There are many things or hobbies in life that we enjoy, and for me that would be tournament bass fishing. But like many other hobbies, fishing bass tournaments is expensive and no matter how hard you try, you just can’t justify the cost! For myself, with over 30 years of tournament experience, here’s how this works.

I don’t care what level you’re fishing, whether club tournaments, pro-am, weekend warrior or professionally, it’s hard to break even. Now some guys will boast that they have been making money for years with tournaments. Liars! They just hope their wives don’t figure out how much money they are spending on fishing!

They want you to think they’re making money because they’re not looking at the whole picture and, in most cases, don’t want to! It’s a sport that has so many hidden costs that anglers forget by choice.

Very few anglers sit down and truly put a pencil to how much money it costs to fish any tournament trail. If you’re really honest with yourself and include everything, the numbers just don’t add up.

First, there are entry fees which can range from $150 to $300 per event for lower-level events like the BFL’s and team tournament trails. On the high-level circuits and the professional side, entry fees can range from $1,700 up to $5,000 per tournament.

Next, you’ve got to make sure you have insurance for your boat. You’ll not only need collision, but most high-level pro/am events won’t let you enter without $300,000 in liability insurance.

Now let’s talk about boat gas expense, which can vary depending on how long the tournament is. Some events are one day while others are three days, but you also have at least three days of practice. This means you’re looking at 5 or 6 days per event.

Gas prices obviously fluctuate, but on average for me I spend anywhere from $125 up $175 just on boat gas alone. Truck gas, I usually spend around $150 up to $200 depending on how far away the tournament is.

Ok, we’ve covered gas and entry fees, now let’s look at housing. The one good thing that really helps with this is having a couple of other anglers to help split the cost. On average, for five days and nights which includes practice time, you’re probably looking at around $300 each if you find a really good deal.

Food! This can be an area where you can cut a few corners. Eating out is expensive and convenient but it can also be costly. Hopefully you have a couple of guys in your house who can cook and don’t mind doing it.

I will cook at least one night, sometimes two. It might be homemade burgers one night or spaghetti another night. I‘ve also made a good vegetable beef soup or chili, which is nice on those cold early events. Cooking your own meals is certainly one way to reduce expenses.

Now for me, I usually bring something for breakfast like a sausage biscuit or maybe I’ll eat a small turkey sandwich. Then I’ll pack another turkey sandwich for lunch. This way, I’m only actually eating out one meal at night which will be in the range of $15 to $25 per dinner.

But the one thing that we must add into the cost of tournament fishing: tackle! Holy cow, the money I have spent on the road simply because I’ve run out of a particular color worm or lost a crankbait that I must replace or maybe I’ve had a lot of breakoffs and need more hooks or weights.

One thing I do now, that I did not do early in my fishing career, is bring extra tackle with me that I think I might need for a particular body of water. But it never fails, no matter how many containers I bring full of baits and tackle, there will be that one thing I did not pack and must go buy. But that’s the life as an angler!

As you can see, tournament fishing is and can be very expensive. It is a sport that requires money if you want to compete. What I’m starting to realize after all my years of doing this is that nowadays just having the skill of catching fish is not good enough to fish at the highest professional level.

To fish as a pro in 2025, it takes money, and lots of it to cover all the expenses required. This to me is sad and is taking the sport in a direction that I don’t think is good. It’s now becoming a sport that is pretty much for the elites since many great fishermen can’t afford the day-to-day costs involved.

In the long run, this will not be good for the sport of professional bass fishing. Which means the average Joe, with a depleted checkbook, will no longer be welcome on any pro circuit.

Erwin Perzy built and repaired surgical instruments for local physicians in Vienna, Austria. In 1900, one of his clients requested a brighter light for his operating room. Just 23 years earlier in 1879, Thomas Edison filed a patent for his carbon-filament lamp and thus began the electric light age. Edison’s electric light was practical for most homes and businesses, but in 1900, light bulbs produced a warm, yellowish glow with the maximum brightness comparable to a modern 25-watt light bulb. The dim bulbs also produced a lot of heat which meant that the assistants had to keep the bulbs a certain distance away from surgeons and their patients. Surgeons squinted their eyes, wiped sweat from their brows, and snapped instructions to their assistants on the positioning of the dim bulbs. If you have ever held a flashlight while your father worked on a car, you know the frustration that those surgeons and their assistants endured. They needed a brighter light.

Erwin began searching for ways to increase the light produced by the light bulbs while making them cooler at the same time. Rather than looking for a brand new method, he looked to history for the answer. For hundreds of years, shoemakers and other craftsmen used schusterkugels (cobbler-spheres), glass spheres with a tubular end filled with water, to magnify and redirect candlelight into a concentrated beam. They were primitive spotlights. Erwin experimented with schusterkugels, but the light was still not bright enough. He added various substances to the water to reflect and intensify the light such as flakes of metal and fine glass particles, but they quickly sank to the bottom. Erwin was able to intensify the light but only for about a second. He tried just about everything he had in his workshop, but the substances either sank too quickly or failed to sink at all. Erwin turned to his kitchen and tried a multitude of edible items, including rice and flakes of a coarse flour called semolina flakes, but none enabled him to produce a brighter light for more than a second or two.

Erwin ultimately failed to create the brighter light that the surgeon had requested, but with his failure came an accidental invention for which he received the first patent. Erwin’s invention became popular worldwide. He built a company to produce his invention which is still owned and operated by the fourth generation of the Perzy family. You see, Erwin was drawn to the effect the semolina flakes produced when added to water. With the addition of a pewter miniature of Vienna’s Mariazell church at the base of the sphere, he had created what people in German speaking countries call “schneekugels.” You and I know Erwin Perzy’s invention as a snow globe.

Sources:

1. “Thomas Edison Biography,” National Park Service, NPS.gov, accessed December 7, 2025, https://www.nps.gov/edis/learn/historyculture/edison-biography.htm.

2. “Die Original Wiener Schneekugel,” Original Wiener Schneekugelmanufaktur, accessed December 7, 2025, https://schneekugel.at/geschichte.

3. Erik Trinidad, “How an Experiment to Amplify Light in Hospital Operating Rooms Led to the Accidental Invention of the Snow Globe,” Smithsonian magazine, December 27, 2024, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/how-an-experiment-to-amplify-light-in-hospital-operating-rooms-led-to-the-accidental-invention-of-the-snow-globe-180985742/.

On December 17, 1903, a cold wind swept across the sandy dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, setting the stage for one of the most transformative moments in modern history. While the Wright brothers’ first powered flight is widely taught, the unusual circumstances surrounding that morning—particularly the coin toss, the failed first attempt, and the unexpected crash—still capture the curiosity of historians and aviation enthusiasts.

The day began with a bitter 27-mph headwind, strong enough to lift sand in sweeping sheets across the dunes. Wilbur and Orville Wright had spent several seasons conducting glider experiments at Kitty Hawk due to its steady winds and isolation. But on this morning, their focus shifted to the powered Wright Flyer, a machine built from materials including spruce, muslin, and bicycle components.

Before making their historic attempt, the brothers flipped a coin to determine who would fly first. Wilbur won the toss. What followed, however, was far from the clean takeoff schools teach today. After speeding along the track, Wilbur pulled too sharply on the controls, sending the Flyer into the air briefly before it stalled and crashed back into the sand. Though the damage was minor, the failure delayed the attempt by several hours.

Following the repair, it was Orville’s turn. His flight lasted only 12 seconds, covering 120 feet—yet it marked the first controlled, sustained, powered, heavier-than-air human flight. What many overlook is that the aircraft again landed hard, breaking parts of the skids and requiring additional adjustments.

Throughout the morning, the brothers made three more attempts. Their final flight, piloted by Wilbur, lasted an impressive 59 seconds and covered 852 feet. As they wheeled the Flyer back toward camp, a gust of wind suddenly flipped the aircraft repeatedly, damaging it beyond immediate repair. The Wright Flyer never flew again.

A single photograph—taken by John T. Daniels, a lifesaving station worker who had never used a camera—captured the moment of takeoff. Daniels later recounted that he accidentally smashed the camera after the final crash while trying to break free from the tangled wreckage.

Despite the chaotic nature of the day, the achievements of December 17, 1903, changed not only transportation but global culture. What began with a coin toss, a stall, and a crash led to a technological revolution that reshaped commerce, defense, travel, and communication.

The Wright brothers’ imperfect yet groundbreaking morning remains one of the most captivating stories of innovation, demonstrating that monumental success often begins with trial, error, and a willingness to try again—sometimes in the face of wind, sand, and unexpected setbacks.