fishing tournaments a sport?

A local fisherman a few years ago was competing in the Bass Fishing League's Walmart circuit. He won an event that guaranteed prizes of over $50,000, including a new pickup truck. He, however, was disqualified because his boat didn't have a Coast Guard rating plate on it -- even though his boat didn't need one because it was longer than the requirement. He sued the league and won.

That made for a real good story.

 

Go to the angler registration event and meet with the PR people, ask about a photo boat to get on the water, and ask them for help. They're good people.

Every other competition involves knowing your opponent and seeing them on the mound, across the net and so on. This is the only one where you don't know what's below the water, even with the GPS electric sonar units they use. What they think might be a bass could be a catfish.

Let's see a MLB batter hit a ball without watching the pitcher wind up and throw.

 

Yes. Catching a fish is more difficult than hitting a major league fastball. Am excellent comparison!

 

Hell of an analogy there.

 

This sounds obvious, but if you need pictures of a particular fisherman in action, find out from him in advance what part of the lake he intends to fish that day.

Don't ask how I know that.

 

Cover a Bass 'N Gals event. Find that "woman" competitor who used to be a fisherman before the operation.

There's your story. (This actually happened locally several years ago)

 

Yes it is. And it's just another sport I suck at.

 

Depends on your audience. I know the Biloxi paper always covers the hell out of the Gulfport Deep-Sea Rodeo Fourth of July weekend, and I know Bobby Cleveland used to make that an annual pilgrimage when he was at the Clarion-Ledger.

We've got a couple of locals who fish on the Bassmasters Tour, so we keep up with them, and if they do anything big we usually do a story on it.

 

Look at the overall.

A fisherman can't see what he's trying to catch. Every other sport has a visible opponent. MLB players can see the pitch. Golfers see the ball. Tennis players see the ball coming over the net. Hockey, soccer, cricket or whatever. They all see what they're trying to hit, catch, throw or stop.

Top-level tournaments aren't like Saturday bank-sitters pounding beer hoping for a catfish to bite. It's not rocket science but there is a high degree of acuity and some physical skill needed to compete at these levels out in the elements.

Now someone pass me a beer and a cane pole so I can catch these invisible bream.

 

Sorry for the threadjack, but I didn't want to start a new thread over this. The relatively new guy at my old shop (a few changes removed) has begun covering the local fundraiser golf tournaments as centerpiece stories, with "action" art and quotes. I know this is a slow time (and thank God I'm not there anymore as little league all-star season is about to start), but he's done three of these "features" and each of them has had a front-page "It was a great turnout" quote before going into the cause and then the results. Clearly, I'm making too much of this, but even for an 8K daily (or whatever it's fallen to in the last 10 years), these stories drive me crazy. I mean, there's always something else for your Sunday paper. Always. This is drivel and lazy under the guise of being "hyperlocal".

 

Pro bass fishing is NASCAR on the water.

 

From the fish's perspective, it's not a sport. Not saying that to label others as fish murderers -- I've had that blood on my hands, too, though not for nearly 20 years. But I have never seen the appeal in being a spectator. The late Jimmy Cannon once wrote that fishing is just an excuse to get drunk in the daytime.