Professional Fishermen

[Adam Smith]

Are professional fishermen made or born?

[slonezp]

Yes.

Define professional fisherman. By definition of my clubs rules I am a professional fisherman. There are alot of guys who fish professionaly who never gain the status of a KVD or Ike or any of the big names.

[Bassn Blvd]

IMO, any person who excells to the level of "professional" in any sport is both made and born.

[NorcalBassin]

Definitely both. You have to have some natural talent and then know what to do to make the most of it.

[Shane Procell]

Folks are born with a set of aptitudes,skill sets and abilities. I call them Gifts. You can say the Lord gave them to you or they were passed down through your parents gene pool. Professionals develop and refine these Gifts and abilities to the point that they become one with the occupation or game.

So my conclusion is yes, Pros are born.....and yes, Pros are made

[Fishing Rhino]

Pro is an ambiguous term. Take golf. There are touring pros, club pros, teaching pros, etc.

In fishing you have touring pros, guides, show hosts, and probably a few other categories. Some but not all fishing shows are hosted by former, successful touring pros.

Aptitude and application. It takes both to excel in any field.

So I agree with those who said born and made.

[WRB]

Very few "pro" bass anglers are able to make a living by bass fishing alone. Anyone with enough money can pay the entry fee and fish as a "pro" in local tournaments. To be considered an top 100 or elite bass professional you must earn that title. Unlike most professional sports bass anglers do not need to be in top physical condition, just in good enough shape to fish effectively.

To be a successful pro bass angler you should be a good spokesperson and able to promote yourself and sponsors products. Promoting products does take some inherent skills and lots of practice in front of an audience. Classic example is Aaron Martins; Aaron is a natural born fisherman that had to work very hard to overcome both shyness and become good at public speaking, he has succeeded.

Tom

[scrutch]

To me, the difference in fishing is hard work. There's a lot of difference between golfing and fishing professionals. IMO it takes a certain amount of natural ability and years of experience and total immersion in practice to achieve the top tier of the PGA TOUR. What I mean by total immersion is a professional tour coach, personal trainer, and practice 8 hours a day (usually more). The experience gets you to the mental level you need to be at to compete on the PGA Tour. Natural Ability, Experience, and Hard Work. Some have one or two but not the other. Only the ones who possess ALL THREE succeed at that level. Made AND Born.

I was a PGA Professional at the Club Pro level. The Good Lord blessed me with a little bit of natural golf ability. I had Golf Pro friends who had more natural talent than me that I believe could have had some success on Tour if they had the time and means to hire the staff to train like the Tour guys train. The only real difference between most Club Pros and Tour Pros is mental. Most Club pros play to a scratch handicap or better. (Tiger in his prime was a +7) Tour guys hit the shot they need to hit on the 18th hole on Sunday in front of 20,000 people to win.

I may be all wet here but, I see fishing as more of a learned ability than natural talent. Mostly Made. Little Born. There's little, if any, athletic ability involved. I think in most cases you could out-work your opponents to success as a pro fisherman. I don't really have the intimate knowledge of pro fishing, so I can't really explain why KVD is so dominant right now. From what I've seen he prepares better, and works smarter than most other guys. I think he's got a better system for processing all the variables in fishing, and translates that knowledge into fish in the boat. I have a little trouble seeing the natural talent involved in fishing professionally. Is it KVD's imagination? Is it his intelligence? Is it his mental toughness? Is THAT the natural talent? I really don't know. Maybe somebody here can answer that.

[SirSnookalot]

I pretty much agree with scrutch. Imo professional fishermen make themselves thru dedication, a little luck doesn't hurt. I do not consider fishing to be a sport, to me it's a competition.

Golf may not have been considered a sport in years past, but I think that's changed. The days of a *** Brewer smoking 3 packs during a round with his gut hanging over his belt are long gone. The top pros are in athletic shape and many could be athletes at other sports, I believe Tiger Woods raised the bar on that.................he won his first tournament in 2 years yesterday.

[Grey Wolf]

Knowledge is the secret weapon for the pro . The mentality to know , what , when , and how.