I was speaking with a friend this week, and the topic of professional tournament fishing came up (big surprise). We each know a handful of guys fishing the Elites and FLW Tour, and we shot the bull for a while about what a rough road it is.

Lots of anglers dream of the fame and fortune, yet few ever realize what’s really involved when fishing for a living. My buddy commented that his close friend from home, who wins all of the local events, was a shoe-in for bass-fishing stardom if he could just get his feet wet. The problem was he simply didn’t have the money, or the sponsor backing, to go full-time. But boy, if he did, he’d be the next big thing.

No … no, he wouldn’t.

This is a subject that seems to come up time and time again in professional fishing. Everybody seems to know someone who is a regional standout, who can catch fish out of a bucket of muddy water, yet doesn’t have the financial backing to “go pro." Well, here’s a newsflash: Nobody has the money to go pro, and most good regional fishermen get their butts stomped in the dirt when they try.

Being a good fisherman on Saturday morning at your home lake is a far cry from traveling the country and catching them everywhere, and I’m going to tell you why.

First off, fishing 4-day tournaments is tremendously different than fishing a 1-day event. Just look at the weight totals for 4-day events, and how they differ from BFL-style shootouts. A case in point: Here on the smallmouth meccas of the Great Lakes where I live, it’s typical for stringers in excess of 22 pounds to be needed to win 1-day events, yet, most 4-day events are easily won with averages in the high teens.

Now I know there are exceptions, like when a lake such as Guntersville or Falcon are caught at just the right time. However, even in those cases, the final-day stringers are usually drastically less than the first-day heavy hauls. My point is this: The winning pros on the major tours figure out the best way to catch the fish on each individual day, and change as the fishery changes. As major events come to a close, and fish see major fishing pressure or the weather changes drastically, the best of the best adapt.

Also, regardless of whether a local pro is barely making his truck payment or rolling in oil-tycoon money, fishing for a hundred grand brings on a lot of pressure. But it’s far more than the money that brings the anxiety, it’s the glory. For any tournament angler, all of the excitement and publicity surrounding the event is sure to add to the feelings of desperation.

I’ve said often that bass tournaments certainly aren’t going away – as long as there’s a group of guys fishing for bass, someone’s going to want to throw money in the hat. Yet, regardless of how often major events visit my hometown, I always get the feeling that “this is my big shot." You’ll often hear 2nd-place anglers say they “missed a once-in-a lifetime opportunity." I highly doubt many of the established veterans feel this way, and that leads to better decision-making on the water.

When a guy feels he has a year or 2 to prove himself, and he knows sponsors are watching and just getting a check could be the deciding factor on whether or not he lives to fish another day, I highly doubt his decision-making process is the same as Skeet Reese, who woke up and “just went fishing” on day 4. Regardless of the outcome of his decision, I’m guessing Skeet isn’t too worried about what it’s going to cost to fill up the tank in his truck at the end of the day so he can head off to the next tourney.

Now, from time to time we see local or regional anglers do very well in individual major events. The Carolina Crankers show up in the top in the Southeast. There are always a few Kentucky Lake guys who hold the upper hand when the trails visit the Land Between the Lakes. Perhaps nowhere is it more polarized than the Great Lakes, where local pros often win the events, and dominate the Top 10.

This comes as a result of the vast size of the bodies of water, and the adaptation ability that locals have in fishing these massive bodies of water. Regardless of how often the major trails visit the Great Lakes, most pros are simply out of their elements when fishing in 6-foot waves. But we still see the legends sneak in and snatch away the big dollars quite frequently, as proven by the name Nixon being synonymous with Lake St. Clair. In any case, just being a dominant fisherman in a region means nothing when deciding to “go pro."

Most tournament anglers find a comfortable level of competition and stick there. Often, when they try to advance, they just can’t seem to climb the next hurdle, perhaps due to a mental block or unwillingness to adapt. I know anglers who are great club-level fishermen who can’t seem to perform at a BFL, while others can’t seem to get it together in an EverStart or Open, even though the event is in their backyards. Still more can’t seem to make the leap to the full-time tours, and I understand their situation.

Occasionally, we’ll see a guy who breaks through with a lucky, blind win early on, and then carry the momentum forward to forge a career. But if you think about it, even that’s rare. The guys who seem to do well have a “mini-career” already built. They’ve dominated a division or two of the Opens, maybe they’ve won an EverStart, they’ve been to an All-American or two and they’re comfortable with the demands and pressures of major competition.

All of this breeds confidence – the most important trait of a professional tournament angler. This is then combined with a regimen that works for them on a smaller scale and is then applied to the majors. They know how to manage their time, they have their affairs in order and they’re often fairly secure financially.

Fledgling tour pros habitually envy the established ranks. And, although a few superstars had their paths carved early on or had major financial support right off the bat, most started the way everyone else did: They adopted fishing as their love and their meaning for life. They sacrificed everything else. Sometimes that's an envious path, while other times it's a sad one.

And, through it all, they made good decisions, both in business and fishing. The average tournament angler will never know how incredibly difficult this career path is. My advice to the home-lake heroes: Get off the home lake first and see how you do. After that, make sure you have nothing to lose.

(Joe Balog is the often outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)