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Ish Dishes on B.A.S.S. and FLW

Category: article

 Oct 2nd, 2012 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Oct 2nd, 2012 at 12:00 AM

Ish Monroe has possibly one of the coolest names in all of professional tournament fishing. Come on, Ish rhymes with fish! Anyway, this cat is one of the top pro bass anglers in the biz and certainly has no problem speaking his mind.

	Ish Monroe (Photo BassFIRST)

After a three-week trip of fun in the sun in Costa Rica, Monroe is ready to tackle the organizational and business side of bass fishing once again.

“I just had a terrific three weeks in Costa Rica,” said Monroe. “Margaritas and senoritas, nothing else! I was just relaxing in a single man’s paradise.

“Now that I am home, it’s time to keep working at my business and prepare for next season on tour. I’m doing some television programs and lots of prepping. I spend a good month and a half getting my boats ready, tackle prep, ordering what I need and just going through everything and making sure every box of lures I have is filled to the top so I am ready.”

One boat is not enough for Monroe in 2013.

“I’m working on getting a second boat wrapped for fishing the FLW Tour in 2013, said Monroe. “I will be running my Cocoons wrap in the Elites. I am working on a deal for a different wrap to run in the FLW.

“I have a buddy that will be fishing the FLW as a co-angler and taking my second boat from tournament to tournament.”

Even though Monroe is planning to fish all of the FLW Tour and Elite Series events in 2013, he feels there still needs to be more opportunities for anglers to fish professionally and make a living at tournament fishing.

“I am used to fishing 20-to 22-pro events each year,” said Monroe. “This year if you fish all of the FLW events and make the championship and all of the Elite events and qualify for the Classic, it’s a total of 16 events. There need to be more high-level events.

“I mean KVD, Skeet and G (Gerald Swindle) just fish the Elites and make a living, but most of the other guys need to have more chances and just have to do more.

“I bet there aren’t 25 guys fishing the Elites that make a living from the series. There truly are very few full-time pros. Most have some sort of family financial support, whether it’s a business or financially secure spouse who allows them to be out fishing.

“We as a sport, need to turn this around and provide opportunities for anglers to become true pros and legitimize the sport to the public at large. I mean, PGA events get millions of viewers and the Classic, the top event in our sport only gets 600,000 viewers when there are so many more people who fish in this country. Yet anglers barely make it as pros and the 200th ranked PGA player makes a decent amount of money from playing.” (Gonzalo Fdez-Castano, currently ranked 200th on the 2012 PGA Tour, has made $190,232.98 so far this year, not including any endorsement/sponsorship deals according to ESPN.com)

According to Monroe, the financial breakdown for a pro fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series isn’t a pretty picture.

“Look, we all pay what, $50,000 per year in Elite Series entry fees?” said Monroe. “Okay, so there are 8 regular season events, let’s assume you cash a check in each event. Not win an event, but cash in each. Okay so you now have 90k. Take the 50k away and you are down to 40k. This is still before any tax.

“Now add another $15,000 or so for road expenses and each angler, who has cashed at each event, is down to 25k. Come on, 25k? Who the heck can live off that with things like mortgages, car payments, bills, etc?

“That doesn’t include the other 8-to 10k spent on things like tackle, that’s right most of us have to pay for some of our own tackle, insurance, weights, hooks, etc. Now you are down to 15k or so. And don’t forget, nobody cashes checks at every event, every season, not even KVD.

“Most of the anglers fishing the top events are just chasing ghosts. Very few actually see one. Everybody who fishes tournaments thinks they can fish at the top level, but I think that less than one percent earns a living at tournament fishing.”

Monroe isn’t just about pointing out the flaws in the system, he is about seeking solutions so everybody involved can profit.

“Don’t get me wrong, B.A.S.S. and FLW have provided me with venues to fish so I could make a decent amount of tournament winnings this year,” said Monroe. “There are some excellent people at both places. We just need some changes fast so we can keep up with the changing times.

“I mean, simple things like having beer sales at weigh-ins. Have attractive women working the concessions. Come on, we want to draw people to the events. Draw people into the lifestyle.

“Also, where are all of the women anglers? Why isn’t there a big push to have the ladies involved? Come on, the older generation has been pushing back on this type of stuff for too long. We need to move forward.

“I see the Major League Fishing (MLF) idea as a solid one. Showing true reality TV, not the scripted stuff like pro wrestling, but true emotions. Current fans want to see this and if we are ever going to draw people into the competitive sport we need to widen our reach.”

Monroe feels anglers and tournament organizations need to work together to make things more equitable for all involved.

“First, the tournament organizations that currently exist need to realize they need to start promoting the anglers first,” said Monroe. “Right now their focus is on promoting their sponsors. These organizations need to start treating all anglers fairly and provide that warm fuzzy feeling for everybody fishing, not just their favorites.

“Now the anglers, who consider themselves pros, need to stop doing things for free. No pro should ever pay to wrap their boat with a sponsor logo. The sponsors shouldn’t allow it. It minimizes the impact of the pros who are paid by the sponsors. It dilutes the marketing effectiveness.

“Also, the anglers who pay to look like pros, guess what, you guys are never going to get paid by these sponsors who you are paying out of your own pocket to promote.”