37 tourneys on tap in 2021
Visiting fishermen pour significant tourist dollars into local economy
Clear Lake is scheduled to host 37 major bass tournaments in 2021. There are also 39 club tournaments scheduled for the lake next year as well as two catfish derbies.
There is no question many fishermen are taking a long and hard look at how many of these tournaments they will compete in next year. Tournaments are still popular among a handful of fishermen even if their overall popularity has waned the last decade. The major hurdle is the cost to compete. Buying fishing equipment for tournaments can be a big expense. A fishing rod can cost as much as $500 and lures can set you back $50-$100.
Presently there are at least six circuits holding tournaments at Clear Lake. Most of these tournament are one-day team events, but there are also pro/am tournaments that are usually twoday events. In addition, there are a number of specialty singleevent tournaments such as the Lake County Chamber of Commerce Team Tournament, which is scheduled for March 20-21.
Make no mistake, bass tournaments are popular among the fishing crowd, especially the younger anglers. Many of these tournament fishermen travel up to 300 miles roundtrip to reach the lake. The entry fees can be expensive when you add in the basic entry fee plus the option money. Typically it costs about $400 per team. The pro/ am costs vary from as high as $1,500 for the pro to $300 for the amateur.
The individual circuits are broken down by regions and
these cover several lakes or other waters. Most of the team circuits have a six-tournament schedule, of which at least two events are held on Clear Lake. A good number of fishermen compete in all the circuits. Add in that most of these fishermen spend two or three days prefishing for each tournament and it costs a lot of money. A survey done a few years ago revealed that a fisherman typically spends about $2,000 on a single tournament, that amount factoring in entry fees, motel and food costs, and the gasoline expense for both boat and truck.
The cost to drive to and from Clear Lake as well
as the cost of gas used in the bass boats can be mind-boggling. Most modern bass boats have tanks holding up to 50 gallons. On a lake as large as Clear Lake it’s not unusual to go through 30 gallons of gas per day. With gas presently selling for more than $3 per gallon, that adds up to a nearly $100 per day.
If a fisherman decides to spend several nights in a local motel and eating out, the price of competing in the tournaments is even higher. It wasn’t many years ago that the non-boater would give the boater $20 per day for his share of the gas expenses. That has now jumped to $50 or even higher. Not included in all of this is the cost of the bass boat itself. A new and fully rigged bass boat costs in the neighborhood of $90,000 while the
truck to tow the boat can cost as much as $60,000.
Typically the winning team in a tournament pockets from $1,000 to $1,500. When you split that in half it means each member of the team barely covers expenses or even goes into the hole. Many of the contestants never take home a paycheck.
Tournament participation has been declining for several years. Ten years ago a typical team tournament would draw at least 100 boats. Last year most of the team tournaments drew less than 50 boats and some had fewer than 20 teams. The tournament organizations aren’t getting rich. The average circuit pays back to the fishermen approximately 60 percent of the entry fees. They also make a few dollars from sponsors. However, when a
tournament only draws 20 boats, it’s hard to show any type of profit. Since bass tournaments are not considered a paying spectator sport such as golf or rodeo, there are no profits made from the people who attend the weigh-ins. If tournament participation continues to decline, it could have an impact on the county’s tourist industry. Bass fishermen spend a lot of money in Lake County. With most of the tournaments taking place during the fall and winter months it could have a significant impact on local businesses.
It will also be interesting to see the current pandemic impacts tournament fishing. The local cafes are only serving people outdoors or by takeout, but when the weather is bad no one wants to sit outside.