Lights, Camera, Action

If you attend a Bassmaster Classic – or perhaps even a regular season Elite Series event – watch what you say and what you do. Men, remember to pull your fly up. Women, don’t neglect to shave your legs if you’re self-conscious about that sort of thing. Yes, we live in the surveillance age, but no place short of the Pentagon, and the White House has more cameras than your average bass derby.

It’s not just the tournament organizations and the media. These days, it appears you’re not really someone unless you have your own camera crew (or perhaps just a single cameraman) memorializing your every move. Some of the Japanese anglers, like Morizo Shimizu did it for years. Then came the Scott Martins of the world, followed by media beasts including Brandon Palaniuk and Chris Zaldain. At the Classic in Knoxville, however, they had grown like Tribbles. I met Lee Livesay’s hired gun in the elevator and saw several more trailing their assigned anglers.

I guess it’s the price of doing business. Of course, that’s added to the pre-existing price of doing business which – when you add in entry fees, travel expenses, and so on, was likely already past 80 grand. Now you have an employee or contractor in the mix. Perhaps some of that cost is picked up by sponsors, but much of it is not. Even some Opens level competitors seemed to be following this trend. Good news for the video industry, not sure whether it’s good for aspiring bass pros.

The one huge advantage of doing this, if you can afford it, is that you own the rights to all of your content. In the past, the pros had to depend on the kindness of the circuits to loan them whatever limited footage they add, which rarely if ever included the off-the-water additions that add spice to the gumbo. The GoPro revolution changed that a bit, but this makes it next level. There’s more content out there than ever, much of it better (or at least more honest) than anything generated in the past. Eventually, some will monetize it wisely, or use it to bolster their own brand, and others will fall by the wayside. Same game as on the water, just an increase in the ante.