Hone your skills by fishing everything you can afford to.Fish with different people and learn from them , everyone can bring something to the table.Save your money and enter a Bass Open as co -angler see what it is all about.At your age start out with club tournaments and others T's in your area to become competitive.

1 lb lead weights.

I always thought it was pretty simple to go pro. All you have to do is catch lots of fish and win lots of tournaments. The pro thing will come to you if you can do that

This is a topic I worry about constantly. I want to fish so bad professionally it�s not even funny. I have always wanted to, since I was a very small kid growing up on Lake of the Ozarks. I got to see the glory day�s first hand, when you could enter a B.A.S.S. for next to nothing and win a Ranger Boat. There is not a right answer for everyone. Everyone is different. The Rich boys/girls out there have it made. They have the money to play until they figure it out. We or most of us don�t.

First - YOU have to have the money. That is why I am still in the Army. I can save enough to get out and fish, or retire at an early age. I want to get out right now and guide, and work my way up the ladder, but getting out of the Army terminates retirement. If you are guiding or tournament fishing, remember to save for retirement if you want to fish your entire life.
Second - YOU MUST be able to place in the money on your local events 8 out of 10 times you fish. Fish everything you can. (This is coming from Zell Rowland by the way) Then, and only then, do you have the skills to compete with the big boys.
Third - Then, sponsors come and it becomes a business. There are ways to fish the circuits just by sponsor money, if that what you want to do, but you must qualify. Sponsor money alone can possibly pay the bills, but this is an entire separate topic.
So what do you think boys? Get out of the Army and fish if I have the money saved and I�m ready? Get out and guide at Falcon ? What do you guys think? Some tell me stay in and do it when I retire, some say go for it, live your dreams. It would be cool to see what you guys think.

And NO, I have never gone pro so these are just opinions from years of research on this subject. Bottom Line - YOU have to have money and experience. Sponsors will come to you if you are professional and have a good appearance. Or a cool appearance.

whatever you do keep on that pharmacist route....always good to have a $150k a yr job to fall back on...

That's your ticket,man.Become a pharmacist and you will have enough money to buy a good boat,equipment,and go when you want to go.

Depends on how many years you got invested in the Army, If you have 10 or more I would say stay in the Army till you get your 20 years in. (Thanks for all you do for your country). I have been in the guide business for 8 years now, I am not getting rich but I get to do what I love every day which is fishing. Just my 2 cents worth

I highly agree with 2fastR1. Read Mike Iconelli's book. It is full of great information. He started from nothing but desire.

its real simple just catch fish.

Good Advice Brooks... This is from a guy that fishes for a living.

I also guided full-time for four years and had several great sponsors. BassCat, Yamaha, Motorguide, Lowrance, Berkley, Pradco, Team Daiwa were my primary supporters.

Start entering every local event you can afford to fish. As you produce high tournament results you can approach the sponsors. Bass Champs is about the highest level that most guys will ever be able to afford. Look at their website and the payouts. It is about as good as it gets for a weekend angler and the competition is fierce.

As Brooks said, you should ASK for money from the sponsors. This is becoming a thing of the past for all but the most elite anglers. You can't get the cart before the horse. It will be up to you to prove yourself first.

I know several top pros and their sponsors are paying them in product more often than not now a days. Then it is up to them to sell the product and turn it into cash. This has happened over the past 18 months or so. It has become next to impossible to get sponsors to give you a cash paycheck. Thank the economy for that.

Shonn Blassingame has opened a neat tackle shop near Bowie, Texas called All Outdoors Zone. He gets all of Gary Klein's and Shaw Grigsby's sponsor product to sell. He has some stuff that I have never seen anywhere else. He has all kinds of stuff that Gary & Shaw need to turn into cash that has been given to them by their sponsors for public appearances and other events.

These guys are bound by contract to commit a specified number of hours every year at various shows doing promotional work for all their sponsors. The more sponsors you get the more public engagements you are committed to.

For example, my contract with Lowrance committed me to 40 hours of boat show time every year. I had similar commitments for the other sponsors. It adds up. This is time OFF the water too. Sure standing around at a boat show is fun for a couple hours but it becomes a job real quick.

Your education is paramount. Speaking & writing skills are extremely important to would be sponsors. Sponsors want a person that is articulate and can present themselves well to a crowd. There are literally thousands of guys than can fish but put them in front of a crowd and stick a microphone in their hands and they become a zombie.

Fishing skills are important but people skills are even more important. You will need to be able to market yourself to the sponsors. They will not come to you. Hope this helps.


Ken

If you want to become pro, dont let anyone tell you you cant. The pro's got to be pro's because they became extra-ordinary. The old adage "you can do anything if you set your mind to it" is totally true with bass fishing. Be smart about it but go for it if you really want to. Bass fishing is way more of a "skill sport" as opposed to a "talent sport". Talent helps but skill is way more helpful. Develop your skills and keep your attitude high and you will get anywhere you want to. Thats what sets extraordinary people apart from the ordinary, they bust through adversity and keep pushing towards their goal regardless of the conditions of life and what other people say.

Good luck!

I didn't read through all of the posts, but I gather that the very large majority of posters on this forum are not now, nor have they ever been professional bass fishermen.

A guide is a professional, though possibly not fishing a pro circuit.

There's a difference between becoming a top tier angler and fishing the pro circuit. There are many people who fish the pro circuit who rarely if ever get a paycheck. So you don't have to be a great fisherman to fish big money tournaments, you just have to have big entrance money.

Obviously the first step is learning about bass fishing and becoming a better angler. You should, when you get a boat, go out on any particular lake near you and try to boat 5 keepers in the normal allotted tournament time. Weigh each and you don't have to keep any, just keep a running total of your five largest fish. Make sure you launch before sun up, like you probably would in a tournament, and make sure you are back at the launch site before the weigh in time. See how many days in a row you can get a bag over 15lbs fr 5 fish. It might sound easy, and it is when they are schooling or you are the only one on a hot spot, but there will be those days when you cannot buy a bite. That's what separates a good bass fisherman from the rest. The good one will know what to do about it, where to go and how to scratch out a 5 fish limit early on and spend time looking for that kicker.

There's a lot involved in being consistent on the water, and it's not about sponsors and boats with pretty wraps, but about time on the water and attention to detail. It cannot be a hobby, it has to be your life.

I couldn't do it, no way. I can catch fish, but even though I've been bass fishing for 30 years, I cannot come close to even beating a local guide, much less an elite angler. If you cannot beat these guys, you have no chance in a tournament unless you get lucky.

So the best advice is the college advice. Those guys get the best of both worlds, lots of on the water time and no fees. You at least get to decide if you like that life.

There used to be a show called "Angler On Tour". The angler on that show, Joe Thomas, was fishing a pro tour, and he never won 1st. The show showed some of the hurdles he had to overcome to fish the tournament, and how he felt when he put everything he had into it and didn't get a paycheck, but had to head to the next tournament instead of worrying about the last one. He said some of the same things you are saying, but I haven't seen his name around in a while. He had decent career earnings, but probably not even enough to pay is entry fees without sponsorship.

My point? It's not a lucrative career choice. 1% of the people make 99% of the money.

Don't let anyone kill your dreams. Good luck. You will never know if you don't try. know matter what you do there are hurdles to overcome. friend of mine was told the same thing. his name is Todd Faircloth. Look where he is now. one of the best anglers there is today Good luck.

All - this is some great feedback, thanks for all the reply's and for starting this one.

I have 6 years in the Army, and 1 left on my contract. Im single, no kids.........But, Its a lot tougher to make a decision than you would think. Its always something I can do after retirement, fishing is my life. Being in the Army has given me some public speaking skills, and managment skills that I can use later. But man it sure cutts into time on the water : )

Everyone who has posted is giving some great advice, thanks a lot.