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!