Here's the thing, Bill Dance has no clue who the haters are. They're that important. LOL

I don't target bass, but Jimmy, Bill, Fish, The In-Fisherman crew, Babe, etc all rock and the haters just _ _ _ _!

My advice: GROW UP, just GROW UP.

Wow! I wonder how many of these guys gripping about Bill Dance' the most famous name in Bass Fishing, have logos of lure and products they use on their boats, jersesies, hats, and stuff. Ya'll pobably paid for those products, Bill's gettining paid to sell those products! How many of ya'll are salesman? Or promote products? A fish is a fish, who cares if he fishes public waters or private ponds, I'd rather catch fish all day long on a private pond than get beat up by wind blown, open reserviors with boats passin' by, people hordin' in on your spot, does Bill ever say "hey we'll be fishin this Public lake and then go out and fish the ponds????? I never hear him say that, you know what they say when you assume??? [censored]-u-me!!!! Leave Bill alone he's earned his keep!

I watched Bill Dance when I was a young kid. I didn't know anything about sponsorship, selling specific brand lures, etc. All I knew was this guy was catching fish and that's what I wanted to do!

Being older and more mature, yeah I see the business side of what he does, but it can never replace the interest his shows gave me in bass fishing as a young boy. I didn't care if he was in a private lake, or the the most heavily pressured lake in the US. All I knew was that he caught fish and how fun it looked. It made me want to go fishing, and through the years, shows like that kept the bug alive in me.

I went for years and years without fishing, deployed a couple times around the world while in the Marine Corps. I could still catch a fishing show every now and then and immediately think of nothing more then getting the chance to get out on a lake and try to catch fish like him.

People like Bill Dance and Jimmy Houston lit a fire in me that never got put out. I came into a nice amount of cash after 10 years at a company that was privately owned and went public in my 9th year there. Some people would have sold out and bought a nice car, a new house, or paid off one of those. Not me, that fire was still burning deep inside me. I took some of the money I got from all those years of work and bought a high end bass boat. I did it because of people like Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, and my dad.

I am sure that I'm not the only 35 year old man that remembers days of watching them on TV wishing I could fish like that. Some of you may knock Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, or the many others that have come and gone. But remember one thing, these guys lit fires deep in some young boys heart. Years later that "boy" will be a man who buys a bass boat and is fishing next to you in a tournament or in your local bass club.

So there it is, you don't like him, but I attribute my purchase of a bass boat and all it's associated equipment to 3 people. My dad, Bill Dance, and Jimmy Houston. I didn't fish from the time I was 15 years old until I was 34 years old. In ALL that time the desire never went away, and the first chance I got, I went for a bass boat before anything else. So knock him all you want, it's people like him who have kept this alive and thriving for so many years.

I have nothing personal against Bill Dance. The one thing that does irritate the heck out of me though is that he�ll do a show fishing a lure that is not available till some months after that show airs. We get folks coming into Mack�s Discount Tackle on a fairly regular basis asking for some lure that neither Mack, nor I have ever heard of, and tell us that the saw it on the Bill Dance Show. When we tell them that we�ve never heard of it they act like we don�t know squat about fishing. I mean if we�ve not heard of a lure that is being advertised on the Bill Dance Show we must be totally out of touch with bass fishing.


The �hot-lure du jour� is the bane of the retail tackle business.


TFP

They all are promoters for sponsors. Shaw Grigsby (can't stand him either), Hank Parker (I think he should chnage his name to Berkley), Bill Dance (ever watch his saltwater shows?, The ba-donk-a-donk), Jimmy Houston, Roland Martin, etc. So give Dance a break. The only problem i have with him is I've seen all of his shows.

Funny stuff

Bill Dance has made his contributions to the sport of fishing. Back in the day, he won eight tournaments and 3 Bass Angler of the Year titles. He was the first angler to track shad migrations and the bass that followed them. How many of you can do this today even with technology on your side? He is an early pioneer of the sport.
This man was tournament fishing when the big money was absent and nobody followed the sport. Back when the passion for fishing out-weighed the love of money. He still gets excited when he catches a fish. Today's anglers jerk the fish from the water straight into the live well. Instead of seeing a fish, they see Federal Reserve Notes with the denomination being dependent on the size of the fish. Like many other sports, money has replaced passion.
Myself, and many others, watch his show to see him catch fish and to be entertained. His show is very entertaining. Why do you think it has lasted so long. Who would tune in if he was fishing a high pressure lake and getting stumped. It's only 30 minutes long. I don't care if he is fishing at the Sea World aquarium, I want to see him catch fish and be giddy with excitement.
Now I do not go out and buy everything little thing that Bill Dance advertises and if you do, you have other issue's besides Bill Dance. His show would have never lasted this long if not for the big audience (which advertiser's love). So Bill Dance is making money because of advertising. How's is that different from any other big name? I say bravo Bill! You deserve to make as much money as you can for your contributions to the sport.

LOL. I'll admit that I have defended BD a little in this thread, but I will also admit that you lose some perceived credibility if you hock a bait with a name like that. It may be the greatest bait in the world. I don't know. But the name is a little lot off the wall.

If you think that Bill Dance cannot catch fish on "pressured" water, think again. It's all about time and funding. I flat out guarantee you he can go out on any of the public waters and make a show with what he is fishing with. The issue is time. It is less costly to shoot 8 hrs of film vs shooting 80 hrs of film. Why do you think many manufacturers like shooting film on El Salto and Baccarac? Because you can go down there and in three days get more good film than you could on most public waters in the same time frame. Give him a break. Bill Dance is a pioneer in this sport and a nice guy to boot.

The dancing eel is my favorite...I personally saw a 9 caught on it in public water.

In honor of those who do not like BD, maybe TFF should considering sponsoring a tournament where the biggest LMB caught on a dancing eel wins the entire pot.

Give me a TV show and show me the money!!!! and I'll fish the "whateveritisbait" too. Maybe I won't catch as many as Bill but I'll try my darnedest. Hmmmm...maybe he did something and earned his TV show and it wasn't given to him.
Al Grab (AKA Propman)

I have seen fish caught on it and that long buzzbait.

I have fished a dancin eel with no luck
Next time I'm salt water fishing I may just try a ba-donk-a-donk.

He might have been? He has three BASS Angler of the Year titles...

I wonder how many of the guys who love to rip him as a no-fishin' has been have won so much as three championships in their illustrious Hoot n Holler Bass Club.

Rick Clunn was on tour when Bill Dance won his last two AOYs. Larry Nixon was competing by the time he won his last. And...Roland Martin was there for all three.

Is there ANYONE on this forum who honestly thinks he could win a season series even if the only three anglers competing against him were Rick Clunn, Larry Nixon, and Roland Martin?

LOL.

I think there are people alive and breathing today who don't realize anything happened or was accomplished before they were born...or got a computer. It's amazing what all was done back in the dark ages. We won world wars, went to the moon, and even managed to catch a few fish before the young geniuses came along and blessed the planet.