BASS to MLF Earnings Report - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Here's the 2018 Cash Winnings (as best I can determine from the BASS site). There may be some math errors but you get the point. Assuming around $50,000 in entry fees and another $10,000 in traveling costs and another $10,000 in expenses, most of these guys could make more as a McDonald's manager and have health insurance and retirement. It is no wonder that they are walking billboards.

Thanks to dstep0 for his Running List post which I used for this list.

1 Timmy Horton $ 14,500.00 2 Edwin Evers $ 50,000.00 3 Boyd Duckett $ 40,000.00 4 Mark Davis $ 13,000.00 5 Zack Birge FLW 6 Marty Robinson $ 52,500.00 7 Gary Klein $ 23,000.00 8 Skeet Reese $ 68,500.00 9 Jason Lambert FLW 10 Chris Lane $ 57,623.00 11 JT Kenney FLW 12 Kelly Jordon $ 11,000.00 13 Greg Hackney $ 123,500.00 14 Alton Jones Jr. $ 64,500.00 15 Alton Jones $ 53,500.00 16 Mike McClelland $ 48,000.00 17 Gerald Spohrer $ 53,821.00 18 Randall Tharp $ 59,538.00 19 Fletcher Shryock $ 43,500.00 20 Jeff Kriet $ 41,000.00 21 Andy Montgomery $ 71,612.00 22 Dave Lefebre $ 43,500.00 23 Michael Neal FLW 24 Jared Lintner $ 76,591.00 25 Roy Hawk $ 69,500.00 26 John Murray $ 41,000.00 27 Ott Defoe $ 92,845.00 28 Just Atkins FLW 29 Scott Suggs FLW 30 Cody Meyer FLW 31 Brent Chapman $ 72,000.00 32 Keith Poche $ 69,467.00 33 Jacob Wheeler $ 102,500.00 34 David Walker $ 48,500.00 35 Cliff Crochet $ 35,500.00 36 Jacob Powroznik $ 101,000.00 37 Russ Lane $ 26,500.00 38 Greg Vinson $ 54,000.00 39 Brandon Coulter $ 38,000.00 40 Dean Rojas $ 69,000.00 41 Gerald Swindle $ 76,000.00 42 Terry Scroggins $ 15,922.00 43 Mark Rose FLW 44 Randy Howell $ 44,500.00 45 Aaron Martens $ 88,000.00 46 James Elam $ 96,000.00 47 Takahiro Omori $ 131,000.00 48 Bobby Lane $ 26,500.00 49 Brett Hite $ 65,000.00 50 Jonathon VanDam $ 33,000.00 51. Fred Roumbanis $ 48,500.00 52. Kevin VanDam $ 151,000.00 53. Luke Clausen $ 24,000.00 54. Stephen Browning $ 37,125.00 55. Todd Faircloth $ 63,500.00 56. Shaw Grigsby $ 24,500.00 57. Tommy Biffle $ 28,500.00 58. Adrian Avena $ 51,000.00 59. Casey Ashley $ 89,000.00 60. Cliff Pace $ 76,000.00 61. Bradley Roy $ 87,000.00 62. Josh Bertrand $ 187,000.00 63. Wesley Strader $ 159,706.00 64. Gary Clouse FLW 65. James Watson FLW 66. Jason Christie $ 98,000.00 67. Paul Elias FLW 68. Shin Fukae $ 43,000.00 69. Brent Erhler $ 92,500.00 70. Britt Meyers FLW 71. Matt Lee $ 73,500.00 72. Justin Lucas $ 102,200.00 73. Jordan Lee $ 334,500.00 74. Andy Morgan $ 102,700.00 75. Dustin Connell $ 48,500.00 76. Jesse Wiggins $ 63,500.00 77. Brandon Palaniuk $ 70,000.00

Question....should the guys who keep coming out 70th, 80th, 90th , and 100...get a check. Most of the guys who made money made the top 50 list consistently.

so these figures are after expenses??

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Originally Posted by lakefolk

so these figures are after expenses??

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Nope. That's the point.

Pocket change... Dan :wink:

Not bad for a hobby. Now figure out how many get free boats and crap. Denny Brauer still gets all kinds of free crap and he’s been retired for years.

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Originally Posted by grout-scout

Not bad for a hobby. Now figure out how many get free boats and crap. Denny Brauer still gets all kinds of free crap and he’s been retired for years.

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I bet the number of guys truly getting free boats is so low it would stun you.

Sonare those gross winnings or winnings after the $50,000 entry and $20, 000 in other expenses???? Or is this gross before all that????

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Originally Posted by grout-scout

Not bad for a hobby. Now figure out how many get free boats and crap. Denny Brauer still gets all kinds of free crap and he’s been retired for years.

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How well does free fishing crap work when you go to the banks for a mortgage?

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Originally Posted by Mark Perry

I bet the number of guys truly getting free boats is so low it would stun you.

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Free, free? I agree.

But there are a lot of guys that are on deals that produce a net close to neutral result, that said they are on the hook for it if they can't sell it at the end of the season. There are still a number that get paid to run certain boats, but that amount is way less than being given a free boat, and the number of anglers is way smaller than it should be.

The reality is that bass pros make their living from being salesmen for their sponsors. The pro trails and their media outlets gave the pros a platform to get their sponsors' names, products, and logos before the public. None of the pros ever made a living just only on tournament winnings. That may not be the ideal situation for the pros, but at least up until now, that's always how it's been.

In some US States their income is below poverty levels!

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Originally Posted by Mark Perry

I bet the number of guys truly getting free boats is so low it would stun you.

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Doubtful; but how much do you think they pay vs what we pay?

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Originally Posted by grout-scout

Doubtful; but how much do you think they pay vs what we pay?

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I’d say most get them cheap enough to run them for a year and be able to get out of them. Maybe even make a few thousand. But totally free boat where they can keep all the profit of the boat sale??? I’d say that is VERY FEW.

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Originally Posted by catch5

I’d say most get them cheap enough to run them for a year and be able to get out of them. Maybe even make a few thousand. But totally free boat where they can keep all the profit of the boat sale??? I’d say that is VERY FEW.

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I never said “for profit”, just free and you described free exactly the way they do it.

Now the merchandise they get is free, out right free. I don’t know if any of them sell it though, I know one that gives it to his buddies and this is expensive stuff like Tatsu fishing line.

Your estimate for expenses is way low. Very few have ever made a living fishing. Billy and Bobby Murray both told me many years ago, there is much more money to be make talking about fishing than fishing. Probably even more true today.

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Originally Posted by grout-scout

Not bad for a hobby. Now figure out how many get free boats and crap. Denny Brauer still gets all kinds of free crap and he’s been retired for years.

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They have to give them back at the end of the year , so whats so good about a free boat and tackle if you still make a lousy living using it .

It’s amazing bbc guys are just now figuring out how low the profit margin is in pro fishing!:laugh:

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Originally Posted by grout-scout

Not bad for a hobby. Now figure out how many get free boats and crap. Denny Brauer still gets all kinds of free crap and he’s been retired for years.

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Not many get free boats. I’d say 10 guys or less...and I’m leaning to less

Its been said before, to end up with a million in your checking account fishing is to start with 2 million. These guys that succeed are already wealthy or they wouldn't be doing it. With a few exceptions like Jamie Hartman etc. If Jamie didn't do well early last year he would have been 1 and done imo