The Reel Deal-Small Towns Angling For Big Money
Thursday, February 16, 2006View this story in Streaming Video
SUSIE GHARIB: It`s an old sport gaining new popularity with fans and corporate America. It`s also a big sport that`s gaining new popularity in small towns. As we wrap up our look at professional bass fishing in our series "The Reel Deal," Jeff Yastine looks at how fishing tournaments can bring big bucks to small towns.
JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It`s 5:30 a.m. on a Wednesday in January, in Clewiston, Florida, and a bass angler fuels up his truck and boat ready to head out on Lake Okeechobee. He`s alone now, but he won`t be for long. Today is the first stop in the 2006 Wal- Mart FLW professional bass fishing tour. This event will bring thousands of anglers to the lake near this small town and bring a sizeable economic impact to it as well.
MALI CHAMNESS, MAYOR, CLEWISTON, FL: Money from an event like this flows through all areas of the community, not only for our restaurants, but our gas stations, our hotels. Right now if you called any hotel in town trying to find a room for just tonight, you`re not going to be able to find one.
YASTINE: Tournament organizers say cities and towns are getting much more aggressive in lobbying to bring professional fishing events to their areas, a recognition they say, of the impact tournaments can have on local economies. The dollars spent nationally on freshwater fishing support a number of industries including boat and engine builders and manufacturers of the hundreds of fishing lures anglers tie to the end of their lines. For example, Americans spend upwards of $2 billion every year just on fishing tackle. It`s a long way from the sport`s earliest days 30 years ago, when buying fishing gear meant going down to the local mom-and-pop tackle shop. These days, fishing gear sales are dominated by major retailers, like Bass Pro, Wal-Mart and a few other companies, and they`ve all had a role in bumping bass fishing into a serious professional sport. That`s quite a change for veteran pro anglers like Roland Martin.
ROLAND MARTIN, RETIRED PRO ANGLER: When I started my bass fishing, my mom and dad were alive then and they thought it was a stupid sport and they said I was wasting my time. I ought to become a doctor or lawyer or something (INAUDIBLE) things you hear parents talk about.
YASTINE: Martin retired from the pro circuit last year, but not before turning the fame of winning dozens of tournaments into his own brand, with a long-running television program, books and videos bearing his name.
MARTIN: When I see the modern-day sport, it makes me feel really proud because there was a time 35, even 40 years ago when we dreamed about that. We said, gosh, maybe one of these days we`re going to have half- million dollar prizes. Maybe one of these days we`re going to have television coverage deserving of the sport. Maybe one of these days we`re going to have all these wonderful things that are happening now.
YASTINE: That`s not to say there aren`t challenges ahead for bass fishing, which relies on passing the love of the sport on to the next generation. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Clewiston, Florida.
