Whether you consider it a hobby or your livelihood, competing in bass tournaments requires financial planning to become successful.
Keeping detailed records of your winnings and expenses will help you develop a budget for fishing a tournament trial and also prevent you from getting in trouble with the Internal Revenue Service.Wal-Mart FLW Tour angler Brent Chapman found out the importance of keeping track of expenses when his winnings from three tournaments in 1994 became a tax issue with the IRS. Ever since then, Chapman has kept all of his expense receipts from tournaments and recorded them on a spread sheet.
The full-time professional angler from Lake Quivera, Kansas, breaks down his expenses in various categories and records them for each tournament. He also keeps track of his yearly totals on another spread sheet. To illustrate the cost of competing in a national tournament trail, Chapman shared some of his expense records from the last couple of years. Based on averages of previous tournaments, here’s a look at some of the expenses Chapman faces for the 1999 Wal-Mart FLW Tour.
Pro entry fees for each Wal-Mart FLW Tour event is $1,800. With six qualifying events, Chapman’s entry fees for the year will cost $10,800. Since these tournaments are a week-long event with practice and competition days, Chapman usually has to find lodging for seven or eight days. The average cost of a motel room is about $50 to $55 per night, although he can find some rooms for $39 per night during the off-season. So even with off-season rates, Chapman expects to pay $273 for seven nights of lodging.
Food can become a burdensome expense if you eat at restaurants the whole time. “I’m a cheap eater,” says Chapman. “I’ll average about $15 to $20 a day in food.” The Kansas angler usually eats cereal for breakfast in the morning and stores food in his boat for his day on the water. The only time he dines at a restaurant is for his evening meal. Chapman estimates he spends about $100 a week ($40 at the grocery store and $60 at restaurants) for food during a tournament.
Chapman’s records show he spent an average of $100 to $130 in fuel per tournament for his boat, but those totals were based on running a 150 hp engine. “Now that I’m running a bigger engine it’s going to be even more, probably even another one-third higher,” he predicts. The Kansas angler estimates he uses about 3 gallons of oil per tournament, which totals about $35.
Gasoline expenses for his towing vehicle varies depending on the distance of the tournament site. His longest trip on the FLW Tour was to the Connecticut River which cost him nearly $600 in gas round-trip. Competing in tournaments across the country can rack up miles on your tow vehicle. During a seven-month period in 1996, Chapman put 18,000 miles on his truck, and now the Kansas pro estimates his tournament travels add 50,000 miles a year to his vehicle. Routine maintenance on a vehicle running 50,000 miles a year requires 16 oil changes (every 3,000 miles) at a cost of $15 to $20 and a new set of tires costing about $600. Chapman also pays for an extended warranty on his tow vehicle. “I’ve learned that it is better to buy an extended warranty in my case and just pay it up front because (the warranty company) is going to be the one who loses in the long run,” he says.
Then there’s boat payments, which vary depending on the type of deal you get from a company. Running an older, paid-off boat cuts down on expenses, but Chapman believes you’re better off competing in a boat under warranty. “You may not be able to afford a new one, but at the same time you can’t afford to have a boat that’s not under warranty and fish tournaments a lot” warns Chapman. “If you have something go wrong, you’ve got to have it fixed immediately if you want to keep fishing the tournament. ”
The cost of fishing tackle fluctuates with each tournament. Chapman averages spending about $100 to $150 per event. In preparation for the Wal-Mart FLW Tour opener at Lake Okeechobee in Florida, Chapman had to buy lures specifically for that tournament. “They’ve got a lot of stuff down there that I don’t have, such as certain topwaters, grass frogs, spoons for grass and paddle-tail worms, for fishing for their type of conditions, ” he said. “You also have to keep your stuff in stock that you use anywhere, such as hooks, swivels and line.”
National tournament trail contestants also need to purchase fishing permits from numerous states or even Canada. “I have at least 15 fishing licenses for different parts of the country,” says Chapman, who recalls when he competed in a tournament on Lake Champlain recently he had to purchase three different licenses (New York, Vermont, and Canada) for fishing the entire lake. When competing in another state, Chapman buys an annual non-resident license (average cost of $30) rather than purchase a multiple-day permit. “In the long run, it’s always better to buy the yearly license because it always seems like you come back for something,” he advises. Chapman’s other miscellaneous expenses, such as road tolls and boat ramp fees, average about $20 per tournament.
If becoming a full-time pro and competing in a national circuit appears to be too steep a price for your checkbook, Operation Bass offers some less expensive alternatives. You can fish from the back of the boat as a Co-Angler in a Wal-Mart FLW Tour event and pay an entry fee of $400. The Operation Bass EverStart Series allows you to compete in regional tournaments with 10 events. Entry fees for these tournaments are $500 for the Pro side and $200 for the Co-Angler. Designed for the working man/weekend tournament angler, the Red Man Tournament Trail gives you a chance to compete on waters close to home at a low entry fee ($75).
While competitive bass fishing can be expensive, not all aspects of the sport should be assessed in dollars and cents. The thrill of victory and the camaraderie among the competitors during tournaments are priceless memories you’ll cherish the rest of your life.