Kevin VanDam won the Bassmaster Classic last weekend, and while the majority of fly fishermen probably don’t care, it’s hard not to notice this little fact: He received $500,000 for his victory (in prize money alone).
Fly fishermen could only win a half-million dollars if fly shops routinely sold lottery tickets, which – given that we exist largely on hope – isn’t a wholly bad idea (yet another free, revenue-enhancing retail concept from the Underground).
That prize money exists only because somebody, somewhere figured competitive bass fishing’s audience is big enough to warrant the spending, and given the response the day after VanDam’s win, they’re probably right:
One day after hundreds of spectators watched Kevin VanDam win the 2010 Bassmaster Classic fishing in Beeswax Creek, the boat ramp there remained busy with anglers looking to capture some of his magic.
From jon boats to glittering bass rigs, the parking lot was crowded with trucks and trailers and the sound of running outboards filled the large creek. Anglers young and old packed the area where VanDam caught all his fish, making cast after cast with a lipless crankbait just like the KVD did.
Junior Hughes and Jimmy Oaks have been fishing Lay Lake for more than 50 years, starting before the lake was backed up. They rarely fish anything but the south end of the lake, but watching the final day of the Classic on ESPN2 Sunday night inspired them to come up to Beeswax in search of warmer water.
First, the next time somebody accuses fly fishermen of hot spotting, hand them this article.
And second…
We Gotta Ask
Bass fishing wears competition far better than fly fishing ever would (for starters, bass are tough, and trout are not), and most of the fly fishing industry’s attempts to foster a competitive circuit – at least in the USA – have foundered badly.
The original incarnation of the Fly Fishing Masters TV show seemed entertaining enough, but the later versions were awful things.
Packed with fly fishing industry insiders, the whole shebang was what we in the ad game once called a “sponsor stroke” (which we didn’t mean in a nice way).
Still, it’s hard to deny that competitive fly fishing on the International level is appearing on the radar more than before.
Saltwater tournaments (mostly for Tarpon) seem to be gaining ground, and I suppose – with the prospect of a $500,000 payout in the future – it’s time to ask the Undergrounders a critical question.
Is fly fishing ready for a competitive circuit?
For me, the answer before was no, and today, it’s still no.
Yet the pro-competitive arguments are many (and it’s just possible I’m a pain in the ass who isn’t always right).
It would raise fly fishing’s profile, and grow the sport. It would foster resource protection. It would (perhaps) turn a parttime industry into one fulltime one. It would draw kids to the sport.
And so on.
With a half-million dollars of something dangling in front of us, the question for the Undergrounders is clear.
Is fly fishing ready for “professional tournament anglers” – or are we too proud/smart/snobby to even try? Or is the sport simply not suited for it?
The floor is yours, Undergrounders.
n
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“and while the majority of fly fishermen probably don’t care”
I was thinking about just this last night. As you know I’m a fly fisherman (mostly salt) but I also produce the FLW bass fishing tournaments (as of this year) and while I’m certainly not a pro I have a pretty in depth understanding of the ins and outs of bass fishing tournaments and its pretty fascinating stuff. What I was thinking about was that these tournament shows should appeal to fishermen in general not just bass fishermen. To me, fishing is a universal language no matter what you fish for or how you fish. You still need to understand the same basic principles (where the fish are, what they’re feeding on, what patterns exist, how weather effects an area, etc). And it’s this info that i’ll try to have come through in my shows.
Re the money, for the past few years FLW paid $1,000,000 to the winner of their championship (it will be $500k this year). It’s no surprise that bass would garner more money as that’s what most people in this country fish for. Fly fishermen are such a small percentage of the population it hardly makes sense for major marketers to sink their money there and the endemic advertisers just don’t have enough to make it worth it. One way to make the purse bigger is to require big entry fees which many SW tournaments do as do BASS tournaments.
Just some thoughts…. back to work.
Jason Jason Puris(Quote)
Like a smart man once said: “Flyfishing is like sex. If you’re competing at it, you’re doing it wrong.”
Just sayin’. Peter(Quote)
The Late 60s would come out of me. Think I’d tramp through, put all fish down before a tourney. All the while singing Neil Young songs. “Well I dreamed I saw the knights in armor coming, saying something about a queen.” Flykuni(Quote)
Power to the PMDs, or something like that… Tom Chandler(Quote)
Pansies …
Of course fly fishing is deserved of a pro contingent, mainly because our drunken layabout outdoors characters are twicet as good as the manicured power boat crowd.
1. Competition always spawns innovation, it did during the Space Race, and continues to dominate leaked celebrity porn …
2. We bathe less. Lacking any real sponsors and significant prize money, our lads will scramble into and out of riffles and pools wearing anything from Lycra Spandex to ballet garb – the Nielsen crowd will lap it up.
3. We swear better. We womanize more frequently, and choose not the tattletale supermodels – rather we opt for them homely fry cooks and waitresses – with low expectations and loose morals. As such ….
4. Our apologies to sponsors and coterie of fawning sychophants will be much more meaningful and sincere. We make no excuses like “the %$#* hat said, Just Do It”
5. We don’t chew tobacco. Our Nielsen hit among 20-30 year old fems will be six or seven times better than the Bucketmouth Brigade. When we spit we hit what’s aimed at – don’t wipe the remnants on our sleeve – and have all our teeth – which plays doubly well at the podium.
6. Our liquor is better, mostly because it’s aged somewhere other than past the vocal chord and above the gullet.
7. Our fishing is “extreme” – their fishing is simply plentiful. Like the olympic bio – we can seem doubly hard, eschew normal creature comforts, and look all stern and forboding when we glance at the camera – they have to be personable and friendly.
8. We have ten times the topics to bore viewers with – the bass types can only tear the lip off a crankbait, or stuff lead shot down the maw of their quarry. We’ve got tungsten which carries twice the forfeiture – and we can babble for hours on the mating habits of cyprinids, cocktail floozies, or camp followers.
9. We have immoral and illegal, endangered species, and fish flies made from clubbed baby seals – our competitions will spawn ten times the protest, anger enviromentalists and parents alike – and our image will rival Marlon Brando and Harley Davidson added together.
10. We can’t agree on anything. There’ll be no back slapping or butt pats at the microphone. Someone will make some wild claim about “they was eating mayflies” and some other fellow will object mightily. Once two or three “your Momma’s” are involved it’ll be better than a couple teams spilling onto the diamond – we may even spawn a couple of fight channels, like ” Mixed Dry Fly Raw…”
It’s time. We’ve done Mongolia and Lower Manhattan – it’s the only frontier remaining. KBarton10(Quote)
Oh c’mon – they got powerful metalflake boats. We might be able to squeeze a float tube into the mix.
Face it, we got nothing…. Tom Chandler(Quote)
I voted “Hell No” but after reading the Ten Points I’ll reconcile to “Hell Yes.” ed(Quote)
After watching the national fly fishing championship in State College, PA last year (and George Daniels pull fish out of muddied creeks, twice their bankfull cfs), I’d say competition fly fishing is alive, although probably not “well.” Room for growth, for sure. And if you spent even 15 minutes at the awards reception talking tricks and technique, you’d know the innovation inspired by the competition is phenomenal… Alex(Quote)
Yes, innovation, but do the majority of fly fishermen really care? To be honest, most of the tournament techniques developed overseas seem like less fun instead of more fun, and at some level, fun is what it’s about.
Which is really where the rub comes when competition comes into conflict with a formerly non-competitive sport.
Bass fishing’s fun, but the sport has largely come to be defined by its tournaments, and I still don’t believe that’s a particularly good thing. Tom Chandler(Quote)
Dibs on the “Official Trout Underground” wader wrap. Patrick(Quote)
Florida seems to have a tournament a week… seems like there is a growing tournament tradition in the Salt. Trout just are less dramatic. Bjorn(Quote)
not too sure, but isn’t http://www.troutlegend.com about competition fly fishing? I didn’t read through it enough to REALLY understand their main objective, but I think that’s it. Oatka(Quote)
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Slowly, the bass folks have become the haves, and the fly folks are becoming the have nots. Fly fishing needs SOME KIND OF SHOT in the arm in my opinion. I like the idea of some format for head-to-head competition – fly v. conventional winner take all. shannon(Quote)
The number of bass fishermen has (in modern times) always dwarfed the numbers of fly fishermen, so in the sense of audience (and market size), they’ve always been the “haves.” Tom Chandler(Quote)
Honest, I thought Bass Masters was a video game. Let them stay inside , and…
But, then I saw KB’s 10 reasons to turn pro, and I thought about my mortgage. Damn, I was so twisted that I still voted NO! JJP(Quote)
Geeeze us! I’m overwhelmed by KBarton 10′s 10 points. I’ve never seen (or read) such evil genius. I’m particularly impressed by point no. 3, which , alas, has been my sad approach to womanizing for some time.
Fly fishermen spending time with cocktail waitresses in Dolly Parton wigs has a certain penache that you don’t see among the Bass Masters set. On the other hand, I wonder if they really take all of that $500,000 back home to the wife and family? Not that we would… Kentucky Jim(Quote)
Here’s yet another reason why it would be an absolutely great idea. It would put the great majority of the competitive assholes all together in one place (which could be easily avoided ) and all the slackers would be in front of their televisions. The remaining few of us would be enjoying our fishing. Who could ask for more? Robert(Quote)
We have a little “bass on the fly” tourney that happens in our neck of the woods every May. It’s a blast, but primarily because it’s a funky little homegrown thing in which most of the competing teams slap a 3.5 hp motor on the back of their drift boat and tool around the reservoir trying to entice smallies. It’s basically just about having fun during a time when all our rivers are usually blown and we can’t guide. It generally involves a fair bit of irresponsible behavior, and no one really takes it all that seriously. If it ever did start to become a big deal, and people started truly getting serious about it, it probably wouldn’t hold much interest for me anymore. In general, the desire to turn every outdoor pursuit into a marketable, commercial “extreme event” makes we want to run in the other direction as fast as possible. Smithhammer(Quote)
The 3.5 horse motors suggest you’ve already begun the inevitable slide towards metalflake, 200 hp motors, sponsor-jammed Scream Shirts, and probably groupies too. Tom Chandler(Quote)
now why can’t a fly fisher go out and kick their butts at a bass tourney?
that’ll show em’ Anton Knoll(Quote)
If sponsored by Toyota the tourney would never stop. Try the veal. Flykuni(Quote)
I just want to sneak into the underbrush behind the camera crew – and outside the watchful gaze of the pin striped official, and as the intently scowling angler’s fly approach that seam behind the sunken log …
… pinch my nostrils together and intone, ” …hey Batta-Batta, SWING!”
The tantrum that results when his fly imbeds itself into an overhanging tree limb would make the Blooper reel … KBarton10(Quote)
Try a whoopie cushion. Same reaction, but much better television… Tom Chandler(Quote)
Workin’ on it…. Smithhammer(Quote)
Always thought you’d look good in one of those hats with the flames.
But then, I always thought I’d look good wearing a groupie, and that hasn’t happened either. Tom Chandler(Quote)
I voted hell Yes . I think it’s human nature to be competitive . It’s competition that lands that better job . We compete with Ourselves in hoping to catch a bigger fish in the same spot
We’ve been fishing for years , maybe because there’s just got to be a bigger fish around that stump . I tournament fish , but if it was for just the winnings , I would save a bundle by quitting . But the competition is fun and it makes Me work harder at understanding the fish , the water , the bait , and My approach . Enjoy life , enjoy fishing. Jerry jkboxk(Quote)
Competition is for spin casting bait fisherman, leave me out of it. m(Quote)