Larry Nixon will begin his 34th season as a tour pro when the FLW Tour opens its 2010 campaign at the Red River in Louisiana next week. When he looks back over all those years and arrives at the unsettled juncture where the sport resides at the moment, he sees reason for concern.
But he also sees reason for hope.
"The last 7 or 8 years provided unbelievable opportunities for fishermen in terms of sponsorships," said the 59-year-old legend from Arkansas. "Then this recession hit and it's hurt the pocketbooks of a lot of people, not just fishermen or sponsors.
"I truly hope – and I really think – that we're going to come out of it. It looks like things will be tough again this year but when boat sales pick back up, like they already are in some areas, you'll start to see some positive things happening in bass fishing again. But we may have to go back to where we go out and get our own sponsorships to make a living."
Keeping the Faith
Nixon describes himself as a pretty decent businessman in regard to his own finances. But because he's not well-versed in large-scale economics, he doesn't have answers for the big questions that confront professional fishing and the industry in general right now.
He's been in this game since 1977, though, and has weathered a few rough stretches since then. None were perhaps on a scale with this one, but each time the outlook eventually brightened.
"I've seen good years and I've seen bad years," he said. "There were some cycles where for maybe 2 years the industry took a bad downturn, but they come in and go out.
"A lot of people have lost a lot of income, and the cutbacks have been steady for me, too. I don't blame the companies because they've got to do something that makes their books look better. What I'm going to do is stay faithful to my sponsors, and I feel like that in a year or 2, when things get better, they'll come to me first."
The previous down-cycles he can recall were tied to a higher-than-usual nationwide unemployment rate and spikes in oil prices, but there was one constant through all of them – people still fished. That's held true in this period as well.
"You don't have to spend a lot of money to go fishing. Now you might not be able to get into a tournament, but I've been amazed at the local lakes around my house when I don't expect anybody to be out and I get to the ramp and there's 20 trucks there. Maybe some of them have no job and they're fishing to eat, but not all of them.
"Tournaments are a little bit different – when you combine a big entry fee with a lot of travel, you can lose a lot of money real quick. But I can remember back in the day when an entry fee was $300 and gas was 40 cents a gallon, and it was still a gamble. I can remember times when I really needed to make a check in that next tournament."
The More Immediate Future
In the shorter term, Nixon is anxious to get the 2010 season under way. He thinks the FLW Tour schedule sets up well for him and he has one thing on his mind.
"I'm ready to win again," he said, having last accomplished that feat 3 years ago at Lake Norman. "I've been kind of bored with not winning – for awhile there I was winning one just about every year, and sometimes two.
"I can still catch them as good as I used to at times. I love the excitement of winning a big event and showing those kids that I haven't quit totally."
Whether there's a victory in the offing this year or not, he plans to keep an upbeat attitude regarding the sport that's provided him a living for more than a third of a century.
"My advice to everybody in the sport right now would be to stay positive and go out and do the best you can do. If you don't stay in the right frame of mind, you won't catch a lot of fish and you won't do a good job for the sponsors you have.
"Even though it's bleak, be positive. If you get too much of a bad taste in your mouth, you won't end up enjoying life like I have."
Notable
> Nixon won't fish the full Eastern FLW Series this year for the first time since its inception in 2006. "It's good that they lowered the entry fees, but when you have to travel so far to make $5,000 (for a Top 50 finish), that's not so good."
> He said one of his favorite things about the FLW Tour is the treatment he receives from the younger anglers. "They're really good to me. They're always calling and stopping by to visit when they see me. We've got a lot of real friendly youngsters on our Tour."
