TAKEOFF
TOURNAMENT LIFE
FISHING FOR POINTS OR THE WIN?
F
tWo appRoaches to MaKinG MoneY oveR the lonG haul
“there’s not a lot of opportunities to
win fishing the bank these days,”
admits Morgan, who believes most
tournaments are won by hole sitters,
rather than anglers covering lots of
water, and hole sitting isn’t what he’s all
about. “i don’t get help, and i’m not a
‘waypointer.’ Besides, the more i know,
the worse i seem to do. i’ve had lots of
top 10s where i just go fish new water
each day.
“i’ll know a tournament is to be won
fishing offshore, and i’ll get off the bank
and roll the dice and finish 90th. then i
can’t go back and get my $10,000 back.
there are no mulligans in this sport.”
the other benefit of Morgan’s
approach is that he’s usually in forrest
Wood cup contention, and he’s almost
always near the top of the angler of the
Year standings. Both mean additional
potential paychecks to pad his wallet.
ishing is business for professional
bass anglers. each season they
enter tournaments with the goal
of making money, but how they go
about it differs. some pros prefer to
take more risks in hopes of earning a
win and the first-place paycheck, along
with the sponsorship dollars that come
with the recognition winning earns
them. others opt for the consistent
approach of playing it safe and cashing
checks all along the way, which also
earns sponsor interest if their finishes
are consistently high enough.
neither is right nor wrong, and
there’s certainly some crossover
between the two. each has its merits,
which we explored with a couple of
flW’s most consistent earners.
By Joe Balog
Fishing for Little Checks
26
“if i can get paid every time i leave the
house, i’m tickled,” says andy Morgan,
who in 2017 won nearly $100,000 on
tour without also winning a tournament.
such a score is commonplace for
Morgan. he’s averaged about $133,000
in earnings each season since 2007,
but has only one tour win in that time-
frame. is he doing something wrong, or
is it all part of his master plan?
“i don’t like to leave [an event] with-
out getting a check,” Morgan says. “that
ticks me off more than anything.”
as a traveling professional angler,
Morgan expects to show up at the lake,
do his job and be paid once it’s com-
plete. his approach to success is to stick
with a set of fishing skills that he has
mastered, and to rarely venture outside
that realm. as a result, he’s not always
on the winning fish, but he knows how
to catch enough to get paid.
Morgan’s tried-and-true system for
success is based on traditional shallow-
water bass fishing around the shoreline.
Though Andy Morgan doesn’t win often, his greatness is evident in the number of high finishes and
paychecks he earns.
FLWFISHING.COM I JULY 2018