where will bass fishing tournaments be 10 years from now?

here's my prediction.....with high school and college fishing growing by leaps and bounds,it is growing the sport at a rate we haven't seen which may or may not be good long term....my prediction is that ten years from now,BASS may not exist or will have merged with MLF......thanks to boyd ducket,gary klein and others for expanding the TV market,,far more people will be able to make a good living fishing tournaments...the top levels of tournament fishermen will resemble professional golfers in that they control the TV and venue income or they will have a strong fishermens organization like major league baseball,basketball or NFL and will receive a large share of the income generated by the sport....
am also afraid most of our lakes have reached the point where they can't support many more tournaments....it's already gotten to where the number of fishermen plus wake boats has taken a lot of the enjoyment out of weekend fishing....will that ruin tournament fishing? most of us played baseball or football when we were younger and when we got too old to play,it didn't affect our desire to watch games....will it work like that for fishing also?
hope I'm around 10 years from now to see it......

We need more lakes. They are getting very crowded.

BASS has been around for many many years, they aren't going anywhere. In 10 years, the market will be extremely saturated and companies won't need to dish out sponsor dollars but to an extremely small handful of fisherman. I also predict a ton of maxed out credit cards of people trying to "make it". Make no mistake, fishing will never be like golf, and making a living at it will continue to be for the independently wealthy.

Just by seeing how much its changed in the past 10 years where every buddy thinks they are a mini KVD I cannot imagine what its going to be like in another 10. I may be a very good golfer by then.

We'll be in exactly the same spot we are today... We're a niche sport, just like golf tennis, bowling, archery, shooting or dance... Fishing is booooooooooooooring to watch... We're probably in the heyday of the sport as we speak... Dan

Technology will dictate what it will be like for the advanced anglers. Livescope will be something that will be looked back on as we look at those LCR graphs.
I remember getting my new Humminbirds LCR graph and thought how in the world can it get better than that. I move up from a flasher unit.
The newer angler will be more in tune with the technology that will be brought in and refined.
Bass boats, they will have some changes but not anything that will set the world afire.
Lures...oh there will be something new that comes along in the next few years but that has happened since the plastic worms was the king of bass fishing.
To those that understand and can "afford" the new technology will have an advantage over the ones that either do not understand it or cannot afford it.
There will be a difference in those that are old school of knowledge on the water and those that have knowledge of the new items that come from the fishing industry. A new angler that is proficient in technology will be able to compete with an angler with fishing knowledge a lot quicker and pass them by and live by technology instead on the knowledge you have gained through years of fishing.

Hopefully the few really good trails will continue to prosper and grow to 300-400 boat fields. I’d be all about less overall tournaments and giant fields.

I think fishing will be around in 10 years , I like the live events, I don’t like to watch something that has happened awhile back after I know who or what won.

This is my thought as well. "Growing the sport" doesn't benefit existing anglers, unless paying a lot more for everything and fishing crowded water is considered a good thing by some of us. I thought I wanted a newer, bigger used boat until I saw the prices of 5-7 year old rigs. Can I afford it? Yes. Am I willing to pay that much? No, at least not right now.

Between so many people being on extended vacations disguised as "working from home" and high school fishing the crowds are crazy. I took off work and went to Pines to prefish on a Wednesday last year. The trucks and trailers in the parking lots and up the road made it look like Bass Champs and another big trail were there. On a Wednesday. It was insane. I went on a Saturday a few weeks ago and it was the same. People were everywhere and pulling in 100 feet from me to drop their trolling motors. I stayed three hours before saying to heck with it and going back home. Fishing is supposed to be fun. That wasn't.

In 10 years if it keeps going the way it is, I won't even own a fishing pole. I can't hardly stand being on a lake on a weekend as it is now. All this grow the sport [censored] has taken alot of the fun out of it for me. Constantly being cut off and cussed at by idiots that don't know jack about courtesy. Had a guy cut me off 2 weeks ago by anchoring 20 feet in front of me as I'm fishing down a bank just so he could try and catch his 10" crappie. Then proceeded to MF me for getting to close to him and thinking I own the water. Took everything I had to not end up in jail.

The truth is the ones who control the "leagues" BASS, MLF and so on make most the money. The anglers make what they allow to trickle down.

It's the same as in all professional sports, just put it to scale. Fishing is on a much smaller scale compared to Football, Baseball, Golf and other sports.

PRO Bass payout have stayed the same or even gone down in the last twenty years.I remember local events that gave boats away.Pretty much a rich kids game nowadays.

In 10 years, the largemouth bass resource will be tapped out from overfishing. The same will follow suit as we expand into Crappie and Catfishing tournaments over the next 5-7 years. In 10, we will be following MLF and BASS live floating doughballs under a cork to catch bugle mouth bass as the last ditch effort to compete on the water.

Lots of doom and gloom. Lord willing I will be healthy and enjoying the fishing in 10 years.

Yep, same for me, I’m sick of the inconsiderate idiots.



But I don’t blame “grow the sport”, that’s BS. The “sport” was way larger back in the 70’-80’s, the problem now is COVID and people being paid to sit on the lake while collecting unemployment. I pray that when Texas finally gets smart and cuts off unemployment to people who should be working, that the lakes become less crowded again. Truth be told, if 4 million people moved here in the last 10 years, it’s just natural that our lakes will be more crowded unfortunately.


The OP’s point is beyond stupid, Duckett & Klein have grown nothing. If he wants to prove that they have grown anything, tell me how many tournaments use the MLF format??? Like maybe 1 in 50?
And the only people that watch fishing on TV is old geezers, anybody that matters in 10 years is using a phone, laptop or tablet.


Jacob Wheeler, the greatest angler on the BPT/MLF has around 115k Youtube followers.

Ben Milliken who fishes NOTHING has 429k followers.

There’s your answer to what’s gonna happen in 10 years, professional tournaments are on their death beds.

Let me add one more. LUNKERSTV has 1.21 MILLION followers. He has more than all of the tournament organizations combined, TV is DEAD!

LOL but MLF has the most ratings in the world!

Bass fishing will just keep on bass fishing. Technology will change things but there will always be bass fishing of some sort. There are a lot more non tournament anglers than tournament anglers and many of them will keep on keeping on. Tournaments will still be around as well. Even today with front facing sonar the "in thing" we are seeing more events being won without it than with it.

Duckett tried to buy BASS, multiple times, they told him no. I don't see there ever being a merger but one of the two might eventually go out of business as was rumored was going to happen to FLW before they were acquired.

Probably best point in this thread, our public lakes are becoming more and more pressured, its insane how much has happened this last year, its not good for the resource. If population keeps growing here you will see fishing season and boat limits per day on smaller lakes like you do out west, you can say this it Texas and that will never happen but Texas is changing and changing rapidly. Folks who don't have access to private water don't realize how much pressure affects fish and how much easier they are to catch without it. I'm honestly surprised private water fishing leasing haven't taken off yet, you never heard of a duck lease 15 years ago now they're everywhere like deer leases. I'm sure at one point you can go back far enough that a deer lease wasn't a thing.

It's still going to be bass fishing. Yes, us that like it will like it, but it will never be main stream. Will always be a overalls and spit can kind of sport.

"Growing the sport" is a catchy phrase the corporate machines push to grow their bottom line.

This^ by boat is for sale on here now. Think I will just buy a creek and river boat.

Thanks to the cartels there is still one lake in Texas that is not over crowded. Evidently all the guy’s that own the water on all the other lakes don’t have the balls to fish Falcon. Thank you El Chapo!

go back and read the original post again.....the important point is that Boyd duckett,gary klein and others have grown their tournament format to being the most popular outdoor show on TV,expanded the TV exposure from 30-40 hours to over 800 hours and the TV,venue and sponsor income is going into the pockets of the fishermen instead of a few owners...

Someone will always be working on a better mousetrap. The rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, and some of the rich will get poorer.

And please put some around Houston so us bass guys can fish a nice lake 30 mins from home

Ok, I re-read it and still think you’re smoking a crack pipe. You said BASS would be done, right now, they are in the drivers seat. Every prediction that Boyd made, has failed to come true. Housewives aren’t flocking to them, they have to pay entry fees again; because the sponsor money isn’t there. It’s all a bust as of now. Their viewership numbers are dismal...did you see the Lunkers TV numbers??? That single one guy is crushing the BPT.


I’m not trying to beat on you, but you are clueless to how the world has changed. 100k people watching a show doesn’t mean squat to anyone. CornHole ratings on ESPN get higher numbers than fishing, BASS of MLF/BPT.

I get it, you’re like super duper proud of Duckett and Klein, maybe he’s your son or something, I don’t know...but they aren’t ever going to have paid athletes like real sports. Fishing is only fun to watch for a few of us and I do agree that the over crowding will be a bad thing, you just don’t realize the real reason for the crowding.

What ive noticed in my area is that the finesse fishing (ned rig and spinning reels) is what is winning and placing high in tournaments. I don't enjoy fishing that way. If that is what its going to my competition days may be numbered.

Without more lakes being built I figure the growing will top out and people will start finding other things to do. Kind of like golf. It will still be crowded but people will start to quit.
As far as tournaments, they will be basically the same. Theres only so much you can do to a fishing tournament. I could see mandatory video in the boat soon.
BASS and MLF, me personally, I dont see much changing. If anything I think MLF shrinks as TV shrinks and viewers leave. I think BASS probably wont grow but will stay steady basically like they have been. I really think the bpt goes away and they change back to the selects and let the FLW points get you in to the selects and then you can make the cups.

'Lectric motors.

Prolly in the Sheeter........

As for growing the sport- fishing license sales have been down for several years, during COVID they have risen.
COVID has caused a lot of weekend warriors to be on the lakes more often. They only know the current “hot” lakes so those are overcrowded. I fished last weekend on forgotten small lake, there were 5 trucks with bass trailers and about 8 kayakers when I pulled out after lunch. Caught 11 bass up to 5.5 pounds in 5 hours. Drove by a nearby “hot” lake and the ramp and overflow parking was packed.

Tournament anglers wil come and go but both local and national events will remain stable.

FLW has required video in the boat for a few years now if you don't have a marshall. And your very right about golf, I remember it booming back around 2000 with the Tiger craze, I know of 2 courses and a driving range that have closed near me in the last 2 years, golf is definitely on the wane.

I wish MLF and Bass would merge. Create two different conferences and adopt a 5 fish limit with catch, weigh, release. Could even have them just hide their biggest fish from basstrak and have them weigh it in.

They could have top 25 from each league fish the Classic. Have interleague tournaments. Have a team tournament. A match play tournament... etc.

I think a whole different organization comes along, something that let's people catch, weigh, release on their own and is ran more like video game leagues, viewers on youtube, etc.

Gee... Just what I wanna do, sit in side and watch someone do an outdoor activity... Dan

a bunch of video game fishing lol

is it possible that Big O and grout-scout are the same person.....same lack of reading comphrehension and childish criticism of anybody who has a different viewpoint.....

Here are my list of things that will be the same and different:
Same - tournaments both types competition brings about innovation, the desire to "make a living fishing", organizations coming and going, Pressure on current lakes, ramp rage, rudeness from other anglers not showing courtesy
Different - boats, I think you will see a different boat in the future with all of the technology and desire for cleaner motors(maybe not 10 years), plus the batteries to run said tech and motor. Tech coming to the forefront of catching fish, lure innovation.

In ten years there won't be any new lakes, and the population is soaring from people moving to Texas and other red states from the lunatic liberal states that the growth will completely outgrow the supply.
We will be more concerned about where our drinking water will come from than if the sport of bass fishing is growing.
Viva Falcooooooon!