State of the Union: Bass Fishing.

Blogger TBrinksFishing.com put together a State of the Bass Fishing Union essay on his blog. It is worth the read, so check it out.

So what does the BP think about the State of the Bass Fishing Union?

I see a difference between the state of bass fishing in a general sense and the state of bass tournament fishing in a particular sense. I think bass fishing in general is in pretty good shape, maybe the best shape it has ever been. To start things off a world record largemouth was just caught and officially certified. Next I think in most places that bass inhabit the populations seem to be thriving and in many of places the fishing has never been better. Then there is the excellent state of bass fishing equipment, which certainly has never been better in terms of quantity and quality. Bass fishing wisdom and knowledge is widely available in all forms of media both old (Books, TV, Magazines, VHS) and new (blogs, Internet forums, websites, DVD's, computer games, podcast/Internet radio, social networking sites, etc.) Indeed the general state of bass fishing is very good.

The state of tournament bass fishing, however, is not nearly as positive and this is true for the Professional Bass Angler, aspiring Pro and semi-professional bass anglers and the weekend warrior clubbers. The problems are well known; Money and Sponsorships are leaving the sport while the costs of participation are increasingly prohibitive at all levels; For this and other reasons participation on the whole is down instead of growing. However, before one gets to down on the whole enterprise there is a silver lining because the current difficulties present an opportunity for those in the tournament industry to re-evaluate, innovate, and build upon the good things that remain.

I think I should acknowledge that even with the set backs there are things about tournament bass fishing that remain positive such as that thanks to the Internet ESPN/BASS and FLW have been and will continue to take steps to make Professional Bass Fishing more fan friendly. Many if not all of the things that I mentioned earlier as being positives for bass fishing in general also apply to tournament bass fishing. As Tyler Brinks mentioned in his essay on this subject:

One of the most positive things I have seen in fishing has to do with the future of our sport. The youth and college programs in bass fishing have never been better. Youth clubs are becoming hugely popular and are even being seen at the high school level. College fishing is exploding and is training our young anglers for a long future in the sport.

And last but not least tournament bass fishing is still fun so if you are inclined to this kind of thing it is worth the price we have to pay, whatever that may be.