What Young Fishermen Should Do To Become A Pro
Professional Bass Fishermen Give Advice To Young Fishermen

Almost all young bass fishermen dream of becoming a professional bass fisherman in the future. A very few will. The idea of fishing every day, winning tournaments and being admired by other fishermen is enticing. But it is a hard life, and you must work, even in high school and college, to make your dream come true.

Fishing almost every day in tournaments and practicing for them sounds great. But it means long, hard days on the water no matter what the weather. And most don’t think about the travel to lakes all over the US with long drives, little sleep and being away from family and friends all during the tournament season.

Even in the off season a successful pro will spend many hours away from home while working shows. Presenting your sponsor’s products at boat shows, fishing shows and other events is critical for success, but it means even more travel.

You can be good at catching bass but there is a lot more that goes into a pro career. If you can’t get and keep sponsors you can not stay on the tournament trail. And those sponsors need people that can represent them well to the public, not someone that can just catch fish.

So how should a high school or college fisherman prepare for a professional fishing career? Some things may seem simple and straight forward. But others may not be so apparent. Who better to know and explain the things that you need to do than the guys fishing the Bass Masters Classic? As the BASS motto goes, they are living the dream.

At the 2014 Classic at Lake Guntersville and Birmingham I got to interview some of the pros fishing it. These pros ranged from first timers fishing the Classic to some who had fished more than a dozen Classics.

I asked them what a young fisherman needed to do to plan for a professional career. Their answers will give you good guidance in your planning to make your dreams come true.

Greg Vinson

Greg Vinson was fishing his third Classic at Guntersville after placing second in the 2012 Classic. I spent the practice day in the boat with Greg and he gave me detailed answers to my questions.

“Stay in school,” Greg said. “No matter what happens in your fishing career, a good education is important for the rest of your life,” he added. If your fishing career works out your education will help you. But if it something keeps you from being a professional bass fisherman, a college degree is very important.

Greg also said a young fisherman should fish every chance he or she gets. Join a youth club and fish those tournaments. Join a regular club as soon as allowed and fish them with more experienced fishermen and learn from them.

“Many young fishermen get too excited and don’t pay attention to detail,” Greg said. Learn to pay attention to detail. Make sure all your hooks are sharp and your reels are in good shape.

Also learn to pay attention to detail when on the water. Greg is good at this. He notices every bird diving, every circle of feeding fish and every change in wind direction.

All those are obvious but he also looks for little details like the size of the baitfish the bass are eating. One shad floating in the water can tell you what size bait to use. If a fish you catch spits up a crawfish, use baits that imitate them.

“Get the basics down,” Greg said. Learn to fish patterns, not places, and apply them to every lake you fish. Work on baits you don’t have confidence in until you do. Remember where you get bites, and learn from every one.

“Electronics are critical in fishing now,” Greg said. Learn to use them and what they mean. Work on all your techniques and get the mechanics of pitching, flipping and casting down so well you don’t even have to think about them, even if you are practicing in your back yard.

Patrick Bone

Patrick Bone was the only Georgia fisherman at the 2014 Classic. He qualified by winning a Southern Open but has done well on both the FLW tournament trail as well as BASS trail tournaments.

“Decide where you want to go,” Patrick said. Do you want to fish the top trails and travel all the time, or would you rather learn you home lake in detail and concentrate on tournaments on it. It is much easier to learn one lake and stay near home that to constantly travel all over the US fishing tournaments on new lakes.

“Remember you are starting at the bottom,” Patrick added. Don’t expect to hit the pro trail and instantly win, or to do well in every tournament. Don’t let bad tournaments hurt your confidence.

“Support at home is critical,” Patrick said. For a high school or college fisherman, support from parents and mentors can make all the difference. If married, lack of support from your wife will mean either the end of your career or the end of your marriage.

“Fish with clubs, youth teams and enter draw tournaments as a co-angler,” Patrick said. Learn from every day on the water. Try to find a mentor, an experienced fisherman to teach you as you fish. There are a lot of good people out there that can make your learning curve much steeper.

David Kilgore

David Kilgore lives in Jasper, Alabama and was one of nine contenders from Alabama, the most of any one state. He was fishing his first Classic at Guntersville but had won over $200,000 in 50 BASS tournaments in his career. He has qualified to fish the Elite Series three times but has turned each opportunity down. He cites the expenses of fishing the trail and time away from his family and business as reasons to not fish it.

“Join a high school team or youth team in your area and try to fish every tournament,” David said. “Pick a college with a fishing team and fish all those tournaments, too,” he added. There is no substitute for time on the water to learn the habits of bass.

Fishing high school and youth tournaments are likely to put you on lakes close to home, and you can learn from them. But college teams travel well away from their local area and that will teach you to find bass on unfamiliar lakes. You have to learn bass patterns that hold up no matter where you fish.

Fish other tournaments as a co-angler, and learn from every trip. Pay attention to everything you see and every fish you catch. David says you should keep a detailed fishing log of every bass you catch to help you learn how a bass’s brain works under different conditions. Keeping a good log you can review will help you learn.

Randall Tharp

Randall Tharp was fishing his first Classic at Guntersville after winning the FLW Championship that year. He had concentrated on the FLW tournaments but decided to fish the BASS Opens to qualify for the Elite trail, and won an Open so he qualified.

“Don’t get in a hurry to fish the pro trails, get an education first,” Randall said. Randall didn’t get his first bass boat until he was 30 years old so he got a late start, concentrating on education and business first, and now he is one of the top pros on both trails.

“Be true to yourself first,” Randall added. Don’t let your fishing take over your life. But fish every day you can within reason. Enter as many tournaments as possible as a co-angler, but don’t ever get into debt from your fishing.

Learn from others you fish with, but also figure out your own way of doing things. Every lake and every day is different. If you figure out your own way of fishing after learning from others, you can go to your strength in all tournaments.

“If you have a God given ability to catch bass, that special quality that sets you apart from weekend anglers, use it in the way that suits you. Develop your own style of fishing and don’t let dock talk make you change from your strengths.

To develop this skill, learn from others by being a Marshall in tournaments, fishing as a co-angler put time in on the water. Develop your confidence, probably the most important quality of a successful pro. But don’t let your fishing interfere with your home life.

Clifford Pirch

Clifford Pirch was fishing his first Classic in 2014 after winning over $213,000 in 32 BASS trail tournaments. He is a hunting and fishing guide from Arizona and has been successful on the FLW trail, too, winning over $740,000 there.

Clifford agreed staying in school, getting a degree in public relations or marketing, and spending time on the water is the way to go. But he also said there is a tremendous amount of information out there on learning to catch bass.

“Study magazine articles, information on the net and even newspaper reports,” he said. You can learn a lot and get some good ideas from them. Then put it with your information from time on the water and put all this together for your use.

“Make a pre-tournament plan and stick with it,” he said. Too many young fishermen try to fish every thing they can and miss a good pattern by not sticking with their plan. If you have put in the time studying for a tournament don’t waste it by not following your plan.

Kevin VanDam

Arguably the top bass fisherman of this century, Kevin VanDam has fished 24 Classics and won four. He is well known to most fishermen and a great role model for young fishermen.

“Stay in school and get a marketing degree,” Kevin said. If you can’t market yourself and your sponsors you will not be able to have a pro career. Kevin is a master at both, and his advice is critical for your success.

“Fish high school, youth, club and college tournaments,” Kevin said. Learn from experienced fishermen and get the basics down. But you also must learn to budget your time and energy in a tournament, and fishing them is the only way to do that.

Skeet Reese

I got to eat lunch with Skeet Reese at the media day and he spent time talking with me even though several of his sponsors were at the table. Many of the top pros were overwhelmed with media and sponsors demanding their time, but they all had a good attitude and were willing to answer questions. That willingness is critical to a pro’s success.

“Start out with high school and college teams as well as one day tournaments,” Skeet said. Don’t try to go too fast. Work your way up through Opens with the goal of qualifying for the Elite trail. Learn in every tournament as you go.

“Find a good partner to marry,” Skeet said. Support at home is critical for you to be successful. A good marriage will help you on the tournament trail. If you have problems at home, you will have problems in tournaments.

Aaron Martens

Aaron Martens lives in Leeds Alabama and was fishing his 15th Classic. He moved to Alabama to be closer to the bigger tournament trails and for the variety and quality of waters to fish in Alabama.

“Fish, fish, fish,” said Aaron. Fish a lot to get productive at it. But he warns if you don’t love to fish and fish competitively, you won’t do well. If it is a job rather than a pleasure you will have a tough time. It has to be in your blood.

Hank Cherry

Hank Cherry was fishing his second Classic at Guntersville and has won over $275,000 in 30 BASS tournaments. He placed third in his first Classic on Grand Lake in 2013 and has done well in FLW tournaments, too.

“Put fishing the pro trails out of your mind until you get a college degree,” Hank said. Your degree in marketing or PR should be your priority. Fish youth clubs, high school teams and college teams, but get your education then concentrate on your pro fishing career.

Edwin Evers

Edwin Evers has won over 2.2 million dollars in his career and is one of the most popular fisherman on the trails. He placed third at Guntersville in the 2014 Classic, his 13 trip to them.

“Stay in school, get a degree in marketing and fish a lot,” Edwin said. Fishing high school, youth and college teams is a great help, but don’t overlook other possibilities. You can learn a lot by being a marshal at tournaments, too.

“Learn from everyone and everything, but develop your own style,” Edwin said. Don’t try to get information about a lake that can mislead you. Consider anything you hear, but get on the water and confirm it but don’t get locked into something others have told you. Time on the water is the only way to learn this.

Jordan Lee

What better fisherman at the Classic for advice for young fishermen than Jordan Lee. He fished at Guntersvile as the college trail representative and placed sixth in his first Classic. Just 23 years old, he is the youngest Elite Series fisherman this year.

Jordan got hooked on bass fishing when he was ten and knew, after catching his first bass in his grandfather’s pond, that he wanted to be a pro fisherman. He went to Auburn University and fished the college team there and has done well in other tournaments, too.

“Fish a lot as a co-angler, make friends with the pro fisherman and learn from them,” Jordan said. That is the way to learn patterns and techniques to catch bass. Fish a variety of lakes so you can be adaptable.

“Learn to use electronics,” Jordan said. They are critical for catching fish in tournaments now. You have to get all the basics down, but electronics will show you the structure and cover to fish, and even the fish in it.

The obvious things a young fisherman should do, according to these pros, is to fish a lot, learn the basics and get a degree.

Less obvious is the consistent recommendation to get a degree in marketing or PR so you can market yourself and represent your sponsors. It might seem a degree in fisheries biology would help more, but you can learn the basics of catching bass on the water while getting and keeping sponsors so you can keep fishing.

Make your plans and start working toward the dream of being a pro fisherman now.

Last Sunday nine members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our November tournament at Lake Lanier. I think the rain scared off many of the members but it was weird. It was raining hard at my house at 3:30 AM when I was hooking up the boat and I had my windshield wipers on high all the way to I-85. Then it quit raining.

Everything was wet and misty, but during the tournament I never put my hood up on my rainsuit. Then on the way home I had to turn on my windshield wipers on high about the time I got off I-285 and on I-675 headed back. I am glad it held off while we fished.

In the tournament the nine of us cast for eight hours to land 12 keeper 14-inch bass weighing about 28 pounds. There was one five-fish limit and three fishermen didn’t have a keeper. There was only one largemouth – the other 11 were spots.

We did catch some good spots. Five of them weighed over three pounds each, and the biggest one weighed 4.79 pounds. That is a big spot. Spots fight harder than largemouth and are fun to catch.

I managed to land a limit and won with 8.87 pounds, Sam Smith had three weighing 5.56 pounds for second, Chuck Croft had big fish and third place with his 4.79 pounder and Don Gober was fourth with one at 3.77 pounds.

I started fishing a spinnerbait on a rocky point at 6:30 and landed my biggest keeper, a spot just over three pounds, on my second cast. At 8:00 I landed my second biggest fish on a jig head worm on another rocky point, then got my third keeper on the next rocky point I fished with the jig head worm at 8:30.

Catching three keepers in the first two hours made me feel pretty good, but I did not hook another fish until 2:00 when a keeper largemouth hit my jig head worm back in a pocket around some brush. With 15 minutes left to fish I ran to a rocky point near the ramp and, when I looked at my watch and saw it was 2:25 and I had to be at the ramp before 2:30, said to the fish and myself, ‘Ok, this is my last cast.”

As the jig head worm sank I saw my line jump and set the hook on a 14 inch spot, filling my limit. That is why I never give up and never go in early. You just don’t know which cast will result in a fish.

Fishing was tough for us at Lanier but folks that fish it a lot and know it are doing well. On Saturday it took five spots weighing over 17 pounds to win a tournament there and many teams in that tournament had five fish weighing over 12 pounds. And fishing there and on other area lakes will get better and better until Christmas if the weather this year is like it usually is here.

I look forward to the three club tournament at Lake Martin in October all year long. The weather is usually beautiful, the lake very pretty and the fish bite. For the past 12 months I have been anticipating the trip this year. But this year I had bad luck fishing Lake Martin.

I went over on Wednesday and got a campsite at Wind Creek State Park. A

Several were and I caught a couple of fish on a drop shot worm. Everything was great, it was warm but not too hot and, as usual, the clear lake surrounded by trees just starting to get a little color were set off by the white sandy and rocky shoreline.

Thursday morning I got up before daylight and headed out to check some more places. I was disappointed when I went to a bank where I had caught 17 bass on topwater last year on Thursday and got only one bite. During the day I caught a few fish but nothing to get excited about.

Friday morning I started with topwater in a place I fished a lot years ago but did not plan on fishing in the tournament, and caught two nice spots on topwater. Then I decided to make a long run to the other end of the lake to check some places a guide showed me. I landed a 2.5 pound spot and a three pound largemouth on two of them on topwater so was pretty excited.

Jordan McDonald joined me Friday night and Saturday morning we took off with great hopes. The first place we stopped was a deep bank where I had lost count after landing 20 bass the first hour of the tournament last year, but I caught only two fish. One was a two pound largemouth that turned out to be my biggest fish of the day.

We started fishing “memories,” places I had caught fish in the past, and by noon we both had limits of small fish. In the past I have been able to catch a kicker fish, a bigger fish to help my weight, up the river so we decided to make the ten mile run just after noon.

We were running at about 55 mph and within a mile of where I wanted to start fishing when my motor made an odd sound and lost power. After we settled in the water I cranked the motor again and it cranked, but rattled. Something was broke.

Jordan called Russell Prevatt since we knew he was fishing fairly close to us and he said he would either tow us in or get Jordan and our fish and take them to the weigh-in. We started fishing back down the river with the trolling motor, knowing our day was ruined.

I decided to call BoatsUs, an organization I have been a member of for about 20 years. They offer free on-the-road towing, the reason I was a member since they will get someone to you that can tow your vehicle and boat if you break down on the road. Most tow services won’t tow a boat so you have to leave it by the road, not a good thing.

They also offer on-the-water towing on most lakes. I didn’t pay the additional $48 a year to have it covered but with basic membership they cover $50 of it. I called the 800 number on my card and the woman I talked with was great, getting my location and connecting me with their tow service on Martin.

The two boat driver told me it would take him about 30 minutes to get to me, he was located at a marina way down the lake. Sure enough, he got to us right at 30 minutes later, tied us to his boat and towed us in at 25 mph on plane!

They charge $160 an hour and my bill was $240 total. I had to pay all but $50 of it but it was well worth it to get in that fast and not inconvenience anyone else in the tournament. Jordan and I fished around the marina the last two hours of the tournament and I did catch my second biggest fish of the day, a spot weighing almost two pounds.

The next day Jordan fished with Russell and I, being hardheaded, turned down Javin English’s invitation to fish with him. I thought I could catch some fish around the marina but I landed only two small keepers all day, fishing very slowly since all I had was my trolling motor.

In the tournament 30 fishermen landed 209 bass weighing about 223 pounds in the 17 hours we fished. There were 37 five-fish limits weighed in and two people didn’t catch a keeper either day.

The first day Russell Prevatt won with five weighing 8.29 pounds, Kwong Yu was second with five at 7.89 pounds, Donnie Willis placed third with five weighing 7.82 pounds and William Scott had five for 7.81 pounds for fourth and big fish at 3.68.

On Sunday Javin English won with five at 9.50 pounds, Billy Roberts placed second with five at 7.31 pounds and big fish at 3.0 pounds, third was Wesley Gunnels with five at 7.59 and fourth was Bobby Ferris with five weighing 7.14 pounds.

I thought I had broken rings or melted bearings in my motor but B and B Marine in Jackson said it was my lower unit. That was good news, a rebuild on a power head is about $6000 and a new lower unit is only $3000. I did price a completely new motor but at $20,000 I think I will have this one repaired!

I’m already looking forward to going to Martin next year, I just hope my luck is better.

There are a lot of very good young bass tournament fishermen in the Griffin area. For some reason Georgia has not produced many top level tournament pros but maybe these young fishermen will start a trend and make it to the top. A couple already are there.

I have enjoyed doing articles with several of them, and one fishes with me in club tournaments. Jordan McDonald from Jackson made the regional tournaments on two trails, the Bulldog BFL and the Weekend Series, in the past couple of weeks. He qualified to go to the next level through fishing state tournaments. And he won the point standings for no boaters in the Weekend Series.

At the two regionals he will be fishing he has a chance to win a boat and also to move on to the next level. And there are cash prizes in them, too.

Cody Stahl is in high school here and he and his partner on the state high school tournament last year then placed tenth in the national high school tournament. I did an article that is in the current October Georgia Outdoor News magazine on Lake Oconee and he showed me how good he is. His knowledge of bass fishing and his techniques are excellent for someone his age.

Byron Kenney is from Griffin, fished with the University of Georgia college team, and is doing great in the qualifying tournament for the bigger trails. Last weekend he won the two day BFL tournament at Oconee as a boater, the same one Jordan placed 9th as a no boater.

A couple of years ago I did an article with Dawson Lentz. Dawson is from Peachtree City, went to North Alabama College where he was on the fishing team and they won several big college trail tournaments. Dawson was a very good youth angler while growing up and will try some of the big trails next year.

Micah Frazier is from Newnan and he was the youngest angler to ever do so when he won a BFL when he was only 16, beating all the adult fishermen in that tournament. He is now fishing the BASS Elite Trail. As its name implies, it is the very top trail in BASS, and he had to do well in a lot of the lower trails to qualify for the Elite Trail. And he is doing pretty well on it.

Last Monday I went to Lake Sinclair to fish with Clayton Batts for a November Georgia Outdoor News article. Clayton is from Lizella near Macon and is now fishing the FLW Tour trail, the top trail for that organization. He worked his way up through the BFLs and FLW Rayovac trail to qualify for it and has been successful on the top trail.

We started fishing at 7; 30 and stayed until 5:30, and the whole time Clayton threw a top water plug. He landed a 5.6 pound largemouth and lost two more almost as big when they just pulled off the hook. He also caught five or six bass in the two pound range. His best five landed weighed over 13 pounds.

In my club tournaments it usually takes less than ten pounds to win, often a lot less. And the last time I fished a tournament at Sinclair I didn’t catch a keeper in eight hours. Not only does Clayton know the lake very well, he lived in a cabin on it while in college, he knows how to catch fish.

It is hard for me to fish with just one thing all day like he did. I keep thinking I need to try different things to find out what the bass want. But Clayton, and other pros, have so much confidence they will stick with just one bait, knowing it will work.

Clayton told me he wanted only five bites in a tournament, if they were the right ones. Pros like him concentrate on big fish. They know catching keepers won’t win their tournaments so they hope to land a five fish limit with each weighing at least three pounds, rather than dozens of one pound fish.

Tournament fishing is very competitive and youth and stamina help a lot! Clayton didn’t even have a front seat on his boat, he stood up casting all day. But he is half my age. I cannot stand up for long before my back hurts too much. And Clayton was able to twitch his rod all day to make the topwater bait work right.

If I try to fish a bait like that, one that requires a lot of hand and arm work, I give out after an hour or so. But I can always make excuses for not catching fish, from my age to the weather to the time of day. But even when I think the bass are not biting, somebody will catch them, even in our club tournaments,

Fishing the big trails is hard work. Clayton left Tuesday to drive to Arkansas to fish a Central Open, hoping to get enough points to qualify for the BASS Elite series. He says he will fish both trails as much as possible.

To fish even one trail you may have to fish a tournament in Florida then take off to California for one a week later, then come back to Kentucky for one a week after that. All that travel makes it very hard to have a family, or much of a life beyond fishing. But for the top pros, bass fishing is all that matter.

Forty years ago I had the dream of being a pro fisherman. I am way too old for that dream now, but it is nice to know some local youth are living that dream or working up to it.

As expected, the weather threw me a curve last Sunday. I was hoping the bass at West Point would be feeding in response to the cooler water but was disappointed.

The water temperature was around 80 degrees, the coolest it has been since last May. But it was still too soon, I guess, for the bass to really respond. And the day was hot with no breeze and bright sun all day so it was not as comfortable as I had hoped.

In the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament 12 members fished eight hours to land 41 bass weighing about 54 pounds. There were four five-bass limits and one person didn’t catch a keeper. There were only two largemouth, all the rest were spots.

Raymond English won with five at 8.53 pounds and his 2.76 pound largemouth was big fish. Kwong Yu was second with five weighing 7.03 pounds, Billy Roberts came in third with five at 6.58 pounds and my five weighing 6.05 pounds was fourth.

I started fishing around the ramp, thinking some of the bass released in tournaments there might hit, but they didn’t. The third place I stopped my biggest fish of the day, not very big at all, hit a Texas rigged worm in about 8 feet of water in a cove around some brush. Then I caught a keeper spot on a rocky point in about six feet of water on a jig head worm.

I tried a few more places then at 11:00 I went to what I hoped was my ace in the hole. There is a brush pile in about 17 feet of water and I have caught a lot of fish around it. When I rode over it to mark it my depthfinder showed it covered in fish.

Almost as soon as my drop shot worm got to the top of it a keeper spot thumped it. Then a couple of minutes later I got another one. But after fishing it for thirty minutes I had not gotten another bite.

I left and tried another place, then went back to the brush and quickly caught two more keepers. It is strange. Jordan and I caught two off that brush the last tournament we fished then didn’t get another bite for an hour. The pattern seems to be catch two and leave.

The water at West Point is clear and to fish a drop shot worm, a good tactic in clear water, you get right on top of the brush and drop it straight down. Although 17 feet deep sounds pretty deep, when you stop and think it is less deep than the boat is long.

I think the boat right on top of the fish scares them and they quit hitting. If you leave and come back after they settle down they will hit again – for a few minutes until they get scared again. I have tried staying out from that brush and casting to it from distance but can’t seem to get bite that way.

I fished a lot more places and caught several short fish before quitting time at 3:00, but no more keepers. As I said, the fish were much harder to catch than I had hoped!

When I got home I got an interesting thrill. After backing the boat into the garage I took my ice chest into the house and went back out to unhook the boat. Something didn’t seem exactly right while kneeling at the hitch and I looked back. Under the boat was a four foot black snake, lowly crawling across the floor.

Those kinds of snakes are harmless and eat mice and other vermin so I left it alone. I guess last week was my snake week. I have not seen a snake in months but Monday while cutting my field I noticed something white in the last strip I cut. It was another black snake, about three feet long, laying on its back. It had gotten too close to the bush hog blade.

I guess the cooler weather is making something more active!

At Oconee last Sunday 15 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished for eight hours for our August tournament. We landed 20 14-inch long keepers weighing about 38 pounds. There were no limits and four members didn’t land a keeper.

Jay Gerson won with two fish weighing 6.35 pounds and his 3.57 pound largemouth was big fish. Kwong Yu came in second with four at 5.42 pounds, John Miller placed third with 3 weighing 4.97 pounds and my two weighing 4.04 pounds was fourth.

We started at 5:30 so we had about an hour to fish in the dark, and I caught both my keepers before 6:30. They both hit a Texas rigged worm near two different docks. After that I fished all over the lower end of the lake, trying many different kinds of structure and cover at different depths, and caught a few short fish. It was a very tough day.

At 11:00 I heard thunder rumbling back to the west and I looked at the radar app on my phone and saw a line of red headed my way. So I ran the five miles back to the ramp, tied the boat to the dock and sat in my van until noon when the lightening stopped. I will not stay on the water when it is lightening.

After it stopped I fished for another hour and a half and caught a throwback but that was it.

Bass fishermen are also getting the chance to start earlier.
You may have seen the article in the Griffin Daily News last Friday about Cody Stahl and Tate Van Egmond, CrossPointe Christian Academy students that live here. They have a high school fishing team and the two of them placed 10th in the Bass National High School Fishing Championship on Kentucky Lake in July. Cody plans on being a professional fisherman and is starting out right.

Both the FLW and BASS now have high school and college organizations. Some colleges offer bass fishing scholarships now. I have been doing articles with some of those high school and college fishermen the past few years. This year BASS named a National High School All American Bass team. Two of them are from Alabama and one from South Carolina and I have done articles with all three. They all are very good fishermen, especially for their age. The current issue of GON has the article with Lori Ann Foshee – the only female member of the team, and on the cover is a picture I took of her holding up two five-pound bass she caught t Seminole on our trip.

Dawson Lenz grew up in Peachtree City and was a good high school fisherman. He chose to go to North Alabama College since it had a fishing team, was right on a great Tennessee River chain of lakes, and they gave him a full scholarship. His team won the College National Bass Championship twice. He graduated this year and is starting to fish the pro trails and I expect him to do well.

I have gotten to spend some time in a boat with some of the top pro fishermen in both trails doing articles. To give you an idea of the kind of money they can make:

Kevin Van Dam – $5,690,476.33 – 370,950 6 million
Casey Ashley – $1,173,262.00 – 230,999 2 million
Rick Clunn – $2,247,191.53 – 882,477 4.5 million
Boyd Duckett – $1,542,753.47 – 27,087 2 million
Micah Frazier – $34,194.00 – 225,728 300,000
Kelly Jaye – $89,051.60 – 80,187 150,000
Steven Kennedy – $1,262,763.00 – 786,277 2 million
Randall Tharp – $335,220.00 – 141,323,144 2 million
Greg Vinson – $512,957.06 – 123,930 650,000

I often wonder, and many fishermen ask me, what is the difference between a club fisherman like me and the top pros, and I have asked them that question. How can pro bass fishermen catch more bass than me? Part of it is time on the water, learning how to find and catch bass under varying conditions. Part of it is the mechanics. I can get a bait under a dock a couple of feet most of the time. Those guys can skip a bait from the front of the dock all the way to the back with little splashing almost every cast. And, unlike me, they hardly ever hit the dock!

I think there is something else, a sixth sense they have about catching bass. I compare it to baseball and playing the piano. Anybody can learn to play both, and practice constantly to become very good. But few will ever play in the major leagues or play a concert at Carnegie Hall. The people that make it to the very top of any profession have something special that gives them an edge.

At times I have a flash of that insight or sixth sense. Before a tournament I will just know in my mind if I go to a certain place and do specific things I will catch fish, and sometimes it works out. It doesn’t happen much to me. But those pros admit they often have that insight. It is so common that one pro is known for saying “if you think it, do it.’ He and the others are listening to that insight.

One of the first top pros I fished with was Boyd Duckett. He had won the Classic the year before we went and was at the top of his game. Even those pros, like all others, have ups and downs. I went with Boyd on his home lake, Demopolis in Alabama, and we were out from daylight to dark. He worked as hard as anyone I have ever been out with showing me his techniques and trying to help me catch fish. At the end of the day he had landed 33 bass – and I had landed 4! We were using the same baits, fishing the same places, but he still beat me eight to one!

A similar experience happened to me on Eufaula. We had a club tournament the same weekend a BASSmasters tournament was going on. That morning I caught a 3.5 pound bass the first place I stopped. As I went to the next place I wanted to fish I saw a bunch of boats – I counted 17 when they stopped – running up the lake behind another boat.
All those boats were following Denny Brauer – one of the top pros at that time. During the day I saw him six times – he was going into places as I was leaving, fishing the same cover and structure I had just fished. I found out later he was fishing a jig and pig on the edge of the grass in them, exactly what I was doing.

At the end of the day he had five bass weighing over 20 pounds. I had my one 3.5 pounder – I never caught another fish that day!

That happens often.

After a few years of writing mostly about bass fishing for them I came up with an idea. I tried to think of something that the average bass fisherman like me would like to read, and I knew we wanted specific information that would help us catch bass. We always want something, whether it is a new plug or special worm that will help us.

I came up with the idea to get a local expert to show me ten places on a lake where you could catch bass the month the article would run, talk about how to fish each place and what baits to use. I have done that article every month except one in GON for 19 years now.

The one I missed I was supposed to go to Russell on Friday, write the article on Saturday and leave on a two week trip with my wife on Sunday. Thursday night the guy called and said he couldn’t do the article and I had no time to find someone else and set it up.

About nine years ago GON started Alabama Outdoor News, the same magazine just in Alabama. And I started doing the Map of the Month article there, too, and have not missed and issue since that magazine started.

I have gotten to meet some of the best bass fishermen in the US and spend time in a boat with them. I don’t know how much you guys know about bass tournament fishing.

At the lowest level are club tournaments like I fish. There are over 100 bass clubs just in Georgia and three of them are here in Spalding County. Many fishermen start at the club level and work up. Clubs usually have monthly tournaments with an entry fee of around $25 and you might win $100 for first place. It is not about the money at the club level, it is more fun and camaraderie – and bragging rights.

Next are local trails and state level tournaments. These usually cost $100 to $200 to enter and first place will often win around $5000. They are much more competitive and are in a pro-am format, with the pro paying more and fishing from the front of the boat all day. The amateur pays about half as much as the pro and has to fish from the back of the boat all day and can win about half as much as the pro. It is a great way to learn about fishing, tho.

The next level are the regional tournaments put on by two big national organizations, The FLW and BASS. In those the entry fee is around $1000 and first place pays about $50,000 so you are getting in a much more professional group. And those doing well on these trails start getting sponsors to help pay expenses and give them equipment, including boats.

At the top level the two organizations have a trail fishermen have to qualify for through their lower trails and entry fee is about $5000 per tournament, but first place pays $100,000. And if you are at this level you have to have sponsors that give you cash as well as equipment, and pay your entry fees.

Each group has a final tournament each year for the best of the best. There is no entry fee but it by invitation only and limited to around 50 fishermen. The Bassmasters Classic pays about $400,000 for first and the FLW Championship pays the same or more. And if you win either, you will get somewhere around one million dollars in sponsorships the next year.
Two years ago I went to the Classic in Birmingham as a press observer. A few weeks after I got home my editor at GON called and said I was famous – I was quoted in Sports Illustrated. It is common to say the Classic is the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing. One day on the way to an event I said we should say the Superbowl is the Bassmasters Classic of football. A Sports Illustrated writer overheard me and quoted me, even getting my name and web site right!

So fishing is big business!

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade – or margaritas! Sometimes what seems like bad luck can turn into a good thing. Take advantage of those times. Good luck and bad luck while fishing a tournament at Clarks Hill proved this to me.

I went over to Clarks Hill last Wednesday to get ready for the Flint River Bass Club tournament this past weekend. Thursday morning I got up and drove over to Soap Creek Marina, about 18 miles from my trailer at Raysville Boat Club, to try to find some fish in the 88 degree water.

At 1:30 I ran out of gas. No problem, my boat has two 25 gallon tanks, and the other one had over ten gallons of gas in it. But I could not get the motor to pick it up. After 15 minutes of trying to get the valve to switch over I gave up and got on the trolling motor.

I was about five miles from the ramp so I was not too worried, but the sun was extremely hot and the going slow. It took me over two hours to get in. Just as I got to the ramp a bad thunderstorm hit. It is much harder to load a bass boat on the trailer without the gas motor so I got soaked. Really, I was not much wetter from the rain than I was from sweat.

After filling up the empty tank in town the motor cranked right up. I still haven’t figured out the problem. But it pretty much ruined my day of fishing, and it was my birthday!

The lemonade part of running out of gas happened going in. I watched my depthfinder/GPS unit while going to the ramp and as I crossed one big cove I saw the symbol for an underwater house foundation back in it on the GPS.

The next afternoon as I headed in from a day of practice where I had found a couple of small patterns and caught a few bass I remember the foundation and rode over it. My depthfinder showed what looked like rocks with fish on them at 20 feet deep. I dropped a worm down to it and caught a nice 2.5 pound largemouth.

During the tournament Saturday Jordan and I caught our three biggest bass on those rocks. I would have never found those fish except for my bad luck!

In the tournament eight members of the club fished for 16 hours to land 24 keepers weighing about 44 pounds.
There was one five-bass limit in the two days and two fishermen didn’t catch a keeper.

Niles Murray won with nine keepers weighing 15.51 pounds and had the only limit. Chuck Croft caught only four keepers but one weighed 6.02 pounds for big fish and his total weighed of 12.19 pounds was good for second place. My six keepers weighing 10.40 pounds was third and Jordan McDonald came in fourth with three weighing 3.49 pounds.

Saying fishing was tough puts it way too mildly. Saturday morning Jordan and I started on a bridge riprap at blast off and I quickly caught a two pound bass on a spinnerbait. I thought that was a good sign, I had caught several keepers last year in the same tournament on that bridge. But after two hours of fishing it we had not caught another fish.

We then went to the foundation and during the next 90 minutes I landed two good two pound fish and Jordan got one. At 9:30 we went to a small creek where I had caught some keepers the day before on topwater in the middle of the day around hydrilla and fished it for four hours, and Jordan got his two other keepers and I got one. But they were much smaller than the day before.

We went back to the foundation to fish the last hour of the day and did not get a bite.

On Sunday we started on the bridge again. After almost an hour I had lost one keeper that jumped and threw a crankbait. Then I lost another one on a topwater plug, but caught two keepers on top by 7:30. We then went to the foundation where I hooked and lost another good fish, but got no more bites.

We fished hard until the end of the tournament, trying the hydrilla and another bridge, but got no more keepers. It was a very frustrating after the sun got high both days.

It was very hot both days and uncomfortable to fish. I would much rather fish at night this time of year. It is cooler and more comfortable and the fish generally bite better. But many people don’t like night fishing for a variety of reasons.

At night I like to fish a black plastic worm on a rocky bottom. Bass can see much better than we can since their eyes take in about five times as much light as do ours. And their lateral line allows them to feel or “hear” vibrations in the water, like the lead on a worm rig scrapping along a rocky bottom.

It is a challenge, but kind of fun, too, to try to feel a bite on a worm, get your line tight and set the hook in the dark. And it is hard to land a big fish since you can’t see it to net it in the dark. If you shine a flashlight in the water to see it the bass will spook and take off, and often break your line.

Even with the problems, it is still fun!