Will the bass marshals be back next year? I thought it was supposed to be a learning thing for them while in the pro's boat. I watched about an hour of Cliff Pace today on Bass Cast and not one word was said to his marshal. Man that would make for a long day. And yes the video does have sound, you can hear him fling his trap and move around in the boat.

They are definitely doing the Marshal thing because I signed up to be one at the Sooner Run for next year. I think that the level of conversation may be a comfort level between the angler and the Marshall. The anglers probably give back what they get, although I'm sure some are more talkative than others. Since I don't have any trouble talking my head off to almost anybody, I don't think that will be an issue for me. I guess I'll find out next June! I'm excited about it. If anyone else on TFF signed up for this and wants to room, let me know. We can split costs. If you are in the DFW area, maybe we can ride together as well.

When I used to fish as a non boater in the Anglers Choice Pro Am's I had some guys talk alot and some not at all. Learning from each guy was different. For instance I had a guy from Alabama one day and he talked my ear off and I didn't learn a thing except that some of the stories were about the most entertaining I had ever heard, of course I realized real quick that they were 99% fiction. Then one day I drew Jerry Dolzeal and he probably didn't say 10 words all day but he was sitting in 2nd place in the tournament and he buckled down and concentrated and was fishing his tail off and I learned a ton from him that day about flipping just by watching how the man went about his business. One of the best days I ever spent in the boat with anyone. Some days you would draw someone middle of the road like a day I spent with Johnny Grice. Not only did he give me some good info about his feelings about colors he used but heard a couple of good stories about his time on the BASS tour. Really fun day. So for me each person is different but the amount of conversation sometimes didn't dictate how productive and informative the day was.

I was Cliff Pace's marshall for the first day of competition on Amistad in March. We met at the opening get together and he was gracious in answering all my questions, but requested that I hold all my conversation the next day until we got off the water. He explained that he is easily distracted by conversation but would be happy to talk after the weigh-in. Total concentration on the water is paramount to him. I realized how true this was when we hit a wave coming around a point and his boat was suddenly more vertical than horizontal. When the boat leveled out, he looked at me and I gave him a thumbs-up that I was okay, and it was back to full throttle. Not a word was said about the incident until his boat was back on the trailer after weigh-in. He then apologized profusely for the rough ride and thanked me for not making an issue of it.
I enjoyed the day and learned a lot. The lack of conversation was not an issue because Cliff Pace was in constant motion, not a wasted second all day.
I was told by members of this forum that it woud be boring to "just sit there and watch" but it is amazing what you learn when you get to watch the best in the sport up close.

i was a marshall for the paa with cliff and ike, other than re tying constantly he was in the zone the intire time.