Pro fishing has become a joke full of people dreaming they will be the next clunn or kvd.
Not to mention ffs has drove a lot of viewers away. YouTube content creators and ffs in tournaments
have had a negative effect on so- called professional anglers.

Outlaw, Well said.

Your 3rd paragraph is spot on. The problem is, there are a lot of anglers that think they are better than they really are when it comes to tournament fishing. Just because a guy can afford to hit the BASS opens every year, doesn't mean they are at the "AAA level" TALENT. It means they are willing to gamble and spend more than someone who is going to compete at local or regional events.

A lot of this is linked to parents who are willing to dump loads of money so that their kids can go fish high school tournaments, and then whatever else after that. Reality never hits with a lot of these kids, that its a HUGE expense. My parents would have laughed at me, if I told them I wanted a 100+K boat/truck at that age. They would have said, go play a real sport, which I did anyway, I would have never asked my parents. No way would I fish high school or college fishing over real sports. There is time to fish the rest of your life.

I had a team for 4 years that one of them "may" have been good enough to at least attempt to move up the ladder. Both of them were good enough to be offered rides from a couple of colleges. I highly encouraged these two to go to college on said rides - not so that they could follow the dream of becoming a "pro" but so that they could get an education and see a bit more of the world than the small town they lived in. I was honest with them about the reality of "pro" fishing and they were able to spend some time talking to a few pros that I know who gave them the skinny on it. Both of them decided to pass college and go into the workforce and make pretty good money in technology/communications.
Almost every other kid I've had in the boat, didn't have "it". Their parents thought they did, they thought they did, but reality is a beach that isn't always sunny. I was encouraging but honest, tends to pizz some folks off.

If it goes away. They will just use YouTube and other social media to sell products. Right now the only thing BASS or MLF is selling are FFS sonar units and jighead minnows.

Pro fishing has become a joke full of people dreaming they will be the next clunn or kvd.
Not to mention ffs has drove a lot of viewers away. YouTube content creators and ffs in tournaments
have had a negative effect on so- called professional anglers.

What a “ride”? Full college scholarship?

I have a simple answer to this, although I never see it going away. Support more grassroots level events. I've never understood how spending 6 figures to be the title sponsor of the expo at The Classic helps to sell lures....it takes a lot of lures sold to recover that type of expenditure. I realize a big part of it is brand recognition, but that type of money could cover a LOT of grassroots trails and support the guys that are actually buying your product. Fishermen are about as loyal of people as I've ever been around, and they'll support the brands that support trails they fish. If you don't believe this, go sit at the gas station close to your lake. I see it all the time on Rayburn. People will drive past 50 convenience stores with lower fuel prices on their way to the lake only to stop at Coleman's in Zavalla to fuel up, buy drinks, snacks & ice. I know guys that will only shop at Rambo Outdoors and Reel Tackle Outdoors because they support local trails around the area.

Skeeter would not be the brand they are today without the support they've put behind BassChamps. That trail has sold a lot of boats for Skeeter. Bill Lewis sells a lot of Rat-L-Traps because they pay a couple different organizations to produce a tournament for them.

I have yet to figure out the fishing industry from the manufacturing business side. Every fishermen at upper level of MLF and BASS (plus a lot of guys competing at lower levels) have a jersey full of logos. Every boat is wrapped with at least one major industry logo on it. Every NFL, NBA, PGA, MLB, etc player doesn't have a sponsor. It's like the fishing industry pays to support itself. The industry is just competing for its own money. Joe is sponsored by Strike King and wins a check. He mails that money to Ranger for his boat note. Ranger then writes a check to Bill to sponsor him so he can win a check in a tournament and he mails that money to Gill, Garmin and Humminbird. The fishermen are just pawns caught up in a never ending cycle while chasing a dream.

I realize many of these guys couldn't afford to gamble at these "elite" tournaments without the sponsors, but I feel the system is broke. There are too many anglers trying to compete at the top. The industy isn't big enough to support two organizations trying to produce a top tier series. About .02% of high school football players get to compete at the NFL level (1 in 5,000). The Elite level needs to be the Elite athletes, and they should be rewarded for it. Everyone else should fall into the minor leagues or lower - where in normal industries, there are nearly zero sponsorships. Then the industry can do 1 of 2 things....(1) Push a lot of money towards that Elite level series and have those anglers actually make an elite living or (2) the industry can support grassroots events to the point where 100% payback is the norm and many of the more successful trails could actually ADD money to their payouts allowing the amateur level to grow by leaps and bounds because real money could be won at that level by true amateurs.

More money at the grassroots level would allow for different formats to come about to reward different levels of tournament anglers. Golf has handicapping to level the playing field and allow more players to win. Team Roping has a numbered format where ropers of like talent compete against each other. Barrel Racing has a 5D format where the fastest horses win, but there are 4 other classes paid out to slower times (1/2 second increments for each class) allowing more barrel racers to get paid at events. If there was more money available to spread out in tournaments, there could be a format created where the top "x" teams are paid in a tournament, then you drop down and pay "x" number of places down lower then drop down again and pay "x" number of places to teams that caught less weight. This format will work if there is enough money to go around. For this type of format to work, you can't expect fishermen to just compete for their own money. There has to be added money. More winners = more happy fishermen = more entries in the future = industry growth.

Ok Randy

Only ones driven away by FFS is technology challenged olds. If anything FFS has brought in a whole new generation of fisherman.

Don’t know why you think old guys aren’t smart enough to find fish with ffs because it s false.
Ffs ain’t rocket science it’s just a step away from fishing in aquarium.
I don’t care if it’s used or not but don’t tell me you’re the greatest while using ffs .
J. D

Don’t know why you think old guys aren’t smart enough to find fish with ffs because it s false.
Ffs ain’t rocket science it’s just a step away from fishing in aquarium.
I don’t care if it’s used or not but don’t tell me you’re the greatest while using ffs .
J. D

Don’t know why you think old guys aren’t smart enough to find fish with ffs because it s false.
Ffs ain’t rocket science it’s just a step away from fishing in aquarium.
I don’t care if it’s used or not but don’t tell me you’re the greatest while using ffs .
J. D

So, what you’re saying is that the olds enjoy donating their money to the ‘yutes?

He is saying he doesn’t know what he is talking about. I want to bring one of these old codgers with me and show me how to program my “scope” so the fish just jump in the boat.