Enough Already!

[Champ188]

OK, I'm good with The Idaho Kid winning the Elite Series last week at Bull Shoals. Seems like a good young man and I'm all for him making a career of fishing.

But to my fellow "journalists" -- and I use that term very loosely in this case -- can we please turn off the sunshine pump and bubble machine? That goes especially for the one known as DB, author of the much circulated "An Open Letter to Brandon Palaniuk" on the web, and particularly on Facebook. And yes, I am fully aware that DB is battling cancer. I'm a cancer survivor myself.

Again, Palaniuk seems like a great kid. And yes, he sleeps in the bed (with camper shell) of his pickup most of his time on the road. He also bunks with buddies in rented houses at times, as described in a recent Bassmaster magazine article titled Road Warriors. No one seems to have pointed out that he tows a new $60,000 boat around the country with that equally new $40,000 Toyotal 4WD pickup and that in order to do this for a living, he had to shell out $50,000 or more in entry fees before the season began. So we're at $150,000 and haven't pumped the truck full of gas yet to even get out of the driveway, let alone the boat. Nor have we purchased a single piece of fishing gear, and do NOT make the mistake of believing that all tackle is provided by sponsors. The owner of our local tackle shop in Rogers counts this very week -- when the FLW Tour is in town -- as his make-or-break week out of the entire year.

I have spent more than 30 years following and writing about this sport. If there is one thing I have learned, it is this ... you don't make it without money. You don't even get started. And more now than ever, sponsors are not providing big-ticket items like boats and trucks for free.

So to DB and the rest of the sunshine pumpers, how about telling the whole story next time? Might keep some poor schmuck from up and quitting his job and hitting the tournament trail. Not likely, but it might.

[Alex Heitman]

Champ I totally agreee with you. I myself was lucky enough to fish the B.A.S.S. Open last year at the Rock. I started saving early and my parents also helped me out with the entry fee, which was about $1500 not including tackle or boat gas. It has always been my dream to become a professional fisherman ever since I was a little kid. I thought this would be my best chance to start it out since it was on my home lake. I was and I still am attending college so it is very hard to work and go to school to come up with any money extra for fishing tournaments. Luckily my parents have very good jobs and I got the chance to fish in it. Plus if my dad did not have a boat i wouldn't be fishing at all. The tournament sucked for me to say the least. One fish to weigh in in the first two days is not going to get you anywhere. I still don't regret entering in the tourney even though it was terrible. With this being said, even though my parents have great jobs and believe in me as a fisherman, it takes a LOT of money to get you anywhere nowadays in this sport. With the price of boats, tackle, gas, tow truck, and not to mention entry fees, you better have a hell of a lot of money to start out fishing tournaments because it only takes a few tournaments with no check earned to put you in a hole. I just wish there was a different road to take but it is the only way to effectively compete with the best and that is the $$$.

[edwin]

Might keep some poor schmuck from up and quitting his job and hitting the tournament trail. Not likely, but it might.

Great comments, Champ. Reminds me of a Ping golf commercial from a few yrs ago where they encourage the customers to not quit their day job. http://unleashedhumor.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=665:funny-ping-g10-commercial-dont-quit-your-job

[Champ188]

LOL Edwin. OK, you started it with the golf commercials. This one is darn near impossible to find anymore. But it's a classic.

http://adland.tv/commercials/nike-golf-tiger-woods-frank-nice-irons-2004-030-usa

[Champ188]

Alex, your time and money was anything but wasted. Very few guys ever do well in their first big tournament. You learned a LOT more than you might think and when the time comes to do it again, it won't be 100 percent new to you ... the registration, pairings system, morning launch routine, etc. Just being familiar with that kind of stuff makes things a lot easier.

Be thankful for your supportive parents, keep your confidence up and give it another run first chance you get. I bet you will do much better in terms of fish caught. Above all, don't give up.

[edwin]

LOL Edwin. OK, you started it with the golf commercials. This one is darn near impossible to find anymore. But it's a classic.

http://adland.tv/com...ns-2004-030-usa

Frank the headcover commercials were the best...thanks for digging that up!

[Feathers and Fins]

Nice write-up Champ. People IMO do not understand the cost involved in tournaments. Most mine were ocean tourneys but heck 200 bucks for entry 4 to 600$ for gas over the tourney lures rods gear and so on. They say Golf is a Rich Mans Game. Try tournament fishing! HECK just try being a serious fisherman for fun. 20 to 100 thousand dollar boats, Gas, Rods, Reels, Lures!!!! IT AINT CHEAP.

[skeeter]

" can we please turn off the sunshine pump and bubble machine?" ROTFLMAO ! Thanks for that.

[Mike3004]

_{Thank you for the levity and keeping things in perspective. What happened to the wind this morning? Someone forget to switch on the fan. The only breeze we had was from the bass boats flying by us!}

[roy_eros]

http://www.bassmaster.com/blog/heart-land-take-care-our-own

Should he turn off the sunshine and bubble pump for this one? Thanks for the good writing DB! Keep it coming.