Out of the 50 that qualified for the AOY Championship. Jeff Kreit has the smallest season winnings at $30,000.

7 Guys are at or above the $100K which is a number thrown out there as cost to fish a season.

8 Checks 0
7 Checks 7
6 Checks 7
5 Checks 22
4 Checks 21
3 Checks 31
2 Checks 11
1 Checks 9
No Checks 2


Angler Total Checks
Aaron Martens $286,000.00 7
Edwin Evers $246,500.00 5
Justin Lucas $165,000.00 7
Chris Lane $154,500.00 5
Skeet Reese $154,000.00 6
Todd Faircloth $123,750.00 3
Kevin VanDam $100,000.00 5
Dean Rojas $87,500.00 7
Cliff Pirch $78,500.00 6
Bill Lowen $76,000.00 6
Bernie Schultz $73,500.00 7
Jacob Powroznik $73,000.00 7
Jordan Lee $71,000.00 7
Matthew Herren $70,000.00 7
B Palaniuk $68,750.00 5
Greg Hackney $68,500.00 5
Brett Hite $68,000.00 4
Chris Zaldain $66,500.00 6
Alton Jones $65,000.00 5
Chad Pipkens $65,000.00 5
Brent Ehrler $63,000.00 6
Stephen Kennedy $62,000.00 6
Brandon Card $61,000.00 5
Randy Howell $60,000.00 6
Jason Christie $59,000.00 5
Keith Combs $58,500.00 5
Micah Frazier $58,500.00 5
Greg Vinson $56,500.00 5
David Walker $56,000.00 5
Jonathon VanDam $55,500.00 5
John Crews $55,000.00 5
Bobby Lane $54,500.00 5
Tim Horton $54,500.00 3
Mark Menendez $53,500.00 5
Russ Lane $53,000.00 5
James Elam $51,500.00 5
Brandon Coulter $51,000.00 5
Josh Bertrand $51,000.00 5
Boyd Duckett $50,000.00 5
Derek Remitz $49,000.00 3
David Williams $46,000.00 4
Gerald Swindle $46,000.00 4
Ish Monroe $45,000.00 4
Billy McCaghren $44,000.00 4
Davy Hite $44,000.00 4
Casey Ashley $43,000.00 4
Scott Rook $42,500.00 4
John Murray $41,500.00 4
Terry Scroggins $41,500.00 4
Brent Chapman $41,000.00 4
Gary Klein $41,000.00 4
Matt Lee $41,000.00 4
Ott DeFoe $41,000.00 4
Brian Snowden $40,000.00 4
Hank Cherry $40,000.00 4
J Niggemeyer $40,000.00 4
Kelley Jaye $40,000.00 4
Marty Robinson $40,000.00 4
Morizo Shimizu $40,000.00 4
S Browning $40,000.00 4
Brandon Lester $40,000.00 3
Takahiro Omori $36,000.00 3
Mike McClelland $35,000.00 2
Andy Montgomery $33,500.00 3
Mark Davis $33,500.00 3
M Iaconelli $33,500.00 3
Shaw Grigsby $33,000.00 3
J Williamson $32,000.00 3
Keith Poche $32,000.00 3
Ken Iyobe $32,000.00 3
Mike Kernan $32,000.00 3
Britt Myers $31,000.00 3
David Mullins $31,000.00 3
Fred Roumbanis $31,000.00 2
Seth Feider $30,500.00 3
Bradley Roy $30,000.00 3
Casey Scanlon $30,000.00 3
David Smith $30,000.00 3
Dennis Tietje $30,000.00 3
J Todd Tucker $30,000.00 3
Jared Lintner $30,000.00 3
Jeff Kriet $30,000.00 3
Kelly Jordon $30,000.00 3
Kevin Short $30,000.00 3
Koby Kreiger $30,000.00 3
Kurt Dove $30,000.00 3
Matt Reed $30,000.00 3
Nate Wellman $30,000.00 3
Paul Mueller $30,000.00 3
Tommy Biffle $30,000.00 3
Carl Jocumsen $25,000.00 2
Byron Velvick $25,000.00 1
Kotaro Kiriyama $22,000.00 2
C Morgenthaler $21,500.00 2
F Shryock $21,500.00 2
Randall Tharp $21,000.00 2
Charlie Hartley $20,000.00 2
Cliff Prince $20,000.00 2
Paul Elias $20,000.00 2
Randy Allen $20,000.00 2
Kevin Ledoux $12,500.00 1
Cliff Crochet $10,000.00 1
Cliff Pace $10,000.00 1
Jared Miller $10,000.00 1
Kenyon Hill $10,000.00 1
Kevin Hawk $10,000.00 1
Rick Clunn $10,000.00 1
Zell Rowland $10,000.00 1
J Sancho $- 0
Scott Ashmore $- 0

I would say that 100K to fish a season is too high.

$50K in entry. Boat and truck depreciation, tour from St Lawrence to California, gas, tackle, insurance, hotels, campgrounds, practice, repairs, ....

It can probably be done for less sleeping in the back of a truck. Not much less. Likely its more than $100k for a lot of the field.

$40,000 in entry fees for the majority of the field. 8 x $5,000. Most aren't paying retail for their tackle, they aren't paying retail for their boats. $100,000 is an outlier, IMO, and not an accurate reflection of what the majority are paying.

I am curious as to what one years fuel bill would be for someone fishing that circuit

Fuel is probably 15k or more

They only pay like a quarter of everything, why you have sponsors, they pay their entry fees tho.

Including, traveling to events, tournament days, practice and scouting......LARGE.

In the second season of Circuit Breaker JT Kinney said that he spent almost $26,000 on fuel season. That sounded a little high to me but I guess they do use allot of fuel in the boats as well,

Point is you better have some serious Sponsors lined up or another source of income to contribute.

You don't wear one outfit out in public every day and robot "my sponsors stuff is the greatest ever" for free. Not sure they pay anything on their boats since they sell them off at the end of the season.

$100,000 would seem just about right to me, maybe more, and certainly more for the big names who definitely aren't sleeping inside a camper shell and eating cold pork and beans.

Odd, though, how many people here confuse revenue streams and expenses as if the former negate the latter.

There is simply no doubt that only a handful of anglers would make a 6 figure annual net income living off of fishing with no sponsorships and free equipment.

And, there'd be some lean years for them, too. KVD, arguably the greatest contemporary bass fisherman . . . and maybe of all time, without sponsors, would have had to break open his piggy bank this year.

So, anyway, when you add up expenses, it isn't correct to lower them because of sponsor money. Someone pays it, so it is an expense. It nets out, one way or the other, of what the angler takes home.

There are only so many sponsors in each category to really support pros. What, maybe 10 hook makers large enough to be big sponsors, 10 or so line manufacturers, 10 or so bass boats, electronics, 10 or so clothes and gear? My guess is it would be in the lure area where there are more sponsors but, still, only a few offering any compensation of size. Then, the little guys making things who find someone with a bit of a reputation but likely pay very small sponsorships to second tier pros.

A tough way to make a living, for sure.

Brad

I doubt many guys are putting out $100K in cash to fish.

If they are paying all out of their back pocket I would think it would be around 60 to 70K

It looks like a hard way to make a living to me.........

Sponsorship money and the financial aspect of pro fishing is shrouded in mystery, but there is some info out there. I've looked into this as much as possible and here is what I've decided about the sponsorship deals the elites have. These are estimates but it's the best I've been able to come up with.

Tier 1 - The top 10-12 guys. They make 500k + a year from sponsors. KVD, Skeet, Ike, Swindle, etc. High profile guys.

Tier 2 - Another 10-15 guys. They make 80-100k a year from sponsors. Enough to cover expenses so that all winnings are take home profit.

Tier 3 - 50-60 guys. They make 30-60k a year from sponsors and come out of pocket another 30-60k a year to fish.

Tier 4 - 25 or so guys - No financial backing, only boats, electronics, product etc. New guys trying to make it year to year.

Tier 5 - Steve Kennedy. No sponsors. Fishes out of his own boat, etc.

Don't forget 30% taxes on winnings!