Actual fishing footage doesn't clearly and cleanly show all the sponsors of the angler or the tourney org, including the primary sponsor and the "presenting" sponsor and the others.

That's why you see the "Big Boring Company Bass Extravaganza Tunnymint Challenge Champeenship Presented by Just Kill Me Screwdrivers". Along with, sometimes, the 23 other sponsors listed and the angler's jersey littered with 14 more of them.

I like the BASS and FLW tournament folks and pros. I just think the format's due for a shakeup. We'll see if MLF hit the right buttons.

But the head Diva rides around taking selfies at Jacks and Academy. Post pics of her food all in the name of promoting the sponsors. If you buy that new Phoenix you will get a (Welcome to the Phoenix family)post on the page. I have never seen someone that needs more self gratification on a daily basis. So that's my opinion on why theirs little fishing

I like to watch the MLF events on TV, but its going to be a logistical nightmare to keep 80 anglers, officials, camera guys, and other staff from keeping quiet for 8 events. I see them having the trail, and weighing and releasing but only counting the 5 heaviest for total weight, not the catch a 35 1-lbers for the win. What will be interesting is if the heavy hitters (KVD, Skeet, EE, Ike, Ish etc) will walk away from the chance at the Classic. Those guys aren't paying their entry fees anyway, sponsors are taking care of that. I'm sure its going to be a hand picked field. some like Matt Herron are already complaining about it.

I love the format and is there any way the little guy could get in on it, is what I would like to know....

Nope. Grassroots guys can still get into BFL and whatever BASS has and work up. MLF isn't doing that.



Not directed at you, DeerNutz, but I see on some other sites continual "We need a Pros vs. Joes tournament circuit. Some of the Joes would whip their azzes!" Those are available, too. They're called the Bassmaster Open and FLW Costa divisions. Sign up and see how it works.

I've always been amazed at how much bitching there is about no one taking pro bass fishing for real and respecting it as a sport, and then wanting Bill Bumfuckkle in his 14-year-old boat thinking he can beat VanDam or the other guys regularly. Occasionally? Sure, the Joe will win now and then. But put both of them on a lake neither one knows about and has no help with for 8 or 9 hours? IMO the pro would win 99 percent of the time.

If I ever hit the lottery I may do that just for fun to watch.

I love the format. It requires true fishing talent and knowledge. It cuts out the guys studying maps, gathering info from locals, endless hours on lakes pre fishing and most importantly it doesn’t require running around with fish in the livewell so it decreases the mortality rate in the tournaments. I do realize that that happens more in the lower levels but it does happen up there too.

Clem, I'm gonna disagree with you . There are a bunch of recreational anglers that dang sure can compete with the pros in certain specific situations. For a full trail season, alll across the country, you're right, the pros will win 95% of the time. Here's what I mean.

Put me on any southern lake on a clear, warm, sunny day in the spring with any pro you want to chose. If we've got that same level of knowledge of the lake (new to both of us, both have fished it 5 times, same number of days to pre-fish, etc), and the exact same basic equipment, boat and electronics wise, I can promise you I will be competitive and will beat probably 95% of them at the sight fishing game around the spawn. Grigsby and Lane and Martens would be the only 3 that I would be concerned about.

Clem you hit the nail on the head on the other side of the coin though. Bill Bumfuckle and his 14 yr old boat with a Lowrance XD5 might have only fished Seminole once in his life and might not be able to pre-fish the entire open window, like Joe Pro, because Bill B. has a real job that he has to work 5+days a week, but Joe Pro might have spent 50 plus days on that lake over the years in all conditions, was able to pre-fish the entire open window, and has a brand new 21' boat loaded with all the latest equipment and tackle with both down and side imaging electonics, navionics mapping etc. The Pro will simply roll out onto a ledge on the Chatt. to a pre-located school of fish and generally beat the crap out of Bill B.

Also, dont ever underestimate the amount of local knowledge that these pros employ when they are put into a situation of it being somewhere completely new that they have never fished before. When the FLW Ranger M1 came to Mobile back in 2002, all of us that were known to successfully tournament fish the Delta started getting random phone calls from guys from all over the country that were going to be fishing it. I sent maps and my fishing log books to 2 pros from Texas and ended up showing them how to run/get around down on the causeway without tearing their crap up, and what to do on certain tides, wind, water and weather situations that they were going to encounter 4 months later at tournament time.

Here's an example, Let's say you put 25 top pros and 25 of the best local guides and tournament fishermen that live on Guntersville into a tournament together and gave them the exact same equipment and the same number of days to pre-fish and cut off access to the lake for all of them at the same time, weeks before the tournament, I think you'd be surprised at how many of those pros would get their feelings hurt by the "Local Joes" come weigh in time.

The real difference between the top level, really good recreational fishermen/guides that are non-pro anglers and pro anglers is generally equipment, sponsorship, the ability to travel and fish tons of other locations, and most importantly TIME/Experience on the water and TiME to be on the water. Because of their time on the water, the pros can eliminate water and find fish much quicker than your weekend warriors. Catching a limit of fish has never been a problem for me regardless of location but finding and catching a limit of the right fish is how you win $$. Having the TIME to adequately pre-fish and locate the right quantity and quality of fish is the difference between Pros and Joes. The more you can do something specific, the better you get at it. KVD would absolutely smoke my azz on smallmouth if we were both dropped on a northern lake in separate boats because I can count on one hand the number of smallies I've caught and I can count with 1 finger the number of times I've fished a lake with smallmouths in it. But if you put us in the same boat, both on the front deck throwing the same baits, at the same fish, with the same equipment and It's gonna be close. He'd most likely still beat me but I will keep it respectable and who knows, there is a lot of luck in fishing. Luck in making that perfect cast and running that bait by the face of a willing big fish, that is hunkered down on that hump with 25 other smaller fish. It only takes one kicker fish to push your bag to a winning level.

At the same time, drop just me and KVD, just the two of us, on a 200 acre public lake in NW FL, South AL, or South MS, that neither of us has ever seen before, in the same 17" aluminum basstracker with just basic electronics, in the early spring around the full moon, he'd better figure out how to catch 30+ lbs that day on 5 fish because I'm gonna be somewhere between 30-35 lbs pretty much guaranteed. I used to guide doing it every spring and I can find them and I can make them bite with the best of them when it comes to looking at them on beds. Once again, specific situations.

The pros are better and more rounded, technique wise, just because it is their job to fish full time and they see situations on a regular basis that Bill B. might see only once in his life. If I had their sponsors, their equipment and ability to travel all over the country fishing year round, it might take me 3-5 years to get really proficient with my electronics, familiar with the different types of lakes across the country, and refining the techniques required to effectively fish them, but I am 100% confident that I could be competitive with any of them after paying my dues and taking my lumps for the first 3-5 years. Boyd Duckett is a prime example. He made his money in the trucking business in Demopolis while fishing locally, then started fishing professionally once he was comfortably set. Since he's been fishing professionally, I'd say he's done a pretty respectable job at it.

All this being said, the pros took the financial risk early on to make fishing their career and most sacrificed greatly before they made it to where they are today. They rolled the dice and gambled big. A select few won and a whole bunch did not. I was not willing to do that and took the safe route career wise. I have told my wife no less than 1000 times that if we were to ever win the lottery, the first thing that I would do (after I bought 20,000 acres of prime land, scattered in 2000+ acre chunks between AL & Iowa) would be to quit what I'm doing, start traveling, fishing professionally and start working my way up through the feeder trails. I've got a ton of respect for anyone that has made it to the top of the fishing game. They had to have a lot of luck involved but no matter how you cut it, almost all have sacrificed a whole lot to get where they are today and that's the real difference between them and Bill Bumfuckle.

This isn't about being on known lakes or having a pro who practices or gets help. I know they do all that. Hell, even I would get calls about G'ville or Wheeler (which I never fished) or guys trying to get in touch with my father. I knew they really were desperate if they were contacting me.

But let's get Bill Bumfuckle and Bigtime Pro to list every lake they've fished in, just say, the Southeast. All of those are off limits. The moon's not right and it's not the fun spring spawn. Maybe it's a chitty post-front bluebird day or an OMGIt'sCold winter morning.

Whatever is left are lakes they don't know anything about. They can't get help. They can't call the boat dealer about "a motor problem" and get Local Larry's sonar chip. Nada. They don't even know the lake until they're told the morning of the fishing that "we're driving to Lake X, give me your cell phones."

I think in that case the pro wins 99% of the time just based on the number of times they have had to most quickly dissect a lake and how they can most quickly pick up a pattern. It really is scary how good many of them are at dialing in fast, dissecting, keying in and then catching, all while refining. Not that a Joe Lunchbucket can't do that but IMO the pros are faster at it. (Most of them.) Stick them in specific deals like you mentioned - maybe a Florida tannic lake or springhole run - and you'd have the upper hand. (A lot of the guys have a mental block about Florida anyway; they should just send their entry and stay home).

But to your other point, I agree about the money and all. It's fun to think about doing what they do, but dang at some of the stories I've heard first-hand. And I haven't even heard all the worst ones. It's a unique world, no doubt.

Yes, they can dial in faster than the average weekend warrior no doubt, but if the fish can be caught on a basic, non-refined pattern, then there are non-pros that can compete. If they both get dropped onto a largemouth lake where they are hitting spbts on grass edges, jigs on cypress up against the bank, or frogs in the pads, there are a bunch of non-pros that could compete. What separates the men from the boys is being able to find those fish offshore or on something very very subtle that the weekend warrior completely misses.

I would say that a pro will absolutely beat 99% of recreational anglers, not that the pro will win 99 times out of 100. There is that 1% of recreational anglers that can give them a run for their money in certain situations. The top 1% of rec anglers versus the pros and I'd say the pros win 75-80% of the time just due to having more experience in diverse situations.

The pros really shine against the non-pros in the really tough conditions that they are forced to fish in on a regular basis while Local Larry looks at the weather channel and says, "weather's bad, a cold front pushed through last night and the temp dropped 40 degrees and it's blowing 25mph. I'll just stay home, watch TV and fish when conditions improve." The pros dont have that luxury and they learn from that time on the water and know how to just grind it out with very refined techniques to get fish to bite even when they don't want to.

The other thing we have not talked about is the mindset of a serious tournament fisherman versus Local Larry. Local Larry is fishing for bites and to catch fish in general, with the plan to piece together a limit of fish. A pro does not care one lick about catching numbers of fish. They only care about getting 6-7 bites a day and those 6 or 7 bites coming from the right quality of fish.

You're also right about Florida, there are a pile of guys on tour that cannot stand having to fish Florida. They hate it. Let a cold front come through and you're right some of them are mentally done before they even take it off the trailer.

As far as the money goes, I know several that have said, that early in their career, they were just one tournament away from quitting it completely and in what was going to be their last tournament, got the right bites, lucked into some good fish, got a check decent enough that they were able to stay in the game.

Man there a lot more than 3 guys on the Elite series that can catch them looking at them

I am close friends with, and fish regularly with, the guy who finished 11th in the Open on Logan Martin last week. He's BY FAR the best fisherman I know.

I've never been in the boat with a touring pro, but from fishing with this guy I can point out multiple differences between he and I (and I'm not a slouch) -
1. Casting precision. Every cast, every time, with any combo he picks up, needle point accuracy. He can skip a jig with baitcasting equipment all the way to the seawall beneath a dock that's only 3" off the water, underhand roll with his left hand from the back of the boat. Every time. Never misses. Literally, NEVER hits the dock or birdnests or anything.
2. Number of casts. When we fish, he makes 3X more casts than I do. I am physically tired when we fish, he will WEAR YOU OUT. He skips a freaking buzzbait under a dock, catches a 4 pounder, skis it across the water to the boat and in one motion boat flips it, unhooks it, throws it back in the water, and is back under that dock. In the meantime, I've bounced off the front board of that dock three times trying to get under there. When you fish in the back of his boat, you are fishing badly used water. If I would've caught that 4 pounder I would've had to hold it up for a selfie and tell you about it my cast and how the fish hit, and you literally just watched me catch it.
3. Just a noticeably gifted knack for knowing where to fish every time we go, any time of the year, without having been there recently. We never waste half the day doing what ain't working (which is normal for me, LOL). I believe this is just a unique gift some guys have and most guys don't.
4. Knowledge of equipment. He knows literally every miniscule and obscure fraction of a detail about how $5,000 electronics work. He can make a Humminbird Solix find specs of gold buried beneath the silt in 40' of water. He can use his electronics to CATCH FISH every trip, to every lake, in every condition, without fail or confusion. Heck, I've got big H'birds on my boat that are basically just fancy maps. I should've just bought flashers! LOL

And again, on a scale of weekend anglers, from 1-10, I'm probably a 7-8. But he's in another universe from me, and even he doesn't fish professionally. He was beaten by pros this past week who haven't been on Logan Martin in 10 years, and he lives on the lake. Seriously, his house is there.

Put on a lake with no advantage..no disrespect Clem but I would give my left Nut for one time to be on a lake that these pro's with their ol electronics and contacts/guides and sponsers and whatever...to get on an even playing field with regular ol Joe Blownuwant...head to head for 8 hrs....on camera....I think that would be TV GOLD.... and I wont even throw a jerkbait either....

LOL @ some of these post

You can't fish TC so you shutup....or put up... I bus your ass just like I would KVD...

If i knew about fishing deep and using my electronics when I was in my late teens early 20's like I do now I would have fished the opens and seen how i stacked up. I had a fair amount of success on the local level but I never took the next step.

The biggest difference (to me) between your average angler and a pro is having the right mental attitude and the dersire to win.

One thing that helped me a lot fishing tournaments is listening to Gerald swindle talking about having a positive mental attitude.

Have y'all ever watched kvd lose a good fish he shrugs it off like it's nothing that's always been amazing to me

I sure do love fishing for crappie.

Me too 😂 it so much more laid back

Fo sho, fo sho.

Everyone on the elite can catch them looking at them. Everyone on tour can find and can catch the easy ones. There's an art to evaluating if a fish is going to be catchable in that 8 hr period, properly setting up on a fish and working a bed and getting a female that is not actually ready to hit to quickly hit the bait without having to spend hours working on her. Time is money tournament fishing. The three I named are generally recognized by their peers as being far and away the best at it. Oh yeah, throw Dean Rojas in that mix too.