What is Bass Fishing All About?

What is bass fishing really about? Do bass fishing organizations think they can compete with professional sports like baseball and football? Is bass fishing a competitive sport for making money? Should we all quit our day jobs and go pro?

No. I think the answer to all these questions is "no." Somewhere along the way we listened to marketers who pushed bass fishing as a competitive sport in order to sell tackle and boats. Bass fishing should not be about making money or gaining sponsors. It should be about enjoying the outdoors and fishing and showing the next generation how to fish and care for the fishery.

Bass fishing should be showing the next generation the joy of living in balance with nature--not about beating the other guy or making money. The Take a Kid Fishing Foundation has the right idea.

When I was four years old, I made a fishing pole out of a stick and caught fish off the dock. I spent hours there mesmerized with watching and catching fish there. When I was fishing, time seemed to freeze, and I did not think about anything else.That is the core of the joy of fishing.

Read American BeheMouth to learn how we are out of balance in America. Even something like bass fishing can become an obsession or addiction.

American BeheMouth can now be previewed and purchased on Google Play.


Read the story about Kentucky Lake in the 1950s--what bass fishing was like back then.