As we fished on Okeechobee last week we were constantly around fishermen in the Everstart tournament on the lake. At times, it got down right aggrivating when they brought in the helicopter and hovered over our heads for 5 or 10 minutes.
I'm not against tournament fishing. Fact is, I fish tournaments myself, but I wonder where they are headed with tournament fishing and will the sport as a whole be sucked into it.
Most professional sports have become a bastion of very overpaid (In my opinion) athletes who instead of being mentors to young people who look up to them are people I'd prefer my kids do not immitate. The fact is, nobody on this planet is worth 10 million per year to play baseball, football or basketball. The sports that were once sports have become rackets for money. Sponsorships, commercials, figurines, trinkets the whole 9 yard big top circus to part us with our money to pay them. Who can afford an NFL ticket or Baseball Ticket these days? The answer is of course not the majority of us. Even Nascar has seemingly lost it's sole in it's quest for money. Nolonger will good ole boys get to watch the Southern 500 in Darlington on Labor Day because California has a larger tv market. Gone are the hero days of Petty, Yarborough, and Allison, in is a new sport with more camera friendly and midwestern accented 20 some year olds.
The fisherman in the Pedigree boat (whoever he was) could not possibly have fished to the best of his ability with 2 camera boats a helicopter, 15 spectators, and an air boat with tournament officials on it all within a very few feet of his boat and frequently in the way of his fishing. The 2 camera boats frequently bumped into his boat as he worked the hydrilla bed.
Is that the price we can expect to pay for this newfound fame that ESPN and Op Bass have brought to the sport? Will bass fishing become a spectator sport rather than a participation sport? I know I'd 10 to 1 rather fish a tournament or fish to be fishing than watch one on TV, but there has to be an audience or else I guess even the pros would be fishing for peanuts like most of us in weekend wildcats or club tournaments.
What happens if the drive to "Live Televise" a bass tournament forces major tournaments off of public waters and onto small private bodies where people like Bill Dance film a television show? You have to know it's very expensive to dispatch helicopters, air boats, pontoons with crane cameras on them, bass boats with camera man and driver, and every other mode of transportation to follow an angler on the water. You know it might be pretty boring to watch on tv if something happened to the weather like the guys in the tournament had to fish the Monday after that wicked cold front came through and dropped the lake temps 10 degrees and air 40 degrees. Maybe the powers that be decide to only fish tournaments on certain weather conditions because of the drive for a tv quality picture.
Sure, most of us would like to make the money these guys make on the circuit, but which guys? Fact is, there are probably only 20 or so professional fishermen making money, the rest are in hock to their necks trying to make enough money to keep the bank from taking their house, boat and truck. The fact is, it costs big money to fish a pro tournament trail. I would venture a guess for every guy that makes it there are 300 that get a divorce, file bankruptcy and go home broke. Maybe with all this promotional business, fishing becomes the domain of 5 or 6 guys who own "Fishing Teams" (Something like Nascar) and hire fishermen to fish out of their boat dolled up with sponsor stickers.
Do we want a sport where fishermen are million dollar contracted athletes that entertain us on the television or ones that fish for a living and the guy with the biggest bag wins not necessarily the one who put a Bush Beer sticker on his boat.
Skipper
I'm not against tournament fishing. Fact is, I fish tournaments myself, but I wonder where they are headed with tournament fishing and will the sport as a whole be sucked into it.
Most professional sports have become a bastion of very overpaid (In my opinion) athletes who instead of being mentors to young people who look up to them are people I'd prefer my kids do not immitate. The fact is, nobody on this planet is worth 10 million per year to play baseball, football or basketball. The sports that were once sports have become rackets for money. Sponsorships, commercials, figurines, trinkets the whole 9 yard big top circus to part us with our money to pay them. Who can afford an NFL ticket or Baseball Ticket these days? The answer is of course not the majority of us. Even Nascar has seemingly lost it's sole in it's quest for money. Nolonger will good ole boys get to watch the Southern 500 in Darlington on Labor Day because California has a larger tv market. Gone are the hero days of Petty, Yarborough, and Allison, in is a new sport with more camera friendly and midwestern accented 20 some year olds.
The fisherman in the Pedigree boat (whoever he was) could not possibly have fished to the best of his ability with 2 camera boats a helicopter, 15 spectators, and an air boat with tournament officials on it all within a very few feet of his boat and frequently in the way of his fishing. The 2 camera boats frequently bumped into his boat as he worked the hydrilla bed.
Is that the price we can expect to pay for this newfound fame that ESPN and Op Bass have brought to the sport? Will bass fishing become a spectator sport rather than a participation sport? I know I'd 10 to 1 rather fish a tournament or fish to be fishing than watch one on TV, but there has to be an audience or else I guess even the pros would be fishing for peanuts like most of us in weekend wildcats or club tournaments.
What happens if the drive to "Live Televise" a bass tournament forces major tournaments off of public waters and onto small private bodies where people like Bill Dance film a television show? You have to know it's very expensive to dispatch helicopters, air boats, pontoons with crane cameras on them, bass boats with camera man and driver, and every other mode of transportation to follow an angler on the water. You know it might be pretty boring to watch on tv if something happened to the weather like the guys in the tournament had to fish the Monday after that wicked cold front came through and dropped the lake temps 10 degrees and air 40 degrees. Maybe the powers that be decide to only fish tournaments on certain weather conditions because of the drive for a tv quality picture.
Sure, most of us would like to make the money these guys make on the circuit, but which guys? Fact is, there are probably only 20 or so professional fishermen making money, the rest are in hock to their necks trying to make enough money to keep the bank from taking their house, boat and truck. The fact is, it costs big money to fish a pro tournament trail. I would venture a guess for every guy that makes it there are 300 that get a divorce, file bankruptcy and go home broke. Maybe with all this promotional business, fishing becomes the domain of 5 or 6 guys who own "Fishing Teams" (Something like Nascar) and hire fishermen to fish out of their boat dolled up with sponsor stickers.
Do we want a sport where fishermen are million dollar contracted athletes that entertain us on the television or ones that fish for a living and the guy with the biggest bag wins not necessarily the one who put a Bush Beer sticker on his boat.
Skipper
