The most recent big-media catch for the Wal-Mart FLW Tour is an article in the August 24 issue of Sports Illustrated titled “Reeling In Dough: Thanks to Rival Tours and Big-Bucks Sponsorships, Bass-Fishing Pros are Becoming Millionaires in a Sport That Could Turn into the Next NASCAR.”

When Irwin L. Jacobs founded the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, his main goal was to make bass fishing the prominent sport in the minds of Americans that its number of participants warranted. With a continuing succesion of stories from front-cover articles in USA Today, to a special segment on Good Morning America, and now a full feature in Sports Illustrated, it’s evident that the Wal-Mart FLW Tour has successfully expanded the horizons of competitive angling.

McCallum writes about the potential to become a millionaire through fishing and the attraction of corporate sponsors that has made that possible. “The sport is attracting enough corporate sponsorship to make millionaires out of (Denny) Brauer ,,,” writes McCallum.

The Wal-Mart FLW Tour has taken fishing from 0 to 60 in three short years. But hang around, we aren’t going to stop until we’re a regular feature in every Sports section, just like baseball and NASCAR.