Many people would never believe how much work it is to fish full time for a living. Yes there are the glorious (and many more not so glorious days on the water). Days driving thousands of miles and even more hours than one can imagine studying topo maps and preparing gear. It might be amazing to everyone who has never experienced tournament fishing before just how much gear preperation goes into every day on the water.
First off you have a power boat as your number one tool. To anyone who owns one the old anectdote goes "the two happiest days in your life have to do with your boat, the first happiest day is when you buy your new boat. The second happiest day is when you sell it." I do not look at it this way. I am extremely anal about the functionality of my boat. The second something gives me a problem I replace it. It is really the only way to go. I cannot afford for anything to go wrong on the water because time on the water is a fisherman's most valuable asset.
So when you combine the work that needs to be done on the boat, cleaning, lubricating, and relining of 30 reels, constant reordering of materials, flies, lures, and soft plastics, studying lake maps, booking travel accomodations, contacting prospective sponsors, and trying to stay visible via social media. One day you realize you are a week away from leaving for your first tournament and there is always a bunch more to do. The consolation for all of the work is that I have never done something that I love as much as what I am doing now. Just like anything in life if you want to be really good at somethng there is no cutting corners, no easy route, only hard work and preperation to set you apart from the others!
All for now I have 5 reels torn apart.
