Professional fishing only for the tough!

[Ketchup]

On 8/30/2023 at 11:58 AM, BilletHead said:

I know Ham and he works harder than anyone on here. 

He hadn’t worked with me for a day. 

[Al Agnew]

I used to fish a three day tournament, small, not professional, friendly, but money on the line, every year.  It was three days of fishing as hard as I ever fish.  And I never won it.  Only once finished in the top three, fishing with my dad.  Both of us were decent reservoir anglers back then, and we weren't fishing against pros, just guys that were a little better than we were.  So I know just a tiny bit of what big time tournament fishing entails.

I also just got back from four days of HARD fishing on a river somewhere in the North Country.  Not quite tournament angling...get up at daylight, drive 40 minutes from the motel to the boat ramp, fish about 10 hours, on the trolling motor the whole time, power fishing with spinnerbaits and buzzbaits and topwaters, catching 60 to well over a hundred smallmouth in places where you had to really wrestle them out of heavy wood cover.  Big fish, like half of them over 17 inches. That has to be as hard as most tournament anglers' days, and I'm 71 years old today. 

But of course, I don't do it for a living.  I didn't HAVE to catch those smallies to cash a check, nor fish that hard.  And I won't fish that hard for that many days in a row the rest of the year.  But maybe it was a pretty good representation of what one tournament is like as far as traveling, staying in motels, eating restaurant food just before the restaurant closes, trying to get a good night's sleep, keeping your gear in order (for one thing, I went through more than a dozen spinnerbaits, either losing them to fish in heavy cover or the fish tearing them up, and had to change out blades and skirts on the ones I had left to get something that worked best), and then fishing all day and keeping your focus.

Are they athletes?  Nah, not really.  Do they work hard?  Yup, but not as hard as some working folks.  But consider this...a lot of people who work for a living work very hard, taking a toll on their bodies...but it's a physical job where they do just a few things.  They don't also have to continually figure things out, they don't have to keep a laser sharp focus on what they are doing, they aren't under pressure to succeed in beating most of their competitors, they don't have to also be a "people person" who presents themselves well to the public.  And then you have the workers who DO have to really be sharp mentally, beat out competitors to succeed, and present themselves well to the public...but they tend to not work hard physically.  Professional bass fishing is something that combines both, and that's a relative rarity. 

[fishinwrench]

3 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

But maybe it was a pretty good representation of what one tournament is like

For Busch league weekend tourney anglers....yeah.  

I bet you'd be blown away at the number of hours on a one year old outboard used by a top level professional angler.    

"Boating" is a recreation for most folks.  Those boys aren't just cruising around marveling at the scenery and gawking at kingfishers, eagles, and cranes.   And when the waters get a little rough.... that $#!t HURTS!    Weeks spent driving a dump truck on rutted roads would be like a vacation day to a pro anglers back and kidneys.    Then after you've sampled the WHOLE LAKE you'll probably need to get out and sink some brush and build some rock piles. A bunch of them !   

Getting a "good night's sleep" during the actual event.....Ha!   Yeah right.   Any top level pro bouncing around on day 2-3 and appearing "well rested" is suspect of heavy meth or cocaine use in my mind.    Ike for example.....in his day... 100% speedballer, no doubt about it.    And those crashes are hard on a body !    I've heard the claims of ADHD and all of that....but those uncontrollable fits he used to throw that everyone loved, are likely because he was on the cusp of a sleep deprived drug overdose.  

Those pudgy ones you might think are "soft" because they are dressed nice and speak like a politician when in front of a camera......Well most of them (the ones without a YouTube channel) have paws as tough as a grizzly bear.  That doesn't come from just holding a steering wheel and an ink pen.     So the term "athlete" isn't as big of a stretch as you might think.  

[snagged in outlet 3]

12 hours ago, Al Agnew said:

also just got back from four days of HARD fishing on a river somewhere in the North Country.  Not quite tournament angling...get up at daylight, drive 40 minutes from the motel to the boat ramp, fish about 10 hours, on the trolling motor the whole time, power fishing with spinnerbaits and buzzbaits and topwaters, catching 60 to well over a hundred smallmouth in places where you had to really wrestle them out of heavy wood cover.  Big fish, like half of them over 17 inches. That has to be as hard as most tournament anglers' days, and

Any pictures?

[Al Agnew]

2 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Any pictures?

Only of the biggest one…21 inches and probably 6 pounds or better. 

[snagged in outlet 3]

Freaking monsters!

[LittleRedFisherman]

Interesting topic and comments. It is for sure a mental grind for these guys and day after day of fishing and practice I’m sure takes a mental toll.   Those guys at this last bass master event many of them were on the line of loosing qualification, those that did either fish the gauntlet of the 9 opens again or move on.  Not all all independently wealthy, I’d say many aren’t.   The rookie of the year this year joey cifuentes slept in his  in some of his qualifying torunys too,get where he’s at now.   Far as comparing who works harder that doesn’t matter to me every job is different, at times I feel my job is as mental a grind as anything but it’s different for everyone.  

[pjlures]

In my original post my intent was to compare sports. Most sports actually compete for a few hours, or less during actual competition. I know they spend hours and hours of practice. Pro fishermen are on the water in all types conditions for days. Add that to all the other pressures, to me is it a tough way to make a living. 

I wouldn't want to pick cotton all day either.  Admire anyone who works. 

Appreciate all the comments. Interesting. 

 

[snagged in outlet 3]

3 hours ago, pjlures said:

In my original post my intent was to compare sports. Most sports actually compete for a few hours, or less during actual competition. I know they spend hours and hours of practice. Pro fishermen are on the water in all types conditions for days. Add that to all the other pressures, to me is it a tough way to make a living. 

I wouldn't want to pick cotton all day either.  Admire anyone who works. 

Appreciate all the comments. Interesting. 

 

And we didn’t even talk about endurance athletes.  Just imagine the Moab 240!!!

[Devan S.]

9 hours ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

And we didn’t even talk about endurance athletes.  Just imagine the Moab 240!!!

Those guys/gals are insane. Some of them are running 4 or 5 - 100mile races a year.