55k and still havent even figured out expences for gas, hotels, food etc. Sure sponsors will help but how much of that tab do they really pick up unless yor name is Vandam or Clunn or Brauer etc? Your not guaranteed a payday unless you fish well. If i was in thhe positoon to fish that trail to "try to make a living" i would starve. Honestly if i finished 50th place ( and i highly doubt im good enough to do that) in every one of those tournaments and got someone to pick up the tab for everything else that would be a cut in pay for me.



In Nascar you get paid if you make the field and start the race. The "field fillers" are guys like Carl long and Morgon Shepard that go to races where they dont have 43 cars to fill the field. That way they are guaranteed a spot if they run a qualifying lap even if its really slow. That one lap pretty much guarantees them a payday in excess of 50k. Most of these guys borrow or rent a car from another team to keep expenses down. Do that a few times a year when you are "guaranteed" to get in and get a payday and they make good money doing it. All they have to do is run two laps one qualifying and one green flag. After that they park the car and get paid.

 

[Scott Hammer TOXIC]

A statistic you should know........The top $$$ winners in professional fishing only win an average of 7% of the tournaments they enter. Consistency is the only thing that seperates them from us and the fact that their consistency gets them a check in a high number of their tourneys. That doesn't take away from wanting to win or the will to win.



TOXIC

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Not to change the subject but another big differance in cashcar they help with sponsorship. A company can go to cashcar and tell them they would like a taste of what it's like and have x dollars to spend. cashcar will put them in contact with a team or driver and help make it happen. Also cashcar tv contracts GAURANTEE a full field or a very high $ penalty, so they in fact will help arrange or broker if you will enough cars needed to complete the field. Thats why you will see some of these guys run one or two laps in a loaner car and get out before anything gets hurt.



BF

 

[Edward Lea.]

Wow it looks like things have changed since I started fishing back in 1970. I never fished the "big money" tournaments so I guess I never knew how much it costs. I just fished local and regional tournaments. But it still seemed like a average Joe with a livewell and a kill switch could muster up enough back then to enter a BASS tournament. It sounds to me like the sport has left the main body of its followers behind. I assume a statement like "someone making a living with a income of say 30 to 40 k might as well not entertain any thoughts of fishing a big time tournament"? You guys clue me in would you....... has the spport left its main body behind?

 

[Texas Transplant]

No, it's simply grown. If you go back to the start, and track the entries and payouts through the years, you will find that it all has grown over the years. With the growth, comes increased payouts, increased entry fees and of course increased costs - both from equipment and from expenses. In addition, the 'field' has gotten much larger and more competitive.



Same thing happened in golf, auto racing, etc.



The pro's that started, were taking the same type of chances that the pro's today do. Different costs, but still the same type of chances.



It's not that anyone has been left behind, it's more like it's grown to be a much larger sport, spread out over a much larger area. Remember, it was very difficult to find any competitive Bass Tournament when Ray Scott was first starting out. Few and far between. Now, you can find a competitive bass tournament on almost any lake, any weekend. They just don't all pay $100K to the winner.



Tex

 

[TrepMan]

Now, you can find a competitive bass tournament on almost any lake, any weekend.

Ain't THAT the truth! Saturday am around 6:30 my buddie and I were launching at Carters Lake and we noticed a bunch of floating boats all around the ramp area. So my buddie backs me down and I float off. Just as i'm about to fire up the Merc, I hear "Openen up, just checking your livewell" and an older guy with a flashlight has trolled over to check my boat out!! LOL Had to tell them we're just fishing for fun! They had a local open Pot T every Sat morning, just show up, pay your $$, showem your empty livewell and come back at 3pm for the weighin!!

 

[Texas Transplant]

Well, you should have entered! How did you do on Saturday, anyway?



Tex

 

[TrepMan]

Tex - I only got 2 keepers, 1 nice 16 inch bass and one skinny 13 inch. Both on jig and pig on chunk rock. We fished for 7 hours and thats IT! We hit the stump fields, deep holes, and everything in between. I missed one more on the jig off a blowdown, felt the tap (might have been a small fish or a crappie) and didn't wait for it to pick up the jig completely, got back the trailer barely hanging on.



Trep

 

[Dan J.]

The first five critical steps to becoming a professional BASS fisherman:



#1 Schedule your labotomy early. It'll give you the rest of the day for practice on the water. (Or go late so you don't miss the morning bite.)



#2 Reduce all denominations in your wallet to $100 bills. It'll make it easier to pay for things that break while practicing/fishing T's. (Some also find it easier to "give autographs on" while in off-limits or during no-info periods.)



#3 Relinquish all ties to family and friends. (Nobody likes a brain-dead and broke fish-a-holic.)



#4 Keep laughing at all times. It'll be the only way to keep people away from you and your "honey-hole". (Crazy people are scary in any sport!)



#5 (Most important) Never ask a former BASS competitor, "What's it take to make a living as a Professional Fisherman?" LOL!!:lol:



(The above was purely meant as tounge-in-cheek humor. Or was it?)