Professional Fishing
The Rugged Reality Of Being A Pro Fisherman
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Alan McGuckin
"Pro bass anglers have no entourage, save perhaps their spouses."Sports stars aren’t like you and me. They make millions of dollars. They have extensive entourages attending to their every need. They’re represented by armies of agents, managers and lawyers, experts on extracting the best deals for their clients from teams and sponsors. When they travel, they take private jets or ride in swagged-out tour buses.
Well, most sports stars. There’s another breed of pro athlete -- guys who are renowned for their prowess, followed by adoring fans and are generally considered legends in their field -- but for whom none of that applies. I’m talking about pro anglers, and having spent a weekend with some of the top fishermen alive, I walked away amazed at how down-to-earth they were and just how admirably DIY their operations were.
Bass angling is arguably hitting a peak of popularity in the U.S. right now, as 29 million Americans buy a fishing license every year, and the pro version of the sport has done nothing but grow since it really got started in 1967. But even so, pro bass anglers have no entourage, save perhaps their spouses. They drive themselves all over the country, usually logging 300 or so days away from home a year. Every time they show up at a tournament, they pay steep entry fees out of their own pockets, money they’re not guaranteed to see again.
My introduction to the regular-guy vibe of pro anglers began when I showed up at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport to attend an amateur bass fishing tournament sponsored and hosted by Toyota, the leading sponsor of B.A.S.S., the biggest bass fishing organization in the country. I expected to be picked up by a publicist or driver. I certainly didn’t expect that one of the biggest stars in pro angling, Kevin VanDam (aka KVD), would be in the car, and that he would insist on me riding shotgun.
From the get-go, the pro anglers I met were humble and approachable, although that didn’t mean they didn’t all have a serious competitive glint in their eyes. But perhaps that approachability is a function of their sport, which is far from the lazy image you might have in mind. It’s a rigorous, lonely pursuit and involves lots of early mornings on lakes and some serious brain power. (You don’t just stick a line in the water and wait for a bite. If you’re going to make it as an angler, you’ve got to actually outsmart the fish.) These guys don’t step into stadiums full of screaming fans and do their thing. They’re out on the water, on their own, fighting a very difficult foe. It’s got to be humbling. Next Page >>
