Too many trails, too many options, too much competition or not enough competition. Why travel 2 hours to fish against locals when your home lake has a tournament every other weekend? The same 15 boats show up at that tournament and the competition gets stale and isolated. You have to spend 3 days a week pre-fishing to keep up with the competition to win it. If you place second you don't break even. Don't like that? Fish champs on the same lakes they've been fishing for 10 years against guys that have been fishing those lakes for 30 years. Prefish unlimited hours and spend 250$ on entry fee, 500$ on gas and what not. Finish 17th place and you don't break even. Guys with disposable income that can do it for fun, its not a big deal. Guys that need to make money to keep their desire afloat, they get discouraged and stick to clubs.

I miss fishing, but with a second kid I am putting it on the back back burner and spending time with the family. The above sounds like I am butt hurt, but if you know me none of those things bother me. I traveled all over Texas to fish tournaments for fun and spent all the money I could on equipment and boats. I'd have to win the classic to break even at this point. I never really experienced any major success, but loved it regardless.

Baby Boom

Price of cotton went up too fast.

(Cotton = boats, gas, lodging, entry fees)

This too.....they are being squeezed out by the economy. My son is 21 years old and has never experienced tournament fishing and hasn't been bass fishing from a boat since he was about 5 years old.......I think there has to be a lot of dads out there that have wanted to pass on the flame but haven't because they can't afford too. My son and I have done a lot of things together we've kart raced for a while, he has shot both trap and skeet and won 4H district titles in both, we had a show truck for a while and won stock pickup class at a few car shows. Right now he is in college and is starting his senior year. We've really haven't done much since he started college other than some hunting and that is about it. I'm hoping once he finished school he gets a job close enough to home that he can come fish with me and see what it is all about........

Good point. The young generation can't afford a boat with the way they are priced....not even an entry level boat. Buddy of mine's kid wanted to fish the high school team, but since they can't afford a boat(besides their metal 14') he can't fish. So there went another person's dream of being a Pro. He now works and dreams about the day he can afford a boat.....but at 60-80k a pop, that dream is long away for the average Non Trust Fund kiddo.

There are a ton of good starte boats that are used that a young guy can afford. Granted a top of the line 20-21' boat will be a tough buy for a young guy but there is a lot to be said to working your way up to that. If a man truly wants to fish then he can find a boat in his budget that allows him to. He might have to adjust his want to a bit and realize it might not be the dream rig but guys can and do compete in smaller and older rigs.

How much you talking? Cause I sold a boat for 4.5K with a blown motor. Can't get too far with that boat.....maybe TM away from the boat ramp. I never had $4500 as a kid or even until I got out of college and got a real job did I come across that much money. And I lived in a RV park.

Plus, you can't get a job for a young person anymore.....too many non natives taking those jobs....or retirees.

Fishing - It's a rich mans sport or a sport for people who like to waste money.

Me personally, I am an expert at spending and wasting money.

That Skeeter boat.....is not an investment as much as we like to think. LOL!

This is an interesting conversation and there are numerous opinions on the subject. I think somehow we as the average fisherman have lost our way. It�s not hard to lose you way in many situations and it happens all the time. When I live in Las Vegas I learned how to bet on sports, especially pro football. The problem was before I knew it I did not care about my favorite team winning or just me enjoying the game; it was about the spread and could they cover it. Look at high school football, I won�t even go there, because that like open in can of worms. We now use tournaments to justify why our boats cost so much, why we much have certain electronics and why we have a certain brand. Have you ever tried to add up the value of lures in your boat? It may surprise you. Then ask how many of them do you really use when on the water. I guess the million dollar question is why do we really fish tournaments; competition, money or enjoyment. There are going to be many different answers here. If you really want to think about why we fish, think about when you father or grandfather took you fishing and you tried to catch more or bigger fish than your brother or sister. My advice; keep these memories close to you and you will remember why we truly fish. Just my two cents on a sport I like to see stay pure and not become corrupted, although I feel that ship has already sailed. How about we do a tournament where all money goes to charity and the winner only get trophies and bragging rights; maybe I am asking for too much.

I won more money out of my $9k boat than I have out of my $50k+ boat

I think I will head to Austin and see if I can find the guy that bought it and buy it back to only fish tournaments...


The fact the younger generations do not spend as much time outdoors. A lot of children spend most their free time on the internet and playing video games. People shelter their children more because the world is a lot more complicated and dangerous place.

The economy is tough, with our current state of taxation on middle income America, it's hard to pay all the bills then have any expendable income for pricey hobbies.

Plus there is a lot going on in today's world there wasn't 20 years ago. A lot of people just cannot fit the time into their lives to fish.

I think there are numerous reasons why turnouts are low. I agree that there are too many trails, it's the price of capitalism. You would think some of the larger trails would consolidate to make one large trail and draw bigger fields.

Another factor is you have to have the entrants that honestly are not going to win often, the ones that are truly there to enjoy fishing a tournament. Just like a good poker game, someone has to finance it!




'

Even used rigs are mostly out of reach of the average Joe anymore. The price of new boats has pulled that market pretty much out of site as well. I know from my own personal experience 10+ year old rig that is in descent shape can go for more than what I paid for my last new rig which was about $17.5k, a Nitro 180TF with an XR6. I've seen some older smaller rigs as well but they are still nipping @ $10K..........That being said there are still older aluminum rigs that can be had a descent price. I've fished from aluminum and don't care for how they kite around in the wind but if things don't pick up soon for me I may very well by ridin' and grinnin' in an aluminum rig...........

New Metal boats are high too. Dang price of tin cans went up so much.

You don't see those random boats hung in the woods anymore....they are scrapped out for HIGH $$.

My first "touranment" boat was a 17' Fisher aluminum. It had a 40hp engine but had sterring wheel etc and I was damn proud of it. After that came a Nitro 170TF with a 90hp. I was really in high cotton then. Finally moved up to a big rig in a Stratos 278V with a 130hp. Would fish out of any of them it if kept me on the water and in the game. never paid more than $5000 or so for any of them. I can tell you I was proud to own them all and was not ashamed to get out there and fish tournaments in them.
A kid can mow lawns a year or two and save that much up if he truly wants to fish.

Instead of seeing obstacles and reasons why a guy can't fish they can put that effort into getting to where they wanna go and I bet it will happen. Its all in the want to.

These are all very good reasons why numbers are down and could potentially go down further. I'll add this...in today's society we don't teach kids to sacrifice for anything anymore. Or if we do sacrifice something, it's usually our savings account. Whatever Junior wants, he gets it, and there are a lot more "things" to want in this day and time. Parents don't tell Junior no very often. This means dad doesn't get to fish that one tournament a month sometimes. Nowadays kids are spoiled more than ever with material things to distract them from being a kid and requiring the parents to be parents. How many times have you been to a restaurant and seen a family sitting there with a kid that is playing on an iPhone or iPad? It's the easy way out for parents.

Sorry...got a little off subject, but it ties in somehow! LOL

I'll say this the biggest pay day I ever got tournament fishing was out of a TX-17 tracker aluminum rig with a 60 hp Johnson on it I bought new.....I give $12k for it......If I were to go the tin can route it would probably be another 17 footer with a 60 to 75 hp motor on the back. Tracker used to post top speed ranges for their aluminum rigs and according to their numbers the fastest aluminum boat they offered was the 175 with a 75 hp Merc. It was faster than the 19 footer with a 135 hp on back.......... If I remember right the 175 Tracker would run almost 50 mph and sip gas........I know can't help myself......speed freak.......