Ten years ago Clear Lake was considered the top lake in the state in regard to bass tournaments. Back in those days a team tournament would field at least 60 teams and a pro/am would field nearly 150 boats. That”s all changed in the last three years.
Nowadays if a tournament fields 30 boats it”s considered a huge success. Take the American Bass Association (ABA), which is one of the more successful tournament circuits at Clear Lake. In 2003, the average number of boats in one of their team events was 55. In 2004-05, the average jumped to 60 before falling back to 55 in 2006. The average dipped to 40 in 2007, to 35 in 2009, to 33 in 2010 and to an all-time low of 20 through events held this year.
It”s not that ABA is doing anything wrong. In fact, the organization runs an excellent circuit. Other tournament organizations are experiencing a similar drop in participants. The only circuits that continue to regularly draw more than 100 boats are the rookie circuits. They draw anywhere from 150 to 200 boats.
There are a number of reasons for the decline in the number of participants in the tournaments. Heading the list is the high price of gasoline and the poor economy. Gas is holding at nearly $4 per gallon and when you take in consideration that many fishermen travel 100 miles or more just to reach Clear Lake, the cost can be astronomic.
For example, Sacramento is about 120 miles (240 miles round trip) from Clear Lake. Typically a truck pulling a heavy bass boat averages about 12-15 miles per gallon. That”s $80 to get here and return home. A typical entry fee for a team tournament, including options, runs about $300. To stay in a motel costs at least $70 per night and most of the fishermen stay at least two nights, which adds up to another $140. It costs at least $30 per person per day to eat and then there is the gas for the boat. Most of the tournament fishermen use 10-20 gallons of gas per day. The team events are normally one-day affairs but just about all the fishermen spend at least one additional day prefishing, which adds up to about $120 in gas money.
Then there are the boat payments that most fishermen make. When you add up all the expenses it can easily surpass $800 a tournament. Split between the two fishermen that”s $400 per person. With only 20 teams in a tournament the winning team normally takes home about $1,200, which means each member of the team pockets $600 … or a $200 profit after all the expenses.
Most circuits pay down to one in five, which means a 20-team field pays down four places. Second place typically pays about $400 and third and fourth places much less. In other words, only the winning team will take home more than it shelled out in expenses.
The other factor is most of the top finishers in a team tournament are the same people. For example, it”s nearly impossible to beat Wayne Breazeale, Mark Crutcher, Randy Marshall, Greg McCosker and a few others. They are so good at tournament fishing that at least two or three of them always finish in the top three places. The rest of the field just basically contributes its money.
A third factor is the number of circuits operating at Clear Lake. Presently there are at least seven circuits holding tournaments at the lake. Just about every weekend throughout most of the year there is a bass tournament on Clear Lake. The result is most fishermen can”t afford to fish in all the circuits, so they pick and choose. In other words, there are only so many bass fishermen available to enter the tournaments, which keeps the number down for each particular circuit.
Several tournaments held on the lake do draw a large number of fishermen. These are specialty tournaments such as the Holder Ford, Bob”s Marine and the Triton Boat Owners tournament. These events have little trouble fielding 150 teams because they offer large payouts and are considered “fun” tournaments. These are the only bass tournaments many of the fishermen enter.
Regardless of the number of fishermen coming to Clear Lake to compete in bass tournaments, they all contribute much-needed money to the local economy.
