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Fishing "Pro"

drizzle

By drizzle
in Muskies-Musky Fishing

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Random guy Grand Master

Random guy

Posted
Posted

Pro-Staff also known as Professional Staff OR Promotional Staff. Pretty much the way I see it is once a company wants to use your name, image, reputation or endorsement to PROmote what they are attempting to sell you have become PRO(motional). Granted knowledge and angling success has a lot to do with companies noticing you and asking you to become Pro staff. If it was purely knowledge based I know several old timers that should be pros but are not recognized as such. I also know a few competitive anglers that are not considered pro and would be offended if you called them that.

Now take an information based company such as Hot Spots Outdoors, a Pro-staff position is based purely on knowledge and the willingness to help others. Pro Staff members on these pages actually go through extensive reviews by their peers to verify their knowledge of the area they will be covering before they are given a Pro-Staff Position.

Pro can be considered many different things. I personally think that the dad taking four kids out pan fishing and not having tangled lines all day or the old timer that goes out in his fourteen foot 1963 alum boat and catches enough for dinner in short order are the real pros.

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Random guy Grand Master

Random guy

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IF YOU GOT A NICE BOAT AND PAY THE PRO ENTRY FEE THEN YOUR A PRO. I MEAN C'MON MAN ITS FISHING...ITS ALL SELF PROCLAIMED

I have never paid a pro entry fee and my boat is fourteen years old pulled by a truck that is thirteen years old. Yet I have fouteen Pro-Staff posistions?

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RK Grand Master

RK

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Hiya -

To me it's along the lines of what Jon hit on. The answer may depend on what 'Pro' is an abbeviation of.

A lot of the time "Pro Staff" means 'promotional' not 'professional.' It's a business arrangement really. An angler helps promote a product or products in return for what is occasionally free products, but more often just discounted products. That's just sort of how the system works, but frankly, a lot of the time, who's promoting whom is an open question. Some guys get a lot of mileage out of saying they're on this or that 'pro staff.' I know the perception out there can be that being on the Pro Staff means loads of free stuff, even a paycheck, but in reality, unless you're at the top of the ladder - and usually even then - that's exceedingly rare. No free boats out there...

At the next level though you have guys who I do think are rightly considered professional anglers. Take as an example a guy like Gary Parsons. He fishes the PWT, hosts a TV show, writes for the magazine I edit, does promotional appearances all over the country, ect. He makes his living in the fishing industry. But, he sure doesn't make his living by fishing. He makes it by being a saavy media personality and a sharp promoter/business man. tournaments for those guys are only partly about the purse. It's all about exposure, for them, and their sponsors.

I know a lot of guys look at the tournament pros like Gary, or the bass guys, etc., with envy. I sure don't. Those guys get worked like a rented mule by their sponsors, they're never home, and they are constantly working to promote themselves, their media ventures, and their sponsors' products. They flat out work their tails off year-round. They earn everything they get, or they don't last in the business. Take a look at the PWT field. Lots of guys fishing the trail, but I'd say the number that actually make a living doing it is around a dozen. Tops...

I sometimes have people call me a professional angler, and I always kind of bristle at it. I edit a national pub, write for a couple nationals form time to time, plus do the regular column for Outdoor News, do the seminar thing and even TV now and then (Filming all next week actually. For those of you that think that sounds fun...there's no better way to mess up a fishing trip than bringing TV cameras...) I make part of my living writing about fishing. But I still don't think I'm a professional angler, and I feel sort of silly any time anyone calls me that. (Plus I flatly refuse to wear those bloody tournament shirts. Man those things are awful... I have a half a dozen of them in the closet still in the plastic wrapper, but I still buy the shirts I wear when I'm filming or doing seminars...)

I guess this is a long rambling way fo saying "it depends." Depends on what you mean by 'pro' and depends on to what degree they're in the industry as opposed to being just anglers.

I've been in and around the fishing industry to varying de grees for around 20 years now. The one thing I can say for certain is this: the biggest difference between the pros and the weekend warriors is, generally speaking, the weekend warriors get to fish more...

Cheers,

Rob Kimm

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lots of luck Rising Star

lots of luck

Posted
Posted

Quote:

Quote:

IF YOU GOT A NICE BOAT AND PAY THE PRO ENTRY FEE THEN YOUR A PRO. I MEAN C'MON MAN ITS FISHING...ITS ALL SELF PROCLAIMED

I have never paid a pro entry fee and my boat is fourteen years old pulled by a truck that is thirteen years old. Yet I have fouteen Pro-Staff posistions?

There are a lot of self promoters out there, I agree. Browse some of the other muskie sites and you will quickly see who has something for sell, lures, guide services, etc.

I don't agree that it is all self proclaimed, the truth is that the muskie market is growing by leaps and bounds and I am part of that growth phenomenon. In any sport or in business there is always a means of measurment used to measure up results and success. As a new muskie fisherman a few years ago I wanted to know names of individuals who were successful and proven muskie fisherman. I could then have someone in the sport to recognize and relate to, in my case to learn from. So I guess by buying a Topraider or a Burt, or buying their DVD's, I have elevated those guys to a "Pro" status. They did not sell themsleves to me, I sought them out. These guys have produced muskies, built fishing enterprises, and make their living fishing, I think that would qualify them as Prefessionals.

A guy with deep pockets and an entry fee is not what I would consider a "professional angler", maybe a "tournament angler".

Great response Jon, or should I say that was a Professional response. I technically think all those decals on the cap of the Toyota is what makes you the pro, you have exceeded the the vinyl to painted vehicle threshold.

RK I enjoy reading your responses, always clearly written and understandable,

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Steve Foss Grand Master

Steve Foss

Posted
Posted

In the simplest since of the word, a professional is someone who makes his or her living in a specific field that requires a level of training. A certified electrician, a lawyer, a doctor, all are professionals. A professional fisherman, to a be a pro, is someone who makes his or her living doing, or advising others how to do, the act of fishing.

I'm Pro Staff here, but I am not a professional fisherman, and being Pro Staff doesn't make me one. If I need a non-fishing job to make a living, I'm not a professional fisherman.

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