I think a couple of guys at the bottom already dropped out. They didn't fish the last event at St Lawrence.

He also made $87K on the FLW Tour in 2014. And he's made around $300K over there since 2006. http://www.flwfishing.com/anglers/steve-kennedy-174639

Counting the winnings on the FLW, Ish has also made over $100K this year.

There are a handful of guys running both tours now. And they had the PAA for a little while also. I wonder if being on multiple tours does anything to help the two-tour guys with expenses (i.e. two tournaments in the same region so some costs, like travel, go towards both tournaments).

$120k a year in tournament winnings would be your break even point if fishing both tours.

I was looking at the schedule to see how fishing both would work - it would make for some tough traveling and missed practice days. For example-

4/20-26 FLW Rogers AR
4/27-5/3 Elite Sacramento, CA

5/4-10 Elite Havasu Lake, AZ
5/11-17 FLW Eufala, AL

But there are others in nearby states that could be more convenient for travel. Each tour had a tournament in TN in June.

I know Steve pretty well and I've known him for a long time he get a kick out of that independently wealthy. steve is an electrical engineer but couldn't find a job so he decided to go fishing he put everything in storage and started fishing out of a bass tracker that I think he still ownsquote=Rob Lay]

no, he's independently wealthy, just like Boyd.

Stephen has fished Elite series since 2006 and won 1,284,763.00. That's $128,000 a year average. Take out entry fees and other costs, doesn't leave much or any to live on.[/quote]

Looks like a few of them can qualify for food stamps!

I have had beers with Ish's handler before and Ish runs two different boats, one for each tour. Handler drives FLW boat to Tour events and Ish flys in. I wouldn't be surprised if budget for both Tours is more than $120k.

Interesting. I guess it just goes beyond belief a guy struggling to make it wouldn't have sponsors in a sport where it is so accepted and prevalent. If someone had the money and was all about winning I could see them cutting all sponsors out so no distractions.

The majority of these guys are starving to death chasing a dream. There is a very small handful, maybe 10 that are making a good living counting sponsors.
We should all be teaching our kids to play golf instead of fish. The number 100 guy on the PGA will make 10 times what the Elite Series AOY makes.
1 1 Jordan Spieth 20 9,319,715 4
2 2 Bubba Watson 14 5,654,518 2
3 3 Dustin Johnson 16 4,403,498 1
4 4 Jimmy Walker 19 4,300,050 2
5 6 Jason Day 15 4,266,205 2
6 5 Rory McIlroy 8 4,147,849 2
7 8 Justin Rose 15 4,090,302 1
8 7 Zach Johnson 20 3,951,187 1
9 9 Rickie Fowler 16 3,695,023 1
10 14 Robert Streb 25 3,404,124 1
11 10 J.B. Holmes 20 3,314,104 1
12 11 Brandt Snedeker 21 3,306,292 1
13 12 Charley Hoffman 23 3,295,096 1
14 15 Danny Lee 31 3,203,397 1
15 19 Jim Furyk 15 3,167,582 1
16 13 Kevin Kisner 25 3,166,576
17 16 Hideki Matsuyama 19 3,040,650
18 17 Patrick Reed 22 3,011,624 1
19 18 Louis Oosthuizen 16 2,952,979
20 21 Brooks Koepka 17 2,848,942 1
21 20 Paul Casey 18 2,742,529
22 22 Steven Bowditch 27 2,688,210 1
23 23 Sergio Garcia 13 2,611,429
24 24 Bill Haas 19 2,591,433 1
25 28 David Lingmerth 24 2,530,394 1

26 25 Ben Martin 22 2,488,334 1
27 26 Gary Woodland 21 2,448,415
28 27 Ryan Moore 19 2,416,168 1
29 30 Kevin Na 22 2,328,983
30 29 Chris Kirk 18 2,296,396 1
31 32 Sangmoon Bae 25 2,091,062 1
32 38 Henrik Stenson 11 2,073,470
33 31 Jason Bohn 23 2,049,973
34 33 Scott Piercy 23 2,033,804 1
35 35 James Hahn 24 2,001,883 1
36 34 Troy Merritt 25 1,999,598 1
37 37 Matt Kuchar 20 1,965,545
38 36 Phil Mickelson 15 1,946,160
39 41 Russell Henley 20 1,888,620
40 39 Justin Thomas 25 1,848,172
41 40 Daniel Berger 25 1,802,951
42 44 Marc Leishman 20 1,762,267
43 46 Webb Simpson 17 1,762,250
44 42 David Hearn 26 1,735,549
45 43 Tony Finau 27 1,701,046
46 45 Shawn Stefani 22 1,689,411
47 47 Russell Knox 23 1,655,553
48 49 Brendon Todd 22 1,646,599
49 48 Boo Weekley 20 1,632,152
50 51 Ian Poulter 15 1,628,079
51 50 Ryan Palmer 18 1,607,645
52 52 Billy Horschel 23 1,600,313
53 55 Fabian Gomez 22 1,554,789 1
54 53 Matt Jones 21 1,523,186
55 57 Matt Every 22 1,521,816 1
56 54 Nick Watney 23 1,521,309
57 56 Cameron Tringale 24 1,510,762
58 58 Harris English 23 1,477,740
59 59 Kevin Streelman 24 1,467,766
60 60 Brendon de Jonge 26 1,445,667
61 65 Keegan Bradley 20 1,421,748
62 61 Pat Perez 22 1,411,289
63 67 Brendan Steele 20 1,405,991
64 66 Adam Scott 12 1,370,863
65 62 Rory Sabbatini 21 1,356,164
66 63 John Senden 21 1,354,289
67 64 Brian Harman 24 1,343,899
68 69 Padraig Harrington 19 1,330,852 1
69 68 Sean O'Hair 22 1,290,499
70 72 Hunter Mahan 20 1,232,281
71 70 Scott Pinckney 24 1,221,274
72 71 Alex Cejka 26 1,193,371 1
73 73 Greg Owen 18 1,180,794
74 74 Charles Howell III 26 1,171,141
75 80 Will Wilcox 15 1,128,342
76 75 Martin Laird 20 1,113,162
77 76 George McNeill 22 1,108,459
78 77 Chesson Hadley 26 1,099,489
79 114 Kyle Reifers 28 1,098,908
80 78 Johnson Wagner 20 1,085,160
81 79 Daniel Summerhays 25 1,085,122
82 81 Jon Curran 26 1,049,549
83 92 Colt Knost 26 1,044,209
84 82 Nick Taylor 25 1,035,152 1
85 83 Jason Kokrak 25 1,033,489
86 84 Jerry Kelly 20 1,032,669
87 85 Tim Clark 10 1,009,779
88 86 Morgan Hoffmann 22 1,004,825
89 154 J.J. Henry 26 1,004,267 1
90 87 Jim Herman 24 989,828
91 88 Graham DeLaet 21 988,349
92 89 Chad Campbell 27 985,082
93 95 Francesco Molinari 15 974,889
94 93 Steve Wheatcroft 26 973,024
95 90 Kevin Chappell 22 972,702
96 91 Carl Pettersson 28 972,144
97 94 Bryce Molder 22 938,974
98 100 Jamie Donaldson 15 938,664
99 111 Andres Gonzales 26 925,335
100 96 Adam Hadwin 28 924,824

I'm surprised someone in the know has not jumped in and stated what some of the top guys make in endorsements. I get that these contracts the anglers have are not public knowledge. There was an article in BASS several years ago that gave some numbers on what Ike, Skeet and KVD make on endorsements and it was mid to high 6 figures. I know someone that was in the industry for many years and once in a while they made reference to some of the contracts these guys have with their sponsors. I know many of them are not getting rich but my earlier comment is that some of these guys are doing "well". There are more than a handful that are not broke as some are alluding to. Remember to that these guys may command a higher guide fee if they guide on home waters when not traveling simply because of name recognition.

Why would someone in the know come on the board and disclose information inside of confidential endorsement deals? Not going to happen.

+1

I really think we underestimate how much the mid tier guys are getting paid from their title sponsors. It's the only way they could fish year after year on tour, often not even winning enough to cover expenses. They are marketing for sponsors to pay the bills.

Some examples of mid-tier guys who I suspect are making a good living from sponsorships:

Randall Tharp (Halo Fishing)
Bandon Palanuik (Rigid Industries)
Terry Scroggins (Toyota)
Ish Monroe (River 2 Sea)
Gary Klein (Repel)
John Crews (Evan Williams/Spro)
Hank Cherry (Evan Williams)
Jason Christie (Falcon Rods)
Chris Lane (Power Pole)
Dean Rojas (Gander Mnt)
Tim Horton (BPS)
Bobby Lane (Spiderwire)
Ott Defoe (BPS)

And there are many others like this - they aren't huge names but do well in general and win once or twice, securing them some good financial backing. Not enough to be rich, but enough to cover expenses and make a living.

I think the only guys who are really starving are the new guys trying to make it before they have proven they can hang with the big boys. Once a guy has been on tour for a few years and has had a little success, you have to think he has decent money coming in from somewhere other than just tournament winnings. For example, Ott Defoe, who is not a household name for sure, hauls his family around in a giant class a motorhome. I don't think he could afford that with just what he wins in tournaments.

I don't think I could call Tharp, Christie, Monroe, Lane brothers, or Rojas mid tier. Quite a few Elite/FLW wins plus some Classic and FLW Champ wins on between them. Most are perenially in the Classic and AOY hunt. Those guys are top pack anglers in anything they fish.

Past that I will opt out on how much they make. Thats their business and guess I would have would probably be wrong.

True, I'm just trying to illustrate that there are more guys than just the top 10 overall making a good living on tour. I really think the majority of them are. The sentiment seems to be "if you're not KVD or Skeet, then you're simply gambling that you'll win enough to pay the bills each month." I think that's only true for the bottom 25 or so (up and comers). The middle 50-60 guys are making a good enough living from sponsor money + winnings and are far from food stamps and starvation.

400 Pound Guerrilla that was my point early in this thread. Of course I could be off the mark.

The expenses these guys have would probably blow our minds. Entry fees are about $40,000 right? Gas, food, hotels/houses, gear, etc.... An Elite Series event is a pretty expensive fishing trip.