Do You Fish Tournaments Poll

thanks for creating this poll....somebody made statement that only 7% of bass fishermen fished tournys and I believe the percentage is much higher....

Here is a source that says only 6% of fishermen fish tournaments. I truly find that hard to believe, but then again, we don't really know who they are considering "fishermen". It quite possibly might be anyone that owns a rod & reel. Interesting that the article says 52% of Rayburn fishermen compete in tournaments though.

https://www.bradwiegmann.com/fish-b...heries-management-from-mississippi-.html

You should include night tournaments. I've fished a ton of night tournaments but only 3-4 day tournaments this year.

I know hundreds of fishermen and women and only a handful fish tourneys.

Right, it just depends on who you consider a fisherman or fisherwoman. If it's anyone with a fishing license, then a tiny percentage fishes bass tournaments.

This poll is like asking Democrats if they hate Donald Trump, you have a very biased crowed in this section. Most of the people on here fish tournaments but overall I think tournament fisherman are a very small percentage of license holders.

Probably not the most accurate poll since it's being run on the TFF where most of us are obsessed with this stuff and do fish tournaments.

I know a bunch of guys with top of the line bass boats and equipment that don't fish tournaments. Those guys know more about the recruiting class at their alma mater than they know about BASS, FLW, or MLF combined.

It's an interesting sport where people spend a lot of money but don't actually need any connection other than what they get with nature and their close friends/family.

Makes sense, I believe the true majority of people who bass fish do not fish tournaments. Less than 5% in my opinion.

I fished two kayak events in 17 one in 18 and this is my fourth year. I clicked occasional charity but could have just as easily clicked I do not. I am not even averaging one a year and have little interest in fishing one any time soon. I feel like the guys that say overwhelmingly most do not.

And then there are those of us who were hard core tournament fisherman but have retired from tournament fishing for various reasons.

not sure why you would estimate the percentage that low....take a look around at the fishing boats on the various lakes in Texas (or any southern state) and the overwhelming majority are bass boats except for a few weeks in the spring when the crappie fishermen come out...seems reasonable to assume that if you see a $40-70,000. bass boat that the owner bought to fish tournys out of.....
this forum may not be the best place to get an accurate sample poll but it's showing 70% of us fish some type of tournament...
also keep in mind that B.A.S.S. at one time had over 500,000 members most of which belonged to a bass club...FLW also had over 30,000 members and most of them were members so they could fish BFL or other FLW tournys…
the various states DNR dept.s could find out the percentage of tournament fishermen with a simp[le survey of license holders however I suspect they really don't want to know just how high the percentage of their income is coming from guys who fish tournys….they might have to start managing lakes to protect the bass and get rid of the cormorants,asian carp,alligator gar and quit spraying grass...

I know 3 guys that buy a new skeeter every couple of years. None of them fish tournaments

Agreed, especially if you take out the guys/gals who might fish a friendly charity tournament every few years.

A poll on this site will not be true barometer because we live in a state where bass fishing is relatively popular and like fishing enough to sign up for a forum.

Let's assume this site represents 10% of the bass fisherman in Texas (this is probably high). If 60% of the folks on this forum fish non-charity tournaments (the current tally) and this forum represents 10% of all Texas bass fisherman... then back of the napkin math says +/- 6% of Texas bass fisherman fish in tournaments. This will be further diluted when you factor in the northern states where bass fishing is not as popular.

A statistician will be able to poke holes in my layman's calculations... but the basic premise will remain the same even if exact calculations and assumptions are applied.

the way market research works is if this forum represents 10% of the bass fishermen in texas then you would assume the remaining 90% of bass fishermen would vote similarly to the results on this poll......the key words here are bass fishermen....if you include all types of fishermen(bream,catfish,crappies,striper,walleye,muskie,trout and pond fishermen) then maybe it's only 5% that fish tournys would be accurate....

I agree with you in most situations, but keep in mind that 60% in this thread said they participate in non-charity tournaments and we know that 60% of bass fishermen do not participate in tournaments.

In my mind (that has absolutely no experience in market research!) I look at our members who click on "bass fishing" and then clicks on "tournament poll" as the most dedicated bass fishermen. If this is true, then it seems reasonable to assume that bass fishermen who do not seek out a dedicated forum would be much less likely to participate in a tournament.

I agree with your logic if someone polled a large number of random bass fishermen at public ramps. In this situation, you would apply the results to the larger bass fishing community.

I have no idea if this poll is an accurate representation of bass fishermen in Texas or not but I'm pretty sure it indicates the 5% tournament participation estimate is far too low....
it would be interesting if we could talk the state into asking that question of every fisherman when they renew their license...
incidentally,I worked for the A.C.Nielsen market research company back in the 1960's and 70's and one important thing I remember is that if your sample isn't accurate,your results won't be either...

This poll is not an accurate sample so the results aren't either. I don't know why you continue to argue the point beartrap. The work has already been done on a nationwide basis. Less than 7% of people nationwide who target mainly bass, fish tournaments.

I don't know where or how somebodycame up with this "only 7% of bass fishermen fish tournaments" but it's obviously wrong.....I've fished tournaments since the early 70's in a 5 state area,talked to literally hundreds of fishermen plus read everything I could on bass fishing and almost every bass fisherman I've ever talked to has tried fishing tournaments of some sort at one time or another in their fishing career...
I can promise you two things.....if someone came up with a 7% tournament participation rate for bass fishermen,they had an agenda and manipulated the sample to intentionally show a low participation percentage......and.....while this poll is probably not a 100% accurate sample of bass fishermen,it's close enough to show 7% is ridiculously wrong ...

Why don't you do a little research and get back to us. I've done mine.

I am 45 yrs old. I have fished for bass about my whole life. I have fished in a handful of tournaments. That doesn't make me a tournament fisherman.

You didn't specify bass tournaments but I assume that's what you're polling. There's a ton of crappie and catfish tournaments these days also.

you may not have noticed but I started this poll and Brent S. posted it for me.....I think you would call this research.....incidentally,right now the poll is showing 71% of bass fishermen participate or have participated in tournaments...

yes, I noticed. Your logic is flawed. You yourself stated that if you don't have an accurate sample you can't get an accurate result. Sampling a board that is chocked full of tournament fishermen is not an accurate sample, and you should know that. I'll give you some more data points. There are 60 million fishermen and women in the U.S. 43% of them target mainly bass. That's 25.8 million bass anglers. 56% of bass anglers fish from shore or a dock. That leaves you with 11.35 million bass anglers with some type of boat. if 7% of those anglers with a boat fish tournaments, that means we have 794,500 "tournament" bass fishermen and women in this country.

Do you really believe 794,500 bass tournament anglers is ridiculously low? I think it's ridiculously high given that most people who target bass and have a boat don't fish tournaments.

You could do this nationwide research on your own. Just google it. There are tons of info out there that support what I'm saying. If you refuse to look at the data compiled by many different sources on bass tournaments, then I can't help you to understand how wrong you are.

A better poll might be:

Do you fish tournaments?

Yes
No

How many per year?

1-3
4-7
8-13
14+

Or something like that...

To my point earlier. I know a bunch of guys that don't fish tournaments but are really good anglers. I also know guys that fish 2-3 tournaments a year. And I know guys that fish a tournament every weekend.

Is a guy fishing 15+ tournaments a year the same as a guy fishing 2-3 big bass events with their buddy? Is the guy traveling all over Texas to fish tournaments the same as the guy that only fishes Rayburn or Fork tournaments?

For example...if someone fishes one tournament (Sealy at Rayburn), they show up in your poll as a tournament angler. I guess technically they are but they aren't a "5 fish" guy and likely don't follow the pro trails.

My guess is 15-20% fish SOME type of tournament each year, but I don't think its much more than that. I don't know why it's so hard to believe...look at hunting. Huge sport/hobby, tons of money spent, very very few competitive events of any type.

Exactly Brando! I fished a couple buddy tournaments 10 years ago but that hardly makes me a tournament fisherman.

The question is "do you fish tournaments"... my answer is "no" even though I have fished two in my 45 years on earth and have zero plans to fish another.

The only data point that has been supplied (and the only one that I could find after a few minutes searching) say less than 7%. This is not hard to believe.


^^^ Yep ^^^

If a real poll of bass fishermen, not just ones who come onto the forums, were taken,I’d be shocked if it was even up to 7%. I think of all the boats bass fishing that I see on a lake daily and then when a tournament is going on, how few boats in comparison that I see involved in the tournament. You can’t ask a poll like this without more explanation of whether u have fished one in you life or 10,000 does that make you a tournament fisherman. Just like someone might do a big bass tournament once a year but I wouldn’t call them a tournament fisherman.

I believe most non tournament bass fishermen have never logged onto this forum.

The reason the numbers are scewd in THIS poll, is you are posting it on a fishing enthusiasts website in the Bass fishing section. Most people that frequent this area of the forums fish some form of tourney, at least once or twice a year.

A better, less scewd poll, would be to ask every person buying a fishing license if they fish tourneys. Most would answer “no” or “what?”

I fished about three of the bank fishing bass tournaments several years ago. Now I annually fish the OT bass tournament.

I selected no, since I don’t currently fish tournaments, because the OT tourney doesn’t fit in the options, in my opinion.

I have never fished in one. I rarely fish on the weekends because I don't want to deal with other boats if I don't have to. I don't need the money and it just doesn't fun at all.

this week 320 fishermen are fishing the ABA classic is being held on Eufaula (Al.)….this is a three day tournament and most of the fishermen practiced 3 days so that adds up to 1920 fishing days this week....
last week BFL had 342 fishermen at their regional on lake Seminole.....5 days X 340 fishermen =1700 fishing days....
keep in mind you can add several hundred more fishing days for the guys who came to the lakes to practice prior to the cut-off period....I'd be willing to bet that's more hours spent by tournament fishermen in a week than fun fishermen spend in a year on either lake...

I've fished both these lakes for years and I can assure you,unless there is a big tournament coming up,you can drive from one end of these lakes to other during the week and not see 10 boats and again unless there is a big tourney coming up,you might see 20-30 boats on a weekend and most of them are participating in some sort of club tourney.....
I find it hard to believe 25.8 million people identify as bass fishermen...I believe it's more likely that many people own a rod and reel and fish infrequently for whatever will bite ..794,00 bass fishermen who fish tournaments is a believable number...
actually what I was trying to do with the survey was to determine how many people on this forum were tournament fishermen and it serves that purpose but I could have done a better job in separating club vs. open vs buddy type vs charity plus clarified how many guys fish tournys on a regular basis...
as mentioned previously,it's not a perfect sample of bass fishermen but the fact it's showing 70% either fish or have fished tournaments should be a red flag to whoever came up with that "only 7% of bass fishermen fish tournaments"..... ...

You'd be surprised at how many guys don't even own boats. I know a ton of guys who bass fish, no boat, just bank fish the rivers and lakes around here.

Beartrap,

Again, it's 70% of folks who care enough to sign up to a dedicated fishing forum. It's like going to a hot-rod forum and finding 70% who actively race cars... this would not be a good representation of the larger car enthusiast community.

I might give you that 10% of bass boat owners fish tournaments. Even if its 15% (which is very unlikely), this 10% to 15% number is diluted greatly by all of the bankers, pond prowlers, jon boaters and kayakers who mostly just want to enjoy themselves. It's even further diluted when you factor in the northern states where bass fishing is not nearly as popular.

Before you say "bankers, jon boaters, and kayakers" are not bass fisherman... I can assure you that there are a great many folks who bass fish 90% of the time and do not have a bass boat.

You are standing alone on this one... it's OK to let it go.

Man y'all will argue about anything.go fishing

I primarily bass fish of the bank or in my little 2 man boat. I bass fish mostly creeks, tanks and rivers. I've caught over 12 bass 10+ lbs all on the bank. I don't know if that makes me a bass fisherman or not but I think I'm decent at it. lol