Has professional angling hurt fishing?

Fishing has been a part of my life for as long as I can recall. If I wasn’t fishing, I was reading about angling in magazines or watching my favorite fishing show on Saturdays or Sundays. It was the angling media that taught me a lot of what started me in angling.

As a young angler, I was always intrigued with professional angling. I was growing up just as the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (BASS) was in its infancy. I faintly remember the first BASSMaster Classic, and the story about how the anglers boarded a plane not knowing where they were headed but that the tournament would be the biggest payout ever.

Anglers were only allowed a certain amount of tackle, and, if they were overweight, the founder Ray Scott would remove items from their tackle until they were within the weight limits. The anglers had no control over the items removed from their tackle boxes.

Over the years competitive angling grew within its own boundaries. As anglers, we followed the professionals, and kept up with the standings as best we could. There was no Internet, so it was simply word of mouth or you had to wait for weeks to read about the tournaments as the results were posted in “Bassmaster” magazine.

Few outside of angling even knew of the professional tour. If you approached someone outside of angling, and said you made a living fishing, they’d probably call you a liar or think you had an off-shore commercial fishing vessel. The idea one could make a living fishing for bass was just ludicrous.

I think we all at one time wished our sport would get the notoriety of some of the other fringe professional sports. I don’t think any of us ever thought it would be on the level with professional football or baseball, but to be recognized and occasionally televised live would be simply awesome.

Of course, with the increased exposure, anglers would also be able to compete for larger cash prizes. Just look what Tiger Woods has done for golf. Since his popularity and the attention he has brought to professional golf, the prizes have gone through the roof.

Now, here we are in 2008. All we wished for has been met and exceeded. Cash purses for some events are in the million-dollar range. Boats have taken on the look of NASCAR stock cars with advertising plastered all over them. Tournaments are televised frequently.

This past week, I sat around thinking about where we are as anglers. I’ve gotten several press releases over the past year talking of how fishing license sales have dropped dramatically in recent years. Tackle sales have also shown drops. Should this be the case?

One would think with the increased exposure of competitive angling that more people would be taking up the sport. That was the case with golf once Tiger Woods came into the spotlight. Untold numbers of people of all ages, races and sex began playing golf.

But the numbers aren’t showing that this has been the case with angling. This was my dilemma as I pondered the reason why more exposure hasn’t led to more anglers.

Our sport has changed a lot over the years. It has changed both in the techniques used to catch fish, and in the way media has covered the sport. One major change I’ve seen is the focus has gone from grass-roots angling to more advanced angling.

Gone are the informative angling shows I once yearned to watch. The great how-to anglers like Bill Dance, Jimmy Houston, Virgil Ward and others have been replaced with live coverage of professional anglers reeling in fish, but not showing how to fish.

Air time has been devoted to the top anglers landing fish and being shown weighing them in. Time hasn’t be devoted to tying knots, rigging worms and proper casting techniques.

There has also been a change in the printed media. Once you could purchase an outdoor magazine, and learn a new fishing technique. Today’s magazines seem more devoted to conservation and ecology while putting the basics on the back page like yesterday’s news.

So, the big issue I’ve seen was how do folks who don’t fish learn how to fish? If someone doesn’t show them, they simply won’t get it. I’m pretty sure John Doe watching the BASSMaster Classic on television won’t learn how to fish by watching the tournament.

Mr. Doe might become interested in angling by watching the coverage, but where does he turn from there? He isn’t at the level of Kevin Van Dam or Ardmore’s Jeff Kriet. He’s at the bottom of the learning curve. He has no understanding of dropshotting or finesse fishing.

If we don’t get back to the grass roots of angling, we’ll lose our new crowd. When we lose the crowd, we lose license sales. If we lose license sales, our wildlife departments suffer budget cuts. If there are budget cuts, our angling opportunities suffer. It’s a vicious circle that’ll lead right back to each one of us.

Please don’t get me wrong. I’m excited that our sport has grown to primetime coverage of major events. I’m simply concerned that the huge growth has caused us to forget how it all started in the first place.

Not all anglers will ever pilot a boat in a world class tournament. For that matter, most won’t even ever fish in a tournament during their lifetime. I’m afraid a focus on competitive angling will cause, and has caused, us to ignore the family-outing angler or the recreational-fishing enthusiast.

The thrill of angling can be enjoyed by all levels of people. Regardless of species, catching fish is simply fun, enjoyable and relaxing. It isn’t totally about fancy, fast and expensive boats and winning huge paychecks.

We need professional angling to bring our sport to the forefront of public perception. But now that we’ve brought it into the spotlight, I believe we’ve dropped the ball to those that we’ve piqued their interest.

We need to put more focus on educating our new anglers. They’re out there. But if they simply get frustrated thinking that angling is easy, and that success comes to all that simply buy a rod and reel and cast it into the water, we’re only fooling ourselves. We need to educate the beginners and novices, or our sport will die a slow death with all of us wondering what happened.

The same trend happened in golf to some extent. Many bought clubs thinking if Tiger can play, so can I. Then they found out that it isn’t that hard to lose a dozen golf balls playing 18 holes and taking an 8 on a par-four hole is more normal than the exception.

Some still play golf, but not as many that have given it a try.

The future of our sport isn’t those operating the $40,000 bass boats, but those sitting on the bank with a spincast combo and a tub of live nightcrawlers. The professionals are flourishing, but the spincast crowd is beginning to vanish.

We need to fix this problem in my eyes.

Next week, I’ll continue this issue with some ideas we might consider to increase angling numbers, and reverse the recent decline in fishing license sales.

Good fishing.
Editor’s Note — Brad Black can be e-mailed at okieangler@brightok.net.