I've written a couple of articles about this topic on the Bassmaster side of the house, so thought it would be interesting to present the same data on the FLW and EverStart side. So what follows is a table of the top 30 finishers in the Big ) this week (money for the guys making the cut not included), along with some notable Texans and other "big name" touring guys. What you will see is the number of events fished in each of the series, and total winnings from each for the last 5 years. Then broken down in winnings per event, note that the FLW Tour events are $4000 entry fees, and the EverStarts are now $1000, not sure what the FLW Series were, but figure entry fee and at a minimum another $700 per for expenses, anything under that amount per tournament and you are losing money.

one thing jumps out, Brett Ehrler is a men among boys in this group (note Suggs winnings are $1mm for the one tournament and a huge chunk of his winnings are on Quachita)

same data for the top finishers in the Everstart at Choke and Texans that made the top 50

Thats presuming they are paying entry fees out of pocket, which is becoming more common as entry fees continue to rise

Interesting, thanks for posting.

Very nice information.

You'd be stunned how few get their entry fees paid, was sitting at dinner with an Elite Pro last fall, guy is a multiple time winner, multiple time classic qualifier, in my opinion one of te top 5 anglers in the business, he was saying he had to pay for his electronics... he even had to pay to have his boat rigged, his contract is boat and motor, but he has to come out of pocket to rig it.

Interesting

This is the kind of data people need to see to realize that almost nobody makes money doing this.

Good post.

Ken since you noted majority of Suggs $ came on Quachita, shouldn't it be noted that the majority of Newberry's $ came on Rayburn? Especially since he's in the photo with you!

If you make money it's from selling yourself and your sponsors products not prize money

S**t, don't show this to my wife.

you selling yourself???? oh, you mean the fishing money thing.

Thanks