Pro Anglers

[Swamp Girl]

1 hour ago, Bass Rutten said:

Over his 33 year career minus taxes and expenses that's less than 60k yearly.

 

Yeah, but he got to fish for 33 years. Plus, 60K is more than I ever made and I didn't get to fish.

[Sp33dSnake]

Guys like Norm and Ayo on Youtube probably do very well financially (I've heard that Ayo makes at least 200k/yr on views alone, minus sponsorships), and they are not tournament anglers.   They are Youtubers that make fishing look fun.

They are like Roland and Dance; they found out they could make more money in the entertainment business rather than the fishing business.

[Glenn]

Oh dear Lord. Here we go again with the youtube-get-rich-easy comments.  "I heard that (fill in the blank) makes (BIG MONEY) on his Youtube channel!!!"

 

 

I hear those claims, and be like

 

 

As for all the pros having YT channels, all companies offering sponsorships require it these days, plus social media.  Most pros I talk to don't like it.  And, frankly, if they made "BIG MONEY!!" on YT, they wouldn't need to fish tournaments to earn a living.

[bowhunter63]

A few YouTube channels are pretty good But the good old DVDs from back in the day still rule. 

[Sp33dSnake]

1 hour ago, Glenn said:

Oh dear Lord. Here we go again with the youtube-get-rich-easy comments.  "I heard that (fill in the blank) makes (BIG MONEY) on his Youtube channel!!!"

 

 

I hear those claims, and be like

 

 

As for all the pros having YT channels, all companies offering sponsorships require it these days, plus social media.  Most pros I talk to don't like it.  And, frankly, if they made "BIG MONEY!!" on YT, they wouldn't need to fish tournaments to earn a living.

I don't doubt the difficulty in penetrating the social media market.   I don't even think I said 'Youtube Get Rich Easy' comment.  Being a 'youtube phenomenon' is like trying to find a needle in a stack of needles; there is a lot of work involved, and there is no guarantee you'll be successful. 

I was just making a point that there are guys that make way more money making fishing content for entertainment than being just a pro fisher.  If you have nearly a million subscribers (like Norm and Ayo have), it's not impossible they carve out a decent living for themselves doing it; and they aren't top ten placers in pro fish tournaments.

Before social media was a thing, pros utilized pre-social media (legacy media).  Bill Dance and Roland Martin come to mind. They are good fishermen, but they are equally good salesmen. How many hunting and fishing shows to you see nowadays where there is always a product pitch, the guys wearing their sponsored clothes and utilizing their sponsored equipment and telling us how great the equipment is?  That's the business.  It came from guys like those two.  Pro fishing doesn't have the mainstream appeal of something like Football or Baseball, where a mass amount of people watch it for the pure enjoyment of it.  So if it doesn't have mainstream appeal, the sport has to make its money somehow. 

I love it, but there are people that love watching bowling too.  Doesn't mean it's widely popular.  Eventually, I'd like to compete in local tournaments for nothing more than the thrill of trying to win it. Competition is something that still stirs me up even though I'm pushin' forty.  I'm not going to be a 'youtube phenomenon' <smirk>, and I don't want to even try.

[Sp33dSnake]

On 3/9/2025 at 7:43 PM, TOXIC said:

One was a bait designer for a major company and the other was a ghost employee who was paid and never worked for the company. 

Aren't 'no-show' jobs illegal as hell?

[GReb]

As far as YouTube goes, most seem to have their own cameraman producing the videos and I’m sure that person takes most all profit from views. The angler probably just leverages the views into better sponsor money. Just my guess 

[Pumpkin Lizard]

17 hours ago, Glenn said:

Oh dear Lord. Here we go again with the youtube-get-rich-easy comments.  "I heard that (fill in the blank) makes (BIG MONEY) on his Youtube channel!!!"

 

 

I hear those claims, and be like

 

 

As for all the pros having YT channels, all companies offering sponsorships require it these days, plus social media.  Most pros I talk to don't like it.  And, frankly, if they made "BIG MONEY!!" on YT, they wouldn't need to fish tournaments to earn a living.

 

I'll speak for myself, but I would guess that many of these guys are introverts and putting yourself out there isn't really in their comfort zone.

[softwateronly]

14 hours ago, GReb said:

As far as YouTube goes, most seem to have their own cameraman producing the videos and I’m sure that person takes most all profit from views. The angler probably just leverages the views into better sponsor money. Just my guess 

I respectfully disagree, multiple rigged go-pros seem to be the norm.  I also assume with some insider knowledge that editing is mostly done by the main parties.  Now professional anglers that are forced into this new paradigm, probably hire out or cut in a "producer" to a sizeable portion of the revenue.  Content producers as a main living; probably do a vast majority of the work.  Exceptions abound of course and the line between YT and TV are blurring more everyday.

 

scott

15 hours ago, Sp33dSnake said:

Aren't 'no-show' jobs illegal as hell?

I don't know, but I'm available to start tomorrow.

 

scott

 

[king fisher]

When I was guide in Alaska, I would get clients that would tell me I had the perfect life.  Living on the River fishing, without a any stress of the outside world.

 

I would then ask them if their car starts every day, they would respond yes, I would reply mine doesn't maybe it is because I only paid $500 for it.  They would be wearing brand new waders and mine would be patched more with more patches than most tire shops have in stock.  All my clothes were bought at a flee market, or given to my by clients as a tip.  I would ask them if they had a wife or girlfriend.  Of course they always did, and were surprised that I didn't.  After all I was young and in great shape with plenty of free time in the winter months, to find a significant other.  I had to inform them that most women like a man who has a car that doesn't need to be push started, with a heater that works, especially in Alaska.  None of them had eaten Ramen noodles every day for a month.  They didn't even know they would go on sale 6 packs for a dollar from time to time.  Living in a cabin without electricity and running water was something they had never experienced, let alone a trip to the outhouse when the temperature was hovering around -40 degrees.

 

Long and short of it is, after they heard about the other side of a guides life, they weren't so jealous of my life style.  That is why most guides would work two or three summers then move on to something else.  Some guides would always complain about low pay, and not enough tips.  I would tell them they get paid what the industry can afford, and as far as the tips go, they simply need to earn them.  Most would say they were through working for nothing even if it they were making their living fishing.  I wished them luck, and many of them are very successful working their new careers.

 

My long winded point is it isn't easy to make your living fishing.   Making you living tournament fishing is even tougher than surviving as a guide.  But in the end it isn't about making the money, it is about the fishing and I wouldn't trade a single day I had on the water for all the money in the world.  Now that is just me, and I'm sure there are others that feel the same, but fishing for a living isn't for everybody, not even close, but for the few that love the life, nothing could be better.

[Bass Rutten]

21 hours ago, Swamp Girl said:

 

Yeah, but he got to fish for 33 years. Plus, 60K is more than I ever made and I didn't get to fish.

True, he lived the life. Being able to earn a living doing something you truly love is a blessing. I'd guess I'm close to 60k in the hole on fishing expenses approaching 30 years bass fishing. 

[greentrout]

KVD made over 7 million in his tournament competition. Once you count his income from endorsements, commercials and paid speaking engagements, he highly likely, in his prime, made at least one million dollars a year, easily. 

Good Fishing

[GReb]

8 hours ago, softwateronly said:

I respectfully disagree, multiple rigged go-pros seem to be the norm.  I also assume with some insider knowledge that editing is mostly done by the main parties.  Now professional anglers that are forced into this new paradigm, probably hire out or cut in a "producer" to a sizeable portion of the revenue.  Content producers as a main living; probably do a vast majority of the work.  Exceptions abound of course and the line between YT and TV are blurring more everyday.

 

scott

I don't know, but I'm available to start tomorrow.

 

scott

 

Wheeler, Scott Martin, connell, MDJ, etc that post regular tournament content and travel logs have guys who shoot and produce their content. I’m sure others don’t but it’s becoming the new norm

[softwateronly]

9 hours ago, GReb said:

Wheeler, Scott Martin, connell, MDJ, etc that post regular tournament content and travel logs have guys who shoot and produce their content. I’m sure others don’t but it’s becoming the new norm

You are definitely correct on that.  My bad, I was coming at it from the other direction, fishing shows that are content creators first, not necessarily pros.  The shows you just referenced are the real blending of the lines between tv/yt imo.  Back in the day that type of manpower and time on the water was only financially viable if you had a small show on cable. I'd imagine that some of those same funding mechanisms are still in play.    

 

scott

[wdp]

On 3/9/2025 at 1:55 PM, Swamp Girl said:

 

Ha! I'm as far from a pro as an angler can be. First off, I'm scruffy. I tend to wear the same pants for months because they're treated with Permethrin. And my shirts are 40 years old. No lie. Plus, my canoes are scuffed and old too. And I'm old!

 

Contrast me with a young buck who's adorned with 52 logos atop a glitter boat with more electronics than NASA circa 1969.

 

Lastly, another way I'm different is that I catch more bass than many pros!*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I can't believe I'm talking trash, but I did. Today, at least, I'm saltier than the sea!

🤣😂🤣 LOVE IT!!!!!

 

I’m getting old too. My wife, adult children & friends constantly call me “crotchety”. 🤣 It’s all good. There’s a certain amount of freedom that comes with getting older & not caring what other people think. 
 

Also, I’ve seen your pics. I think you do catch more bass than the pros. Talk all the trash you want. 😉

[Kirtley Howe]

16 hours ago, greentrout said:

KVD made over 7 million in his tournament competition. Once you count his income from endorsements, commercials and paid speaking engagements, he highly likely, in his prime, made at least one million dollars a year, easily. 

Good Fishing

His current net worth is estimated to be about $8 million.  He is certainly not hurting for money, but some how I would have expected him to be worth more. 

 

[JHoss]

On 3/10/2025 at 5:24 PM, Bass Rutten said:

Over his 33 year career minus taxes and expenses that's less than 60k yearly. Obviously tournament winnings are one of multiple income sources for these guys.

It's important to note that $60k when he first started fishing was equivalent to $135k today. 

 

That's not as much as I would expect from the GOAT, but I also don't know many people who would turn down $135k/year to fish every day.

 

 

 

Drew Gill has won almost $350,000 this year alone. So there's certainly guys who can make a great living on tournament fishing, but they're very few and far between.