All is fair

Keith Poche took down a BFL Super Tournament recently on the Alabama River, again proving he’s one of the best shallow-water anglers around. Not surprisingly, Poche’s win was met with the usual online criticism that often arises when a “professional” wins an “amateur” event.

Is such judgement valid?

First off, it’s important to point out that Poche did nothing wrong. Nowhere does it state in the BFL rules that a professional, touring angler can’t compete. Poche, like any cast-for-cash athletes, determines his best return on investment and acts accordingly. The man fishes bass tournaments for a living. It’s best he does what he can to stay employed.

The disapproval is based on the tolerance of the leagues themselves. Many believe that events such as the BFLs are intended for working-class competitors who, according to the argument, are at a disadvantage to professional anglers due to time and investment devoted to fishing. That’s what it’s all about at it’s core – time and money.

That argument once held weight. In the early days of competitive bass fishing, when most bass anglers worked all week in hopes of a Saturday at the lake, commitment to the sport was different. Investment in recreation was less than today. Sure, I’m generalizing, but most amateur bass anglers weren’t towing around pro-level rigs and pre-fishing multiple days for a local tournament.

Today, of course, things are different. Quite often at weekend events, competitors are equally or better equipped and fish more than touring, professional anglers.

Heck, all we need to do is look at our case in point as an example. While many anglers were preparing for their upcoming BFL Super Tournament on the Alabama River, spending the previous weekend pre-fishing and monitoring conditions, Keith Poche was driving 900 miles from a Bass Pro Tour event in Bay City, Mich.

Regardless, maybe pro entries hamper the weekend events. A valid argument persists that by having no reins on the competitors, many weekend anglers are deterred from entering. I can see the point. But where do we draw the line?

I’ll share with you a personal story, and this goes back quite a ways. When I was younger and attempting to climb the ladder of a career in fishing, I qualified for a number of BFL (Red Man, at the time) Regional Tournaments. One, I remember vividly, was on Kerr Reservoir.

Traveling from Ohio to southern Virginia to fish for a week was quite the commitment for a guy my age, just out of school, working to make a living. The trip burned all of my vacation time and a few overtime hours.

Hotels were expensive. My old truck was a gas guzzler. Of course, there was tackle to buy, not the least of which were the handmade, custom crankbaits every competitor had to have.

I won enough money to pay about half of my expenses but still felt defeated. Back in those days, the grand prize was a truck and boat, and the real, tangible items were there at the final weigh-in for the winner to take home. This is what sticks out in my mind the most.

When I left, deflated, to begin my 12-hour trip north, I followed the winner out of the parking lot. Boy, was I envious of that new, shiny rig. But my jealousy quickly turned bitter when I watched as he drove a half mile up the street and turned into his driveway.

How in the world was that fair? How could I be expected to compete against an angler that, literally, lives on the lake? I later learned that he and a group of others fished over 200 days a year on Kerr, often winning hundreds of thousands of dollars in the process. Turns out that was the fourth boat he won that year.

Now who would you rather fish against, that guy, or a BPT pro on a random river?

In any case, there’s nothing in the rules to prevent either.

And to call out hypocrisy at all costs, I, myself, got the leg up on the program later in life. When traveling anglers would visit Lake Erie, they didn’t want to see a handful of us locals in the field. But we were there, hooks sharpened. It wasn’t a good living, but it was a living, nonetheless.

So what are we to do? Will there ever be a time that tournament bass fishing will become properly organized to allow competitors on every level a fair chance to compete? We’ve seen a few buddy circuits forbid high-profile players from entering. Will this ever percolate through the organized ranks?

Most likely not.

Today’s BFL trail, the largest “weekend angler” circuit in the country, is suffering from reduced field size. This is due to a number of factors. Return on investment, tournament locations, fuel and tackle prices and other factors contribute to the drop in participation. Forward-facing sonar is also playing a major role, as many competitors have simply cashed out of the game due to the changes, and costs, necessary to keep up.

Because of weekend fields, tournament organizers aren’t anxious to reduce the size even more by prohibiting certain individuals from entering. While it may help the cause in the end, it’s too big of a gamble and discriminates against their best customers.

So suck it up, we must. This is the culture we created. Until an organization comes along with the willingness to strike out against a number of today’s limiting factors: 250-horsepower outboards, ridiculous sonar packages, unlimited practice times, no tournament boundaries; unless we dial it back in the amateur sense, the sky will remain the limit and anything goes.

Joe Balog is the Executive Director of Mighty River Recovery, a nonprofit organization working to restore Florida’s St. Johns River. A former national tournament angler, product designer, seminar speaker and guide, Balog has worn just about every hat available to a professional angler. Today, he enjoys rehashing his experiences and adding veteran insight through his weekly Bass Wars column.

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