StriperChaser Fishing News and Views: Fishing bass tournaments

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Fishing bass tournaments

Posted by }<)))*> StriperChaser on October 12, 2005, 9:16 pm
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Fishing bass tournaments
By Barry St.Clair

I’m not much of a fishing tournament guy. I come from the school that believes the contest in
fishing should be between the angler, the weather and the fish.
That is where the real test of skill and luck comes into play. And that is what fishing should be in
my opinion, just play.
But the only way to know what life is like on the other side is to walk a mile in the other guy’s
shoes, or fish eight hours straight in his boat. I fished my first bass tournament a couple of weeks
ago at Lake Fork, the McDonald’s Big Bass Splash, and I learned a lot from the experience.
First of all, I thought most anglers fished tournaments for the money, but that cannot be the case
because 99 percent of the 2700 registered anglers won zero dollars including my partner and me.
But there is no mistake that the perception of catching the right-fish-can-lead-to-wealth is a
powerful motivator.
This tournament pays out $400,000 in cash and prizes according to their publicity. A significant
portion of the entry fees goes to support the Ronald McDonald House charity program. So,
because of the potential winnings, this tournament attracts a lot of weekend anglers hoping to
cash in with their bass fishing skills and maybe win a new boat or truck. At least that seems to
be the motivating factor. Otherwise, why not just go to Fork and fish for bass on some other
non-tournament weekend?
Secondly, fishing in a bass tournament is hard work. I have always suspected this and now have
a sore arm and backside to prove it. We fished for eight hours continuously. In that time period I
figure each of us made no less than 960 casts. That estimate may be on the low side because
that number assumes we only averaged two casts per minute.
My posterior is sore because we moved from site to site across the lake at a high rate of speed.
Time is money in a bass tournament. The soreness resulted from the spine-wrenching jolts I
received as my partner piloted his aquatic chariot across waves being generated by wind from the
backside of Hurricane Rita. Now I know what riding a rodeo bronco must be like. It is not the
going up part that hurts, it’s the coming down.
When bass are in a sour mood, it does not matter how many different types of lures are in your
tackle box. This fact readily became apparent as the day progressed hour by hour and we had
not caught a legal tournament entry between us. The upside of this predicament is that I got to
try out lures that had never had their little treble feet wet before, lots of them.