![]() ![]() ![]() Most of the professional fishermen are either married or have a significant other who helps them handle the business side of being a professional angler. I’m the small piece in the middle of that business. Really, Jennie is the front end and the back end of the Ott DeFoe fishing business. Besides that, she handles all my hotel reservations and the details that go into making sure I get from one place to the next place on time, and that I’m ready to do what I should do. ![]() She checks all the boxes to make sure I’m doing all the things I should be doing for all the people with whom I’ve agreed to work. She makes sure I get to where I’m supposed to be and tells me what I’m doing. Who keeps up with your sponsor responsibilities when you’re fishing, and who keeps up with your fishing responsibilities when you’re working with your sponsors? Who finds places for you to stay and eat when you’re fishing tournaments and helps with all the other little details that are required for you to be as effective as you can be as a bass fisherman?ĭeFoe: The social-media responsibilities and the contract responsibilities that I have for my sponsors all fall on my wife Jennie’s shoulders. When you’re promoting for your sponsors, you may be conducting seminars, making videos for social media, television and commercials and/or working and speaking at consumer shows. Phillips: When you’re fishing a six-day tournament with a first-place prize of $100,000, you’ve got to have your mind totally on finding and catching fish. Each side of the business of being a professional fisherman works together. But the good part about this 50/50 split is when I’m fishing I’m promoting, and when I’m promoting, I’m often fishing. Phillips: How much of your time is spent fishing, and how much of your time is spent promoting?ĭeFoe: I would say it’s about 50/50 because our tournament days are 8 hours on the water. We show the new products that the companies produce every year, as well as their goods and services, and we demonstrate how effective they can be to find and catch bass. Often we become the faces of the companies that sponsor us. The TV coverage we get, as well as livestreaming, social media and the print media and how we relate to all those media outlets is a very critical part of the business of being a professional angler. The tournaments we fish and how we perform in those tournaments gives us a platform to speak to other anglers about the products we use, why we use them, and how those products help us to be successful. You fish tournaments to represent your sponsors and the brands of products they produce. Most newcomers to our sport don’t understand that a professional angler is primarily a promoter. Phillips: Ott, what is the business side of being a professional fisherman, and who manages that for you? How do you learn the business of being a professional angler?ĭeFoe: I learned the business side of becoming a professional angler mainly by trial and error. The Business Side of Professional Bassing Ott DeFoe has earned more than $2.5 million bass fishing and shares about the real world of a professional bass fisherman. But there’s another side of professional bass fishing that often goes unknown. They may believe that when they reach that level of bass fishing, all they’ll have to do is travel the nation pulling their bass boats behind them stocked with rods, reels and tackle and pulled by a pick-up truck that looks like a fishing-tackle store packed with many colors of different lures. Many bass fishermen dream of one day becoming pro anglers. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |