Why Did You Quit Fishing Tournaments

I loved fishing tournaments. I even won a few of them. I ended up choosing to quit fishing them.

My reasons were family and financial.

Have any of you reading quit fishing tournaments and why?

Just getting the itch with the FLW just around the corner.

[FuzzzyIL]

I was hooked on competitve angling for 15 years to one degree or another. It was challenging, fun and I loved it. But over time it wasn't as fun and became more of a chore, a habit. So I just burned out on it. Also, I burned out on the cliches and secret deals and teams and trying to keep track of it all. Oh and I didn't like blood in my urine.

I still follow it and root from the shoreline or internet.

I did learn so much though, like after all that I am confident I can go to any body of water anywhere and find and catch walleyes. Not being boastful just saying I paid a lot of dues, sweat and learning the hard way.
A lot of failure in such an undertaking.

I also learned how to get a million dollars in tourney angling.....start out with two million.

[watertank]

Nope, Still doin' it....They call it fishing for fame and fortune....what they don't tell you is that it costs a fortune to fish for fame.
bestfishes - jim

[cast_and_blast]

When my young sons would come out to the garage and see me getting the boat ready and excitedly ask "Are we going fishing?" and I would respond "Well...I am".

So - I got out and now I fish with my family and my friends without the pressure and without all of the added expense (hotels, pre-fishing, fuel for suburban, fuel for boat, meals, etc.)

I fish where I want to, when I want to and I don't have to fish when the weather sucks.

Scott

[Raybob]

I fished them alot in the 60-70-80s, then I slowly changed to chasin' sUMos in the 90s (on the sUMo's terms) rather than tourney days/hours for smaller fish > then I retired in 1999 & became a fulltime 24/7 sUMo Chaser...

[hawg]

Too many spoiled rich kids with more equipment than sense. Sponsoring organizations got to greedy.

[WAZ]

Took time off because of my family. Felt guilty leaving for a week at a time 4-6 times a year. Now the girls are grown and in college I am starting to dabble in tournament fishing again.

[jerry]

1. Family - I couldn't stand using all my vacation time to fish tourneys and not have my family around.

2. Desire - I lost my fire to compete. Instead of spending the necessary 12 hrs a day on the water I started fishing 6-8 hrs and my results faded with my lack of time on the water.

3. Burnout - I work many hours in my job and I hated being committed to going to tourneys, speaking, boat shows, and just having to be somewhere.

4. Economy - When G3 called it quits in the FLW I didn't feel like starting from scratch. It took me 7 years to build up $10K plus per year in sponsor's cash support coming in and I didn't see this as a break even, much less money making venture.

The thing I miss the most is the comeradere of my partners, my ex-sponsors and the people who fish the tour. They remain my lifelong friends.

Originally Posted by cast_and_blast

When my young sons would come out to the garage and see me getting the boat ready and excitedly ask "Are we going fishing?" and I would respond "Well...I am".

So - I got out and now I fish with my family and my friends without the pressure and without all of the added expense (hotels, pre-fishing, fuel for suburban, fuel for boat, meals, etc.)

I fish where I want to, when I want to and I don't have to fish when the weather sucks.

Scott

Amen, to that! That is exactly my reason!

[Litchfieldwalleye]

Originally Posted by cast_and_blast

When my young sons would come out to the garage and see me getting the boat ready and excitedly ask "Are we going fishing?" and I would respond "Well...I am".

So - I got out and now I fish with my family and my friends without the pressure and without all of the added expense (hotels, pre-fishing, fuel for suburban, fuel for boat, meals, etc.)

I fish where I want to, when I want to and I don't have to fish when the weather sucks.

Scott

Much respect for the part about realizing the greatness of fishing w/family & friends