A friend of mine just won the Bassmaster Classic

DigMe · #1 02-24-2008, 08:27 PM

Apparently this is the Super Bowl of fishing tournaments.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...D8V12CA80.html

He's a great guy..about as good a guy as you'd ever want to know. We go to the same church. I was talking gear with him once and he offered to give me one of his reels but I never have taken him up on it.

brad

HollowBassman · #2 02-24-2008, 08:31 PM

Wow, that's awesome! I'd like to get paid $500,000 to go fishing for three days.

Valerus · #3 02-24-2008, 08:34 PM

Dang dude! That's killer.

Rollin' in the dough.

iamlowsound · #4 02-24-2008, 08:38 PM

That's sweet. A good friend of mine has placed top 5 in a few fishing tournaments. Never won, yet.

lowsound

MJ5150 · #5 02-25-2008, 11:44 AM

Cool, if he wins it four more times you can call him the Pittsburgh Steelers of bass fishing.

-Mike

FL Knifemaker · #6 02-25-2008, 11:46 AM

Very cool!! I was watching it on and off all weekend. As they say, winning that will change his life!! I love fishing local bass tournaments, I couldn't imagine the pressure of doing it for a living.

LilRay · #7 02-25-2008, 12:05 PM

I live on Lake Hartwell, and by the looks of the lake here, I was surprised to see the guys catching fish like that. We're in a SEVERE drought. Parts of the lake are just mudholes right now.

Rumble Bee · #8 02-25-2008, 12:10 PM

Alton has been fishing a long time and is a great guy. Glad he won it.

NKUSigEp · #9 02-25-2008, 01:13 PM

I wish I could even afford the entrance fee for the Bassmaster classic!

bassturtle · #10 02-25-2008, 01:20 PM

Congrats to your friend! Any competition where you walk away with $500k is a good thing.

Obviously luck has a little bit to do with it, but what skills make someone a championship fisherman? Ability to read the water and where the fish might be? Aim and casting ability? Knowing what lures to use?

My fishing usually consists of putting a worm on the hook and throwing it out there

Intune · #11 02-25-2008, 01:35 PM

Congrats to your buddy! Those guys are awesomely talented.

Everyone who drives thinks they could run NASCAR, IRL or GP. Everyone who fishes thinks, "there's an easy paycheck." It's not...

bassbully · #12 02-25-2008, 01:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigMe

Apparently this is the Super Bowl of fishing tournaments.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...D8V12CA80.html

He's a great guy..about as good a guy as you'd ever want to know. We go to the same church. I was talking gear with him once and he offered to give me one of his reels but I never have taken him up on it.

brad

Awsome! Alton appears to be a great guy and a great angler. Charlie Hartley from Ohio who was in first place i knew from my bass days here in Ohio. Most of the guys are great guys a few are jerks but they are few.
I used to run the tourneys and won a national championship in the 90's alot of local and regional wins as well. I walked away from it in the mid 90's just had enough and its really costly. I dreamed of a shot at the classic but it wasnt to be. Today i fish for fun sold most my gear both of my boats and play bass not catch em LOL.

Pro bass fishing or serious tourney fishing is alot of hard work. Long days exposed to brutal weather trying to break down water finding invisable (most of the time) fish. Time is money. The guys who can consistantly find the fish quickly and the largest cash huge checks but its not slinging a bobber with a worm folks...its a sience,art and passion.Like we feel about real bass playing vs plucking random strings and saying you are Geddy Lee.

MJ5150 · #13 02-25-2008, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Intune

Everyone who drives thinks they could run NASCAR, IRL or GP. Everyone who fishes thinks, "there's an easy paycheck." It's not...

I can agree with the driving part, but a guy doesn't need to be "awesomely talented" to catch a fish.

-Mike

bassbully · #14 02-25-2008, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

I can agree with the driving part, but a guy doesn't need to be "awesomely talented" to catch a fish.

-Mike

At the level those boys are at you would be surprised.

MJ5150 · #15 02-25-2008, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bassbully

At the level those boys are at you would be surprised.

Yes, I would. Even dorks like me get lucky at fishing. I cast a line into the river a couple weeks ago with a friend and hauled in the biggest catch of everyone in our fishing group. Most of the other guys have been fishing for 15+ years.

I have no fisherman skills, I don't know any of the terminology. Heck, I didn't even know what I was fishing for. Yet my buddies with years of experience spent all day casting into the same river and only a couple of them caught anything worth keeping.

-Mike

Cerb · #16 02-25-2008, 02:23 PM

Did anyone else think this was a thread about some type of bāss competition?

FunkyFrosty · #17 02-25-2008, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerb

Did anyone else think this was a thread about some type of bāss competition?

No.....

But I read this one and thoughht someone had eaten one of my favourate bands.....

Man dies in cake-eating contest

DigMe · #18 02-25-2008, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cerb

Did anyone else think this was a thread about some type of bāss competition?

No, because we all understand that music and/or bass guitar related threads do not go in the Off Topic section.

bc

bassbully · #19 02-25-2008, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Yes, I would. Even dorks like me get lucky at fishing. I cast a line into the river a couple weeks ago with a friend and hauled in the biggest catch of everyone in our fishing group. Most of the other guys have been fishing for 15+ years.

I have no fisherman skills, I don't know any of the terminology. Heck, I didn't even know what I was fishing for. Yet my buddies with years of experience spent all day casting into the same river and only a couple of them caught anything worth keeping.

-Mike

Ya fishing that way luck has a big hand. Fishing like what the Bassmater Classic and Pro's like Alton Jones do is not in the same book. They have to show up to lakes all over the country have a pre-fish period and then 3-4 day to compete. They have alot on the line in endorsments ,contracts etc and 200-300 other anglers highly skilled chasing the same thing...$$$$.The pressure is intense. Long days exposed to cold,heat ,wind ,rain, bugs, boats everything and the clocks ticking to boat the heavest legal 5 fish limit or state limit of bass you can catch in the time you are given.

Now on your example. Lets say that big catch you made was enough to lead day 1# now you have 2 more days to continue to try to out fish your buddies to a $50.000 payday...will luck and a single cast work on day 2 day 3 or will the more experenced guys put togehter and bump you out and take the check? Thats what tourney Bass fishing is all about.

hbarcat · #20 02-25-2008, 10:43 PM

That's like any other competitive skill that every armchair quarterback thinks they can do with just a little practice. But the people who actually make money at it do so because they don't expect to win with one or two isolated hot streaks; they work their asses off to develop the skill to perform at a high level and to do so consistently, time after time after time, under adverse conditions and under extreme pressure.

anecdote: I had the opportunity to learn a little about shooting pool from a retired professional player and I also had the time to practice an hour or so every day for a couple of years as well as playing in bars and halls, and I got pretty good at it so that I could expect to run the table quite often and make tricky combination shots and set myself up for numerous consecutive shots etc... That made me no better than the typical pool hall player and so far from being competitive that I would have been laughed out of any tournament I might have entered. The same is true for golf, bowling, fishing, luge, curling ............