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Life or just a tournament?
By djkimmel on Sep 20, 2008 | In Perspective, Ethics, Sportsmanship | Send feedback »
I LOVE fishing. I love fishing tournaments. I remember a while back when I thought I wanted to be a full-time touring bass pro. I wanted it very bad. Bad enough to put almost everything else on the backburner.
What's not to love!?!
Getting on TV! Getting your picture and your name in magazines! People wanting to be your friend (especially right after you win a tournament). That was especially before I began to learn the reality of what it means; What it takes to be a real professional bass tournament angler. Before I really knew the true cost. Not just in money and time, which is vast, but in the cost to everything important in life.
That was also before I had a significant job. Before I had a wife. Before I had a new family. Before Godchildren. And pets. And a house payment. I sometimes think I felt more free then... In reality, part of the freedom was an illusion. An illusion supported by ignorance of what is really involved, truly in the sport and business of professional bass fishing. Although the 'job' of pro bass angler is not taken seriously by most outside of the sport, it is one of the toughest, most difficult, exhausting and long-houred vocations you can ever pursue.