Disclaimer: not a big fisherman, very much a novice nowadays

Sitting watching bassmasters this morning while drinking my coffee I seem to have noticed something and wanted to bring it to Texags for clarification.

Are these guys so dang good that they use lures that have barb-less hooks?

Keep watching. You'll see fish jump into their boats they're so good.

Barbless hooks = easier catch and release, less trauma

Never heard of them using barbless hooks. I have seen them bend the hooks in so that they could feel the bite but then let them spit it.

Mmmm I watched bassfest pt 2 this morning. Who was fishing with a barbless hook?

Some use barbless hooks in practice. During the actual tournament though they use the best hooks and barbs possible.
Did they say something about barbless hooks?

No mention of barb-less hooks I was watching yesterday morning and the way they were able to simply get the hook out, even when the bass had swallowed the lure, made me assume they were barb-less. They just made it look so effortless

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No mention of barb-less hooks I was watching yesterday morning and the way they were able to simply get the hook out, even when the bass had swallowed the lure, made me assume they were barb-less. They just made it look so effortless

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They have also caught and released about 1000x more fish than we have for the most part. Practice, Practice, Practice. time is everything in those tourneys. Well, time and pounds of fish.

Yeah, they used barbed hooks in the tournament. My uncle fishes in the elites and they just do it so much that they make it look effortless. He had a reporter counting the number of casts he made one day during a classic in which my uncle felt was one of his best tournament days ever (won the tournament that day). He had landed around 30 fish that day, but had a fish on in less than 2% of the casts. They get lots of practice to get to that level of fishing.

No replacement for time on the water.

bmf, who is your uncle if you don't mind me asking?

I really think there are a lot of really good anglers who could easily compete at that level but choose not to for what ever reason. I know that I certainly would not want to travel all over the country having to rely on that as a way to make a living. There are really not many of those elite guys that make a substantial income not to mention how hard that must be if you're married with kids.

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No replacement for time on the water.

bmf, who is your uncle if you don't mind me asking?

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i'll guess alton jones, larry nixon, or rick clunn if his uncle actually won the classic. they are 3 of the 4 winners from TX , not sure nixon fishes anymore though.

I used to want to fish professionally until I started doing to math on it. It just doesn't work financially unless you are at the top or don't have a family. Imagine the costs of a pro golfer with a tenth of the prize pool and a quarter of the events.

Now, The Classic... a one time professional event...I hope to be there one day.

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I really think there are a lot of really good anglers who could easily compete at that level but choose not to for what ever reason. I know that I certainly would not want to travel all over the country having to rely on that as a way to make a living. There are really not many of those elite guys that make a substantial income not to mention how hard that must be if you're married with kids.

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There are ALOT of weekend guys who could fish at the Elite level if they had time to do it. I'm not saying they'd be KVD, but they could hang around the tour and hold their own. It just that making that jump for that little reward keeps them from doing it.

You know your classic history. Rick is my uncle, and I've been very fortunate to be around him and learning from him (although I think he cringes that I've made the transition to mostly flyfishing). While a lot of weekend anglers think they could do the pro circuit, I think it takes another level of skill to be a long term pro angler. And those skills don't just involve fishing, it involves dealing with traveling, sponsors, fans, weather, etc. it also takes a lot of consistency. My uncle says that anyone can win a 1-2 day tournament with luck, but that luck usually doesn't last 3-4 days while fishing. I just miss getting to fish practice for tournaments with him since they changed the rules 5 or 6 years ago.

I can't believe your uncle is Rick Clunn. That's freaking badass.

That is beyond awesome! Dude's a legend.

I remember following him for awhile when they fished Lewisville (2005 I think). He was in an aluminum jet boat he had especially rigged for tourneys where he wanted to get really skinny. Pretty sure he's fished it elsewhere as well. IIRC.

I've always thought of going barbless. I wonder how much it decreases your chance of landing the fish.

With the barbs and tackle we use, once you've got the fish on you're pretty much guaranteed to land it. You can basically just manhandle the fish into the boat.

It really bothers me when I catch a throw back trout or red but getting the hook out basically kills it.

Rick Clunn!?! That's pretty cool. I think we're under estimating how difficult it is to consistently predict and catch bass. I doubt becoming a viable pro is within the reach of many anglers.

I bend the barbs off all of my bass hooks now. I lost a hefty peacock bass on a fly a couple of weeks ago, but it was my fault and not the barbless hook. The pros could probably do okay without barbs, but why chance it at that level.

That is awesome. I would absorb as much knowledge as I could from that man.

Rick Clunn! Seriously.

Page 1.

I was really rooting for Rick to come from behind and win on Falcon a few years back.

I've fished the area where he thumped em with that square bill many a times. He caught a lot more fish in there than I ever did.

I think one of the things that those guys do so well is breaking down whichever body of water they are fishing that week. It's incredible how accurately they can pattern fish without having fished the body of water recently. I guess that's what fishing all over the country and doing it everyday does for you.

Another thing that us Texas weekend warriors have to consider is that these guys have to be able to adapt on a tournament to tournament basis. These guys fish a large variety of different styles of lakes every week (or every few weeks). We may think we have a handful of East Texas lakes figured out but that's not gonna do us much good when we are at Kentucky Lake in the summer against some of the best ledge fishermen in the world. Or have to go fish a tidal water. For example, they have gone from the Cal Delta to Havasu to Kentucky Lake and are now headed to the St. Lawrence River. Crazy.

Thanks guys. I got to have dinner with him a few weeks ago when he was in Austin for the Bass Pro Shops opening. We don't get to see him as much since he moved to Missouri. It's amazing that he can still fish at this level at his age. The circuit changed a lot when it was shifted to more of a spring format which he has had to adjust to. I think he would have won Falcon if they hadn't of postponed the final day due to wind (the area he was fishing was protected while the other finalist's were not). It can be tough fishing next to him. One time when he lived in Montgomery my brother, dad, and I found about an 8lb bass in this little inlet on his pond getting ready to spawn. We tried to catch that fish for 3 days with no luck and my uncle goes over and catches it in less than 10 minutes. Going to his house was like going to a tackle shop where everything was free. Kept us stocked up pretty good which I think caused this "illness" I have towards fishing.

I have followed professional fishing for 20+ years. Used to watch Bassmasters tournaments my dad recorded on VHS tapes. Rick Clunn was voted the top bass angler in history a few years back. He has always been one of my favorites. TexAgs truly does know everything/one.

Old man's still got it!

https://video.bassmaster.com/detail/videos/latest-videos/video/6000527617001/live:-walters-giant-bass?autoStart=true&sort_by=PUBLISH_DATEESC

Ninety-nine pounds over four days. Not bad for a 72 year old!