and catch 20 pounds without the world knowing how they
did it. Back then, secrets were still secrets, and pros had large
lead times with those secrets, allowing them to harness new
lures, tackle, tactics and products to win prize money.
For instance, in 1993, Randy Dearman was credited with
winning the first professional bass tournament using mod-
ern braided superline – “Lynch Line,” I believe it was called. It
took that news nearly eight months to filter out into the fish-
ing public. Today, that would happen in eight seconds.
With live coverage, cameras are all up in pros’ grills all
day. Understandably, they don’t want certain lures and loca-
tions to be revealed too soon. From some pros’ perspective,
there has been a “smothering” aspect that has come with
live coverage.
So at what point is live coverage too much?
It’s a tough question. I understand that pros spend hun-
dreds of hours perfecting the way certain lures should be
rigged and fished. I understand it takes days of graphing to
find fish. And all of it is given up for the whole world to see in
just a few fleeting seconds on the internet.
Trust me, I get it. But the fact of the matter is that’s just
the way the world is today. Information is instantaneous, and
learning curves are crunched. What took me 10 years to
learn in film photography can be learned in about two days
spent watching digital photography videos online.
Everything from how to change an alternator in your truck
to how to fish a drop-shot can be learned on YouTube. But
here’s the rub: It’s usually not as easy as it looks.
I recently plumbed a shower, replaced a toilet and put in
new faucets at my house thanks to YouTube. I watched
dozens of online seminars about PVC, PEX tubing, wax rings
and valve stems. I bought a bunch of plumbing tools, piping,
fittings and hardware, but once I cut my walls and floor open
to use it all, I realized it was a bit more complex than those
videos let on. I had all the right stuff, but I didn’t know what
to do with it.
In the end, a professional plumber still has something I
don’t: years of experience. He knows exactly how to line up
juLy 2017 I FLWFISHING.COM
drains, tighten valve stems, run supply lines in tight spaces,
throw a “T” in PVC, set flanges and put that dang purple glue
on the pipes so it doesn’t drip everywhere.
In the same way, I can watch Andy Morgan seine fish from
bushes with a jig or watch Mark Rose throttle fish on a ledge
with a swimbait. Then I can go get their same “tools,” go to
the very same spots they fished and barely manage to eek
out a 12-inch keeper.
That’s because fishing is such a dynamic process. Those
guys have a better understanding of how to read cover, current,
water colors, wind ripple, fish position, rate of lure fall, retrieve
speed and the other 73 variables that are always in play.
And those are the realizations I’m hoping live coverage
can bring to the viewer. Twenty-pound limits don’t just jump
in the livewell for these pros. Instead, they’re earned, cast-by-
cast, decision-by-decision, adjustment-by-adjustment.
Each day pros ride an emotional roller coaster of extreme
highs and lows, and how an angler reacts to those highs and
lows determines his fate.
Lost fish, broken rods, gut moves, drastic condition
changes, bad timing, good timing, momentum shifts, bite
windows, miraculous flurries, fish management, emotion
management, mental management – it all happens every
hour in high-stakes tournament fishing. Live coverage will
display it all as it goes down, and that’s the exciting, dramatic
part of the show that makes it so interesting.
People who watch golf want to see how Rory McIlroy is
going to recover after landing in a sand trap, not the degree
of his pitching wedge.
People who watch NASCAR want to see Joey Logano apply
pressure to Kurt Busch’s back bumper at 200 mph to see
who will crack first, not what kind of brake pads they’re using.
In the same way, I believe live coverage will turn tourna-
ment bass fishing into a spectator sport by proving there is
more to this fishing game than throwing the newest lure at
the spot where “the big tournament” was won last week. This
sport is so much more dynamic than that, as the live lens will
soon show.
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