Jacobs says $1 million payout a possibility
RICHMOND, Va. – When 2003 FLW Angler of the Year Dan Morehead kisses a bass on the “FLW Outdoors” show, he doesn’t do it for his health. Sure, it makes for compelling television a la Jimmy Houston, but he does it for another reason. It sounds strange, but it’s the smell he’s after.
“It smells like money,” he says.
To be sure, every bass an FLW angler catches must smell a little like money. Since the Wal-Mart FLW Tour began in 1996, professional bass fishing’s tournament purses have grown like Schwarzenegger on steroids. On the FLW Tour alone, the first winner’s check ever awarded was $18,500. But just eight short years later, the pros are fishing for $500,000 at this week’s championship – the largest single prize ever guaranteed in a freshwater-fishing tournament.
The 48 professional anglers who have been skillful – and lucky – enough to be here in Richmond this week to compete for that kind of cash all know and appreciate what that means for their chosen careers. Each of them has already earned a guaranteed $12,200 just by qualifying for the 2003 FLW Championship. But that half-million-dollar carrot dangling in front of them at the end of the week, well, that’s a lot of money for four days of fishing.
By comparison, here is a list of things that someone would have to accomplish if he or she wanted to earn almost as much as the 2003 FLW Championship winner:
– Be the Gentlemen’s Singles Runner-up at Wimbledon ($485,000)
– Place third in the PGA Masters Tournament ($408,000)
– Place third in the Indy 500 ($486,465)
– Place fifth in the Daytona 500 ($444,609)
– Win the Super Bowl seven times ($441,000)
– Win the Stanley Cup five times ($425,000)
– Win the Bassmaster Classic twice ($400,000)
Keep in mind that all of these example figures are based on 2003 results and don’t include salary or endorsement earnings. The Super Bowl and Stanley Cup numbers are based on player bonuses for winning their leagues’ championships.
But still, this is a lot of money we’re talking about. After all, this is just fishing, right?
Some more food for thought: On Saturday night before the start of the FLW Championship, high-profile NASCAR driver Ryan Newman collected $160,000 for winning the Winston Cup race here in Richmond. Then on Monday, he fished in the FLW Outdoors Celebrity Challenge charity tournament, mingling with 48 anglers who have a chance to win $500,000 later this week.
Obviously, it’s not just fishing anymore. Take, for example, the cases of FLW pros Clark Wendlandt of Cedar Park, Texas, and Rick Clunn of Ava, Mo. These two names are known throughout the pro fishing industry for obvious reasons: Wendlandt is the only two-time FLW Angler of the Year and is a multiple winner on tour, and Clunn, well, is Rick Clunn. The man is arguably the greatest bass fisherman of all time. He, too, is a multiple winner on tour and leads the list with 15 final-round appearances.
Not coincidentally, they’re also the top two money winners on tour. Both of them are in Richmond this week and, should either of them win, they both stand to become the first angler to surpass the million-dollar mark in FLW career earnings. Clunn has already won $831,850 in FLW tournaments, and Wendlandt has $782,500.
Not only that, in addition to Clunn and Wendlandt, four more of the FLW’s top 10 all-time leading money winners are competing this year at the James River. Larry Nixon of Bee Branch, Ark., Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., Dion Hibdon of Stover, Mo., and Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., have each earned more than $460,000 in their respective FLW careers and would each approach that coveted $1 million mark in earnings should one of them win.
That makes six out of 48 pro anglers who have a chance to creep up on or surpass a cool million this week just by fishing for four days.
And, if FLW Outdoors Chairman Irwin Jacobs has his way, those kinds of numbers are only going to increase in the coming years. At the pre-championship meeting Tuesday night, Jacobs addressed the assembled anglers and sponsors and had this to say:
“Eight years ago, if somebody had asked me if we would have a half-million-dollar winner’s payout someday, I would have said, `I hope it would be a million.’ Let me assure you, I don’t believe that’s it. I really do believe we will see a million-dollar paycheck in the future.”
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