Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
I have never fished professionally, but I’ve worked with professional anglers as a media person for more than 30 years and written for the consumer fishing market for more than 40 years. I think I probably know as many bass pros as anyone, and I count many of them as friends. They’re mostly terrific people, and they’re mostly terrific anglers.
Because I know so many pros, a lot of anglers — especially young ones — approach me and ask what it takes to make it on the tournament trail. Perhaps strangely, I enjoy the question, not because I think I can answer it better than Patrick Walters or Greg Hackney or David Fritts but because I think I have a different perspective that’s worthy of sharing.
When asked a “big” question like “What does it take to make it as a pro?” I often respond with a question or two of my own. I’ll ask, “Why do you want to be a pro angler?” and “What are you willing to sacrifice?”
The answer to the first question tells me what I need to know about the person’s understanding of the life of a touring professional angler. The answer to the second question gives me an idea of how bad they want it.
Critical to embarking on a career as a pro angler is a meaningful understanding of just what it takes to be successful. There’s lots more to it than catching fish.
In fact, an angler can have a bad year on the water and still have a great year as a “pro” because smart sponsors and pro staff managers care about one thing and one thing only: selling product. That’s not a bad thing, and it doesn’t make them bad people. They have a job to do, an employer to serve, and a greater “good” in mind. Just like the pro, they’re trying to shine a light on something, grow market share, and grow the sport.
I’ve only known one pro who I thought could make a living on winnings alone. The rest need — or want — sponsors.
I often tell aspiring bass pros that if you can’t be the Angler of the Year on the water, you’d better be the Angler of the Year off the water, and I think that’s good advice. No one can win every tournament. No one succeeds on all water types, in every region of the country, or under all weather conditions, but any wannabe pro can find a way to move the needle for his sponsors and his league through hard work, smart work, and commitment.
When I hear an angler say that catching fish solves all the problems of a bass pro, I wonder if he “gets” it, if he’s had a conversation with an industry professional in the current fishing economy, or if he’s really so naïve as to believe that his work begins when he launches his boat and ends when it’s back on the trailer.
Every successful bass pro I’ve ever known has made sacrifices for his success. Some sacrificed money or another career. Some sacrificed family time or even having a family. Many of the bass pros I know have been divorced. Many have been through bankruptcy or came close to financial ruin before they turned a corner or quit altogether.
Most of the men and women I’ve known who wanted to fish professionally have failed and moved on. Some have left with such a bad taste for the game that they stopped fishing completely.
The good news is that most who had the drive, the talent, the business sense, and the willingness to sacrifice — appropriately, but never wildly — have found a measure of success and stability.
My hat’s off to them. It’s a brutally tough road.
There’s an inside joke among the pros and those who work closely with them. It usually pops up late at night while gassing up the boat, fixing a flat tire, respooling line, or eating a convenience store burrito.
That’s when the pro or I will pipe up and say, “Just livin’ the dream!”
It always gets a laugh, but more from irony than anything else.
To the anglers who have climbed the mountain of professional fishing and realized their dreams, please know that I salute you and admire you without envying you even once.
And to those who aspire to that dream, I wish you more than luck. I wish you joy, adventure, and success on your journey.
