The inside scoop from three walleye wonders
What does it take to be a successful professional angler on the Wal-Mart RCL (Ranger, Crestliner, Lund) Walleye Circuit? In order to find out, FLW Outdoors questioned three established walleye pros: Mark Brumbaugh, a Ranger pro from Arcanum, Ohio; Rick Olson, a Crestliner pro from Mina, S.D.; and Mark Martin, a Lund pro from Twin Lakes, Mich. All three anglers have been fishing professionally for more than 10 years and have been with the RCL tournament series from the beginning. They provided candid answers to a variety of questions offering a glimpse inside the world of professional walleye fishing and what it takes to be a successful RCL angler.
Q: How much financial backing do you need to be successful?
Martin: It takes quite a bit of financial backing to be successful on the RCL circuit. Unless you are wealthy to begin with, financial support is always an issue. With entry fees, practice, travel expenses, lodging, etc., I think you need at least $2,000 per tournament to be comfortable. This is where sponsors like Lund can help make or break you. If you are out fishing and worrying about making a mortgage or car payment and not focusing on what the walleye are doing, you will not perform well.
Olson: I think approximately half of my tournament expenses come from the entry fees. If you have decent sponsors, you can at the very least cover your fees. I live pretty cheap when I am on the road. I eat in affordable restaurants and stay in affordable motels. I have been successful for many years now as a professional walleye angler and think that this money-saving approach is pretty smart.
Q: What specific skills or fishing techniques do you need to master?
Brumbaugh: Boat control is number one. You really need to be able to keep your boat properly positioned to make effective presentations. Number two would be using your electronics. If you can master your flasher, graph and Global Positioning System along with boat control you have won over half the battle. We fish some huge bodies of water that often don’t have any kind of visible reference points, so without having the skill to read your electronics and position your boat accordingly, you won’t be able to perform.
Martin: I don’t think there are one or two things you need to master. I think you need to master everything. That sounds like a big idea, but you really need to be super versatile to be able to win. You can’t have too many skills. The guys you fish against are the best in the world and you better be able to have the skills necessary to catch fish under all conditions if you want to win.
Q: How many hours per week do you put into your fishing career?
Brumbaugh: I have no idea! I work constantly at walleye fishing except for a couple of months in the fall when the tournament season is over and there are no seminars to give and no industry shows to attend. I have a family farm. The fall is when I harvest my crops and recharge my battery.
Martin: Way more than 40 hours per week. I would say prior to a tournament I put in 10 to 12 hours per day at home. During the seminar season in the winter, I work anywhere from 9 to 14 hours per day depending on how many seminars I am giving at an outdoor show and how many sponsor’s booths I have to visit. During a tournament day, I am busy from 4:30 in the morning until 11 at night. If anyone out there thinks this is an easy job, they’re crazy!
Q: What do you do to prepare for a tournament?
Olson: I spend the first day of practice tooling around the body of water, reading a map and looking for quality fishing spots. I hardly ever fish on that day. I try to avoid receiving too much outside information. If you go to a local bait shop, the local anglers will often give you so much information your mind will get cluttered with too much useless stuff.
Martin: I make sure I get plenty of sleep the night before a tournament day. I get up, shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, unplug my battery charger, run through my checklist and launch my boat. I keep my regimen real simple and uncomplicated.
Brumbaugh: I make sure my Ranger is ready to go and my other equipment is in tip-top shape.
Q: What is the single most important thing for you to have or do during a tournament?
Brumbaugh: The single most important thing for me to have is my Ranger boat. I have been with Ranger Boats since 1993 and just knowing my boat will get me out to my fishing spot and get me back under some very nasty conditions gives me a tremendous level of confidence. The single most important thing for me to do is to make sure I use my game plan. Make sure you have a workable game plan that you can implement under a variety of fishing situations.
Martin: My Lund 2025 Pro V LE! I am not kidding, this boat is super-important to me. I don’t worry about the ride back to the weigh-in, even if the weather turns foul. I know I have the boat that will take me home. It is a comfortable and safe boat that doesn’t beat me up, so I can fish with confidence all day. That kind of assurance is invaluable.
Q: What can be done to bring more anglers into the tournament walleye scene?
Martin: I think if FLW Outdoors had a minor-league walleye circuit like the Wal-Mart BFL in bass fishing or the EverStart Series, it would make things much more affordable for the guy who wants to try his luck at big-time walleye fishing. So many anglers put a lot of money into a tournament before they have put in the time on the water. By having some kind of minor-league system, we could really see the walleye tournament scene get huge.
Brumbaugh: A minor-league series of tournaments would be great. Anglers who want to try fishing competitive tournaments and not have to miss a lot of work or put in a large amount of money could benefit from these kinds of tournaments. Plus, as part of the FLW Outdoors organization, anglers could work their way up to the RCL.
Q: What is your best advice for a beginning tournament angler?
Martin: Make sure all of your financial obligations are covered before you go out and spend money on a fishing tournament. After that, get out and fish as much as possible to make sure you are ready to fish competitively.
Brumbaugh: Enter as a co-angler in an RCL tournament and learn from the pros.
Olson: I don’t think an angler who wants to advance into the ranks of professional walleye anglers could gather more information than when he or she is fishing in the back seat with a pro. Fish as a co-angler at an RCL tournament and pay attention. The amount of knowledge you acquire can really improve your own fishing. It fascinates me to no end how good the anglers are who fish the RCL tournaments. I wish I could fish in the back seat sometimes just to gain some of the knowledge my competitors have.
If you think you have what it takes to be a successful pro walleye angler, make sure you take the time to practice your sport, have your finances in order and be prepared for long hours and a little time off from work. Better yet, fish as a co-angler with one of the RCL pros and absorb as much knowledge from them as possible. Think of the co-angler entry fee as tuition toward an advanced degree in professional walleye fishing.