You're Never Too Young...

To Dress Up As a Pro Bass Angler for Halloween...

(reprinted from latest issue of Jay Kumar's BassBlaster)

Or...

To Dream of One Day Being a Pro Bass Angler

(see accompanying video by clicking the link below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR5bd3A4zRg).

So how should you advise a young person if he/she ever walks up and asks you what they need to do to become a pro bass angler? Here's how 1995 BASS Masters Classic champion Mark Davis once answered that question:

"I believe that anything you plan to do in life requires a plan. I also think you need to have a backup plan in case the first scenario doesn't work. Go to college and get a really good education. While in college, take some public speaking, marketing and business courses because the real money in tournament bass fishing is not only in your skill of catching bass, but also in your ability to sell products for sponsors. If you become a tournament fisherman worthy of sponsorship, you have to remember the manufacturers are sponsoring you to be their spokesperson. So, learning to speak before a crowd is critically important.

"While you're preparing yourself scholastically, you've also got to prepare yourself as a fisherman. There are no shortcuts. You need to put in thousands and thousands of hours of fishing time. Achieving both a college education and a fishing education can be really difficult at a young age. The real key for me was being a guide. Guiding was my only avenue to becoming a professional bass fisherman. In the beginning of tournament bass fishing, all the serious pros were guides. But today, the second generation of professional fishermen aren't guides. They're usually individuals with good educations and often have family money that supports them while they're learning to become a tournament fisherman.

"You must have quite a bit of financial backing to make it as a tournament fisherman. If you have a limited budget, you're at a real disadvantage in a tournament, when you're fishing against competitors with an unlimited budget.

"Professional bass fishing is not unlike many other professional sports. Thousands of people want to be a pro bass fisherman, but only a few make it to that level. The college education will be an extremely big benefit if anyone wants to make a living as a pro angler. And if you don't get that dream of fishing professionally, a college education offers a great backup plan."