Going Pro

[JchesBass_7]

Hey guys, so I'm on here today because I want to know what it takes to be a pro. I love fishing it's my life,  I fish an 8 hour tournament on Sundays and a 3 hour tourney on Wednesdays. I would love to go pro get sponsors and all that. But it isn't that easy as we all know. I mean I'm 16 and I figure if I know what I have to do then I can accomplish that goal. I got one sponsor so far and that's Koppers LiveTarget Lures. I mean how do you get companies to look at you and possibly put you on their pro Staff. I know its not easy to get sponsors or even have a chance making a name for myself in this profession but I guess it wouldn't hurt to figure out how to better those chances.  


                           Thanks, Jeremy Chesney

[mikesmiph]

Stay in school, and get good grades.

[mikesmiph]

If your school has one, join the Bass Club. If it doesnt, start one. Go to a college that has a team. Win Win Win.

[LennyB]

I use to pre-fish with guys that fished the BASS Elite Series and fished as an observer in their tournaments and what I learned from them is as follows:

1) Be prepaired to lose a lot of money. It will cost $25,000 per season to enter, once you qualify. Plus another $25,000 per year in travel expenses. The cost to compete is so great, many long time pros have dropped out due to economics or have changed to more money friendly circuits.

2) Do not do any sponsor work for free. Once you set a president as working for free it will be your standard. The bill collectors do not except rubber worms as payment and nor should you.

3) As mentioned in a previous post, get an education, and a good one that is valuable to a sponsor (public relations, communication, marketing, and something you can fall back on). Sponsors want people that can promote and sell their products and that is their bottom line. A buddy of mine was interviewing with Toyota reps for a spot on their Pro Team and their very first question was how many trucks do you think you can sell this year for us, and how do you plan on doing it?

4) As far the fishing, that is another great challenge. Practice, practice, practice, and study, study, study. You will be competing against the best in the world on lakes you have never been too and they have been on many times.

I don't want to sound negative but that is the hard truth. Professional fishing is a tough road to hoe and very few make. You have to be 110% dedicated and very, very smart on and off the water. If you look at the current field of competition, the guys at the top meet this criteria and the rest are a constant turn over.

Good Luck with chasing the dream, and do it before the wife and kids come along.

[joshimoto son]

You are going to need a good job to support your passion. Get your degree Jeremy, build a room off of Dad's pole pole barn and live there as long as you can.
Come over sometime and we can discuss in further detail.

joshimoto son

[Manxfishing]

I'll agree with everyone else
Get the best education you can

There's no storage of passion for fishing at the top or bottom
But they say the best way to make small fortune fishing


Is to start with a large fortune

You might what to look into fishing as a co-angler
You'll get to know the people running the circuits and It's a fast way to pick up some good tips


Good luck
Follow the dream but make sure there's a back up plan

[motocross269]

Start a business that can run in your absence and provide an income for you and your someday family.....

I have seen quite a few great anglers give it a shot and when you have to count on it for income the pressures are huge....

Not trying to bust your bubble but the elite series runs from somewhere in the 75k-100k dollar price range....IF you can get a business started that can generate that kind of cash then you may have a shot...Sponsorships are not going to generate that kind of cash unless you are one of the top 20 in the world...

I fished this past weekend with a guide that has been featured on Hank Parker, Bassmaster magazine and several other media outlets and even a guy at that level is struggling to put together enough sponsorships to pay his way in the opens...

If you want to give it a run I wish you all the luck...but quit skipping school and focus on that education...Everything from there will fall together if it is meant to be,,,,

[djkimmel]

Kevin VanDam talks about how his teachers in high school thought he was crazy for his passion and belief that he could make a living fishing. But then, there's only one Kevin VanDam.

Tournament fishing is a brutally honest pursuit (you will know exactly where you stand). One of the toughest ways to make a living out there - 300 plus long days a year on the water maybe and most of the other days spent on related work. If you can do it and live a dream, that's wonderful, but attempt to do it with complete honesty to yourself and a lots of planning, hard work, determination and commitment. The less outside distractions, the better. Lots of great advice above.

Some of the pros making it now do some fairly unique, interesting and creative things to keep their ability to do it as sponsorship gets tougher and tougher at the individual level. I'm still amazed at how many anglers attempting to get sponsorship do not communicate with their sponsors.

[JchesBass_7]

You are going to need a good job to support your passion. Get your degree Jeremy, build a room off of Dad's pole pole barn and live there as long as you can.
Come over sometime and we can discuss in further detail.

joshimoto son

will definetly take you up on that josh

[JchesBass_7]

You are going to need a good job to support your passion. Get your degree Jeremy, build a room off of Dad's pole pole barn and live there as long as you can.
Come over sometime and we can discuss in further detail.

joshimoto son

When can we hook up to talk man??

[cameraguy]

     Funny you should ask. Dan and I have been working on a little video on that very topic. We have talked to some of the people in the industry who should know, from Elite anglers to boat reps, former pros, potential sponsors, etc. Hopefully I can put something together in the next few weeks and update the info from time to time.
     Dan's members have provided some very good guidance here. Please keep checking in for more in-depth information in the coming weeks and months.

[LennyB]

The late Tim Tucker, who was a long time B.A.S.S. writer, wrote a book on how to be successful in the persuit of going pro. This is an excellent book on the subject if you can find one.