Where the heck is Bill Dance fishing?????

[Muddy]

I like his show and watch it all the time.

My point was that becoming a pro is more than being the best local fisherman in your area.

He has the combination of skills that have made him one of the best pro's of all times. I believe all of the greats have more than raw talent.

If I can throw a 98 mph fast ball for strikes, I will play in the majors, regardless of almost anything else. Bad attitudes and a prison record are ok as long as you can throw.

Professional fishing, I believe, is different. Your conduct, appearance, attitude and marketing skills affect your ability to attract sponsors. Without sponsors it really does not matter how much skill you have.

Agreed. Money from sponsorship seems to drive that whole machine. I am not part of it so I do not know if that is valid, just the take I get from it/

[Catt]

All early Pros did not dominate anything because there were few circuits to dominate; bass tournament did not start in 1967 with B.A.S.S. What Ray Scott started was a nationalized tournament trail for professional anglers and with entry fees of $100 many local anglers could not afford to enter.

Just because an angler does or doesn't dominate a tournament trail has little to do with his ability to locate and catch bass. I had the honor of growing up fishing tournament trails in and around East Texas with the likes of John Torian, John Hall, John Dean, Villis P "Bo" Dowden SR, Harold Allen, Lonnie Stanley, Larry Nixon, Tommy Martin, & Zell Roland. None of these anglers with the exception of Tommy Martin dominated any thing.

[roadwarrior]

In real life, Bill Dance is charming, very much like his TV personality.

Here a short story:

Bill still fishes competitively on occasion, for catfish! His local partner

is James "Big Catfish" Patterson. They have won a couple of events

here in Memphis on the Mississippi River, but they also fish together

just for fun.

My fishing partner, Speedy Madewell, is a striper and smallmouth

guide on the Tennessee River. One morning on a guided trip, James

and Bill spot Speedy's boat and motor over. "Where's the bait?"

After some small talk, James heads toward a spot that's holding baby

threadfin shad and being chased by skipjack, the preferred bait for

stripers at that particular time of year. The clients hadn't said a word,

but as the boat moved away, "Was that Bill Dance?"

So, Speedy moves up to the dam to make a drift and pick up a couple

of 10-12 lb stripes. After drifting back into calmer water, here come

the boys making a bee-line for Speedy's BayRanger.

"Hey Speedy, ya got a net?", Bill shouts. Two pros drive up from

Memphis for the day and no throw-net. Speedy hands over a net

and these guys are allover him with thank yous. Speedy says,

" I've got another, just keep it and I'll catch up with ya latter."

"So you're friends with Bill Dance?" one of the guests asked. Speedy responds,

"Nope, not really. I'd help out any fisherman on this river and expect

the same from them."

Merry Christmas!

[Muddy]

Great story RW!  Hey CATT, I seem to remember in some old mags coming across Mr.Nixon's name and some worm articles, is that correct?

[Catt]

Larry Nixon is best known for his ability with a Texas Rigged Plastic which has accounted for many of his tournament wins.

I tailored my style of fishing after Larry Nixon, Tommy Martin, & Elwood L. " Buck" Perry  

[FordNFishinLover]

Thats a sweet story RW...

[Strike King]

Great topic for sure! Merry Christmas all !!

[LCpointerKILLA]

I thought all the bloopers were staged?

real or fake the rod into the trolling motor is epic

[Bassin_Fin@tic]

I thought all the bloopers were staged?

real or fake the rod into the trolling motor is epic

Or the runaway trolling motor ;D ;D

[Muddy]

I thought all the bloopers were staged?

real or fake the rod into the trolling motor is epic

Or the runaway trolling motor ;D ;D

I perfected that routine!! Ask anyone at the Lake Fork trip in 07

[cart7t]

So I think we can say that after 3 pages that Bill Dance was a purty good fishermen in his day.

He was an original BASS pro.

His stats speak for themselves.

He was the first to move away from the tournament trail, after achieving so much and go full time into the TV fishing biz.

He's created a marketing empire on his name.

He's acknowledged to be a really likable guy.

He's got great marketing skills and has been a benchmark for other TV fishing pro's to emulate.

He's a great teacher and his show always includes information to help in-experienced and experienced alike learn more.

I suspect that Mr. Dance realizes that fishermen are more prone to want to see someone fishing and catching nice sized fish vs. small fish regardless of how personable or funny the host is.

I'm sure this is why he films so many of his shows where he does.  When you have limited time to make each 30 minute show, you want to be on waters where you'll have the maximum chance of catching large fish.

There are now plenty of fishing shows out there that provide a "real time" fishing platform.  Where guys are out trying to put together a pattern on a lake with limited time to do it.  While it's great to see how anglers put together the puzzle pieces while they catch small fish just like you and I do every weekend,  it's also nice to see other types of shows.

Bill's fishing show is sort of an escape.  Where he ties into solid 3 to 6 pound bass on every other cast.  I love it.  His enthusiasm for each fish he catches shines everytime.  You can tell he genuinely loves catching fish.  I relate to that and wish I was in the back of the boat with him.

What's wrong with that?  

[Strike King]

Nuttin!  8-)

[bassboy1]

So I think we can say that after 3 pages that Bill Dance was a purty good fishermen in his day.

He was an original BASS pro.

His stats speak for themselves.

He was the first to move away from the tournament trail, after achieving so much and go full time into the TV fishing biz.

He's created a marketing empire on his name.

He's acknowledged to be a really likable guy.

He's got great marketing skills and has been a benchmark for other TV fishing pro's to emulate.

He's a great teacher and his show always includes information to help in-experienced and experienced alike learn more.

I suspect that Mr. Dance realizes that fishermen are more prone to want to see someone fishing and catching nice sized fish vs. small fish regardless of how personable or funny the host is.

I'm sure this is why he films so many of his shows where he does. When you have limited time to make each 30 minute show, you want to be on waters where you'll have the maximum chance of catching large fish.

There are now plenty of fishing shows out there that provide a "real time" fishing platform. Where guys are out trying to put together a pattern on a lake with limited time to do it. While it's great to see how anglers put together the puzzle pieces while they catch small fish just like you and I do every weekend, it's also nice to see other types of shows.

Bill's fishing show is sort of an escape. Where he ties into solid 3 to 6 pound bass on every other cast. I love it. His enthusiasm for each fish he catches shines everytime. You can tell he genuinely loves catching fish. I relate to that and wish I was in the back of the boat with him.

What's wrong with that?

Well said.  

I am sure that if most of us went to where he fished, we would certainly do better, and if he came to Allatoona, where I fish, he would certainly do worse, as the fish just plum aren't there.  However, his knowledge of bass, and heck, most every species of freshwater fish, is what really brings him above the rest of us.  He just uses the private ponds with 3 - 6 pound bass as the teaching medium, as he can teach the same things, but it is more entertaining for us to watch him yank in those bigguns' than watching him pull in a few dinks.  Plus, his laid back easy going personality makes the show fun to watch.  I would give a lot to spend a day in the back of his boat.  

Now, as far as his bloopers tapes, I am sure a lot of them are staged.  However, I am fairly sure that while staged, not all of the parties involved are aware of it.  Thereby, they become more pranks than anything.  For instance, remember the time he was loading the jon boat, from the dock, and then as he is loading the battery, he falls in?  Clearly, that boat was moved by and outside force, but I am also certain that old Bill didn't have a clue they were about to do that.  Now, him falling out of the boat from time to time, well, that is just his extreme clumsiness.

[Strike King]

"For instance, remember the time he was loading the jon boat, from the dock, and then as he is loading the battery, he falls in?  Clearly, that boat was moved by and outside force, but I am also certain that old Bill didn't have a clue they were about to do that."

Man the 1st time i saw that i about wet myself from laughing!!!!  ;D

He needs to release more of his bloopers, i'll get them all.

[KYntucky Warmouth]

It appears as if the topic has changed.  

He fishes many small watershed lakes in TN, GA, TX, and FL with a mean depth of 5-7 ft never more than 12...He actually said so when he did a show on these small bodies of water....

Don't forget he caught the first bass of the first officially sanctioned BASS tourney.

[Black Bass]

I just watched two Bill Dance shows on Versus. One was filmed on water where all the fish he caught were good size. The other was filmed on the Everglades where he caught some dinks but he also caught some nice fish.

He always has some good information on each of his shows.

[BassinSoldier]

Bill's fishing show is sort of an escape.  Where he ties into solid 3 to 6 pound bass on every other cast.  I love it.  His enthusiasm for each fish he catches shines everytime.  You can tell he genuinely loves catching fish.  I relate to that and wish I was in the back of the boat with him.

Couldn't agree more!  So what if he fishes private pits.  The man is quite accomplished and has a very entertaining show.  I've enjoyed watching him since I was a little kid.

[Black Bass]

Maybe there are more fishing shows on than I thought. At 7:30 am (Sunday) I watched Bill Dance Outdoors. I believe it was on ESPN2.

On VERSUS In Fisherman was on. At 8:30 am, Spanish Fly is on ESPN2, VERSUS has Bill Dance Outdoors at 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm and 3:00 pm, Fishing with Roland Martin at 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm and 3:30 pm.

[Cravin]

Yep I was kinda curios about that too, Must be nice to get access to some private honey holes!

If you notice Roland Martin,Hank Parker and Jimmy Houston had no problem fishing against pros in tournaments and tended to put up a respectable showing. It always made me Question if Bill Dance was more like a Fish Fishburne? A good PR guy for the sport.

[SoFl-native]

His show has gotten better in the last few years. I remember like 10 years ago i stopped watching because the creative editing was so horrible and so blatantly obvious. I mean he would be throwing a worm and land a fish with a crankbait in its mouth, Or they would use the same hook set footage for multiple fish.

They still do that occasionally, but it is not as bad as it used to be.

[KYntucky Warmouth]

Yep I was kinda curios about that too, Must be nice to get access to some private honey holes!

If you notice Roland Martin,Hank Parker and Jimmy Houston had no problem fishing against pros in tournaments and tended to put up a respectable showing. It always made me Question if Bill Dance was more like a Fish Fishburne? A good PR guy for the sport.

Fish Fishburne won a few BASS events...or at least one I know of...Reppin' team Grandma   8-)

 

[cart7t]

If you notice Roland Martin,Hank Parker and Jimmy Houston had no problem fishing against pros in tournaments and tended to put up a respectable showing. It always made me Question if Bill Dance was more like a Fish Fishburne? A good PR guy for the sport.

One more time.....

23 National Bass Titles; Bassmaster Classic Qualifier 8 out of 9 years and finished 2nd in 1973. Three time B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year 1970, 1974 & 1977. Of 78 total B.A.S.S. entries, finished 64 times in the money. 7 wins, 8 times runner up, 6 third place, 40 top ten finishes (51% of tournaments entered) and 51 top 20 finishes (65%). In first 11 tournaments, was only out of the top 7 once. Won 7 of the first 17 events entered (41%).

During that time he was fishing against Roland, Jimmy, Tom Mann, Tommy Martin, Rick Clunn, John Powell, etc.  Fish Fishburne could only dream of a tournament fishing career like Bill had.

[Cravin]

Thanks Cart, that defiantly clears it up and it make me feel better for always liking the guy. It would be nice to  see some footage of his accomplishments for those of us who were just getting good at walking in 1970.

[BassBandit35]

Ray Scott's pond  :

[Still a Bigbuckifan]

I meant him once when he fished a fish farm were I work sometimes. It was the barramundi episode. He was a class act, he did not act like he was to good to talk or any thing like that . He's a great guy and a better fisherman.