COLUMN: BALOG ON BASS FISHING
dakota ebare: derby day, every day
Texas pro’s strategy for improving as a tournament angler is to never stop competing
F
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
For more than 20 years,
Joe Balog has made his
living in the fishing indus-
try on and off the water. A
successful tournament
angler from the Great
Lakes region, Balog now
lives in Florida, where he
continues to work in prod-
uct design, marketing and
outdoor media when he's
not chasing trophy
largemouths.
18
un fishing is a foreign
concept to Dakota
Ebare. Never is there a
time to relax and toss out a line
on his day off … because he has
so few of them. For the second
year in a row, he’ll somehow
balance a schedule of about 20
major competitions during a
10-month period. Each day on
the water is one of specific
direction, whether he’s practic-
ing, competing or heading to
the next event.
That level of dedication leads
to lessons few anglers will ever
learn about the subtleties of
competitive bass tournaments.
Let’s dive into Ebare’s obsession.
Baptism by Repeated Fire
At just 27 years old, Dakota
Ebare’s maturity seems to
exceed his years. That was evi-
dent before he was even out of
high school.
“I managed my finances,
even building my credit since I
was 17 years old, so that I
could afford to buy a boat,”
Ebare says.
College marketing classes
also taught Ebare the proper
ways to build a portfolio and
solicit sponsors. He says his
strong suit in that area is “pure
dedication and not taking no
for an answer.”
Once out of college, Ebare
fished multiple divisions of the
Toyota Series for two seasons
before moving to the FLW
Tour in 2019. In his rookie
year, he somehow managed to
juggle an unheard-of sched-
ule, competing in 10 Series
events along with a full Tour
load. Yet he still qualified for
each championship and
banked more than $100,000 in
earnings.
The concept for this direc-
tion began in 2017.
“When I watched Jordan
Lee win the Classic, it opened
my eyes to the fact that I had
the opportunity to chase this
dream,” Ebare says.
From that point on, all of
Ebare’s fishing decisions have
been dedicated to the busi-
ness of being a pro angler.
Immediately, he moved from
Stephenville, Texas, to Sam
Rayburn Reservoir, where he
could fish year-round, and he
immersed himself in a culture
totally revolving around bass
fishing. He applied a similar
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