There has certainly been no shortage of drama in professional tournament bass fishing this year. Disqualifications and infractions aside, this season has seemed more tumultuous than any in recent memory. This is odd because there was no real big shake ups like there has been in years past, like more than half a tour jumping ship and going to another tour, or a completely new circuit being introduced.
What is happening in professional tournament bass fishing seems to be more a reflection of what has happened in society at large than anything related to largemouth or smallmouth bass. What has become the norm thanks in large part to social media and politics is that you have to take a side. And, if one of your opinions is not on my side, then you are now my enemy. Which is an utter nonsensical way to view the world to any sane person. So it got me wondering what pro bass fishing needs now to combat the tumultuous path they are on, and conversely what does it need less of.
I came up with the following list of what I think pro tournament bass fishing needs and will touch on what it doesn’t as I go:
- More drama and less drama queens
- More visuals and less blank screens
- Interesting environments
- Simple rule sets with even governing
- Teams > individuals
MORE DRAMA AND LESS DRAMA QUEENS
Pro bass fishing needs more drama on the water and less drama off the water. There’s been a handful of competitors, tournament folks and a bunch of podcasters stirring up a lot of drama. A handful of pros and podcasters have harped on the drama off the water so much that its having a detrimental effect with the audience. So much so that pro anglers and tournament organizations have begun to decline in value to the angling community.
What I have overwhelming heard from readers and viewers who have reached out and that this topic has been brought up is that they really aren’t paying tournaments and pro anglers as much mind anymore. And that is very disheartening for me to hear.
Tournament organizations and pro anglers have driven a segment of the fishing industry and helped educate a lot of anglers over several decades. But that education and value is noticeably declining when you talk to everyday anglers—even young tournament anglers. More anglers have said they are not watching tournaments as much and have unfollowed a lot of anglers online because of the continuous drama being stirred up. I know I’m guilty as well. I have probably only tuned into an hour or two of tournament coverage all year.
A lot of your average young fishermen can’t name many pro bass anglers but they can tell you two dozen you fishing YouTubers.
But I believe the decline is salvageable with a focus on creating dramatic fishing circumstances on the water with good and diverse fisheries that offer a lot of options and a lot different techniques. It will be interesting to see how some of the venues on the schedules for next year play out with newer rules on electronics in each pro tournament organization’s circuits. But I think we could see some pretty dramatic tournament coverage next season.
MORE VISUALS AND LESS BLANK SCREENS
I have argued that a lot of what makes fishing entertaining to watch is the really compelling visuals. The tournaments that always stand out in my mind are the ones with shallow fish eating topwaters or busting a frog in grass or being able to see the anglers fishing for fish they can see in clear water.
The Bassmaster and MLF cameramen are some of the best in sports in my humble opinion. Their ability to lock on an fish or a lure just as it’s about to be struck is mesmerizing and very difficult if you’ve ever tried to shoot this stuff close up in real time. They have captured some super compelling shots over the years that are burned into my brain stem. Seeing those big fish roll up on a bait in slow motion and seeing the line snap tight spraying water as a big bass goes thrashing to the surface just never gets old to viewers like me.
We got to get back to those types of shots and moments and pile up as many of those as we can in a tournament season to make a more compelling product for the audiences. It’s no easy task as venue selection is a complicated process in itself.
What I think we need less of is open water fishing. Guys out in the middle of nothing. Fishing in a way where you can’t tell what is going on because it’s all below the surface with nothing visual. I have not been a fan of smallmouth tournaments for about a decade. Because they are some of the most boring to watch on TV. Don’t get me wrong. I love to catch them. And they are super aggressive on a fight. But seeing a boat out in the middle of nothing, doing basically nothing and then fighting a fish for 10 minutes is not a compelling watch. It’s tough to watch when most of my TV screen or computer monitor is blank with open water and nothing happening.
Part of the problem here is we used to have one 1/2 hour TV show that covered tournament show after an event. Now we have like 30+ hours of live coverage. That’s a lot of space to fill. And I believe the longer your tournament is, the harder it is to watch and actually causes a longterm decline in viewership.
MORE INTERESTING ENVIRONMENTS
I think mixing up environments in fishing is a good thing. Going to a heavy grass fishery, going to a river system, going to a muddy fishery, going to a clear fishery. I think that makes for more compelling fishing to watch that a lot of anglers can learn from. Going to 4 offshore events that all look the same is not interesting or compelling. That’s problematic for viewership.
I like that some new venues are popping up. I think we can even sacrifice some huge weights for more interesting locations. Fishing in a cypress swamp may not have as big of weights but many of the catches will be more memorable to the viewers. Places that offer a lot of different views can make for a more enjoyable watch for everyday anglers.
SIMPLE RULE SETS WITH EVEN GOVERNING
One of the big gripes among anglers has been understanding the rules and how those rules are enforced. There seems to be a lot of rule changes from year to year and a lot of seemingly similar infractions seem to be enforced differently. While the viewer is not privy to everything that went on in most cases, the simple eye test often makes the conspiracy theorists go nuts.
My big fear for the 2025 season is that there are a lot of new rules and lot of rules change daily on some of the circuits. My gut tells met this will lead to a lot more infractions and needs to enforce infractions. The consistency of it all is what should be focused on here. A competition that is hard for the angler to understand will be even more difficult for the audience to follow. And will create a lot of outlandish and wild theories about why things were done a certain way.
Being consistent in the rules will help as well as how those rules are enforced. While I often see the rules published out there, you don’t always know the punishment for the violation ahead of time. Not that I think guys are playing the odds and intentionally breaking rules. I do think, however, pro anglers have forever pushed the limits on rules to try to gain an advantage others might miss. So if you are constantly changing the rules, enforcing them haphazardly and anglers are always pushing them to their limits, there will be more chaos than consistency.
What most people want when they watch any sport is fair and equitable competition. Penalties are assessed for violations and the competition is kept level and moving forward. My hope is we see more level, equitable competition at all levels of bass fishing tournaments.
TEAMS > INDIVIDUALS
One thing I think has been overlooked in pro fishing tournaments is the team concept. I think MLF’s team series this year was very compelling. I wasn’t a fan of the three guys in three boats competition. But two anglers in the same boat, playing off each other, going back and forth, cutting up, having fun as two fishing buddies competing together made for a very compelling watch.
I actually think they are on to something. Personally, if I was a pro angler and you had to watch me fish by myself all day, it would be horrible for the viewer. I am a quiet, mild mannered guy by myself. But I like to cut up with a friend in the boat. I think you will create a lot more enjoyable tournaments to watch with two guys fishing as a team in a boat.
Frankly that is the most relatable fishing to your tournament fishing audience. High school anglers, college anglers and weekend open jackpot tournaments are all team tournaments. Then you get to the pro level and it’s individuals. So I think having pro level team tournaments would be awesome.
Better yet, have sponsors of the teams. So you a sponsor that pays for that team to compete. You have two good pro anglers in a boat working together, making compelling video, and being supported by teams who have a stake in the outcomes. Irwin Jacobs had a vision of having fishing teams.
But I think a better model would be maybe 25 teams sponsored by 25 corporate backers, and 50 guys competing. Take the pressure off the anglers to “make a check.” Makes for more interesting television by having two guys interacting with each other instead of one guy fishing and having to awkwardly fill dead air space with internal dialog. Get the sponsors feeling like they are part of the competitions. Having team events outside of the tournaments.
I personally feel like the team concept has legs if done right. You’d still have your favorite individuals, but you’d start to have favorite teams because of brands or because of how good those two anglers fish together and how fun it is to watch them.
TRYING NEW THINGS
I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers. And I sure don’t envy tournament organizations trying to figure out how to make a good watchable product with so many personalities, variables, difficulties in securing venues and more. Meanwhile they are also trying to do right by the anglers and sponsors and putting together venue schedules with communities who can help facilitate pro events while many of their angler competitors are kicking them in the teeth every day online. Pro bass fishing is fairly complex largely due to the fact you have to try to appease so many different people. You can’t get 5 anglers to agree on anything, much less pat you on the back for your attempts to do the right thing.
But I think the organizations are making strides to improve the product and try new things to figure out tournaments that make the most sense to the competitors and the viewers while also serving the people who support them. There will always be a small nucleus of the angling community that will watch tournaments regardless of the product but we need to cater to the masses of pro anglers and viewers as much as possible.
