"This is not a glamor job. It's hard work-as hard as anything I've ever done. A lot of people say 'boy, I'd love to have a job where you just go fishing.' But it's not just going fishing. It's a lot more than that. If you don't want to work hard for a living, don't get into this business. You can make money a whole lot easier other ways."

That quote is from Tom Burns, a southern Illinois angler who has been fishing Bass Angler Sportsmans Society events off and on since the late 1980s. Here's something else Burns said:

"I plan to keep doing this as long as I can qualify and make a few dollars at it. I don't see myself quitting any time soon. I really like tournament fishing, and there's no greater thrill than coming to the weigh-in with a big stringer of fish."

While those two quotes might sound contradictory, they're not. They sum up the thoughts of many of the anglers who fish the BASS circuit: it's tough work, but the few anglers who can do it really love the work.

It's not for everyone, and even if you think you'd enjoy the "work," there are things you had better consider. You have to be a really good bass angler if you're going to make any dollars at the sport. And you better have some dollars when you begin, too.

"You might spend three or four days on the road traveling to and from a tournament, plus you'll have three or four days lodging to pay for once you're there," Burns said. "You have to eat, and you have to pay your entry fees. You better have lots of money or lots of sponsors, and preferably both. I thought I was a pretty good fisherman when I started, but I had to fish 10 or 11 tournaments before I ever got a check."

There's been a lot of water under the bridge since Burns began com-

16 OutdoorIllinois

Tom Burns spent four months working with lure designers to develop the Ultimate Rattling Jig, lure he still uses most of the time today.

petitive fishing. Today, he is one of only a handful of Illinois anglers who compete regularly in major BASS tournaments-and the only Illinois angler who qualifies to fish in the BASS Top 150 tournaments. And he still doesn't get a check in every tournament he fishes. In fact, last year he only made money in four or five tournaments he fished, but one of the checks was for $27,000.

Because of that fishing prowess, Burns will be the only Illinois angler competing in the World Championship Fishing event in southern Illinois Aug. 11-13 (see sidebar on page 19). He should be one of the favorites too. The three lakes to be fished are right in his backyard. The 42-year-old angler fishes Crab Orchard and Rend Lake regularly and has spent time on Carlyle Lake.

Burns, who lives between Marion and Carbondale near Crab Orchard Lake, grew up in West Frankfort. He can't remember a time when he wasn't fishing, but he remembers his first competition. He was still in high school when he entered a bass tournament on Rend Lake. That was more than 25 years ago, and he's been at it off and on ever since. Rend Lake had just been completed, and he saw it as an opportunity. After he got out of high school he bought a boat and started guiding on the new lake.

"I was doing pretty good in the local tournaments so a friend encouraged me to fish a major BASS tournament," Burns said. "He told me he would pay my entry fee if I would fish a tournament at Lake Wiley, North Carolina. That was in 1981. I showed up wearing bib overalls and pulling my big, old jon boat. Another guy let me use his boat the first day. After the first day I was in seventh or eighth place. I had to use my own boat the second day though, and the place I was catching fish was too far away to go in a jon boat, so I dropped out of the money. But it was still worthwhile. After that, I knew I could fish with those guys."

Knowing he could fish with "those guys" and being able to do it turned out to be two different things. Burns had a family to support and he had just started a paving business, so it wasn't until 1988 that he fished his next BASS tournament. Then he fished a few more in 1989 and 1990.

"In 1991, I decided to try to qualify for the BASS Top 100 tournaments (now BASS Top 150s), and I really started getting serious about tournament fishing," Burns said.

He qualified for the BASS 100 tournaments in 1993, and did a pretty good job of finishing in the money for the next couple of years. In 1995 Burns won the BASS Invitational tournament held at Buggs Island, Va., plus had an 8th place finish and a couple of tournies

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Tom Burns' advice for would-be tournament fishermen: "Fish every chance you get in different types of water and with every type of lure."

where he placed in the mid-30s. He missed going to the BassMasters Classic by one spot that year.

With that kind of a season, you would have thought Burns would have been psyched for the following year's competition. He was not.

"We'd just started the 1996 fishing season, and I was fishing a tournament in Florida," Burns said. "But I just didn't have my heart into fishing. I kept thinking of my daughter's gymnastic meet that I was missing and my son was playing a couple of basketball games that week, and I just decided I had enough. At the end of the day I told them I was quitting and walked away from tournament fishing just like that."

He stayed away for two years, but the lure was still there. He returned to the circuit in 1998 and has been fishing BASS events ever since.

"This isn't a full-time business for me," he said. "I have a paving business I have to take care of and I've owned a goose club since 1988, so I don't give it the same amount of attention that other pro anglers do. I don't practice a lot ahead of time unless it's water I've never fished before. But I'm still on the road 80 to 100 days a year. That's a lot of time to be away from your family and your business."

Anglers also are obligated to work at sport shows for their sponsors a few days each winter.

Once reserved for baseball players, professional anglers now have their own trading cards, most of which are manufactured by their sponsors.

"You have to have confidence in your equipment, so getting the right sponsors is important," Burns said. "If you don't have confidence in your equipment-if you don't think you can win with it-you're not going to do well on the tour. I personally would rather buy my own equipment and fish with something I have a lot of confidence in than have a sponsor give me equipment that I don't like. If I'm wearing a patch identifying a sponsor, you know I really believe in their product. It's something I would use whether they gave it to me or I had to buy it."

As an example, Burns currently doesn't have a reel sponsor because he prefers a brand of reels that conflicts with another sponsor. Rather than go to a different reel, he purchases his own.

His current sponsors include Triton Boats, OMC/Johnson Motors, Loomis rods, Minnkota, Spider Line and Lunker Lures.

Burns' primary lure is the jig. He spent 4 months working with designers at U.S. Tackle (which later was bought out by Lunker Lures) designing a jig called the Ultimate Rattling Jig. He still uses it more than any other lure.

What advice would he give would-be tournament anglers?

"You have to be a competent and competitive fisherman—someone who wins a lot of the local tournaments or at least finishes high in most of them," Burns said. "If you aren't up there near the top consistently, you shouldn't be fishing major tournaments yet. You have to want to win at everything you do. I don't think you can be successful if you're not competitive."

Burns said you also need to be in good physical shape.

18 OutdoorIllinois

Because the jig is a bottom-bouncing lure, line often becomes frayed and weakened. Tom Burns checks his line and re-ties often. He prefers using the palomar knot for attaching lures.

"This sport can take a lot out of you," he said. "It takes a lot of stamina to fish these tournaments. You might have to travel a couple of days then fish intensively from dawn until mid-afternoon. And you might be fishing in 100 degree weather one week and in rainy 40 degree weather with three-foot waves the next."

Burns said you won't win many tournaments if you don't learn to adapt.

"Fish every chance you get in different types of water and with every type of lure," Burns said. "Every lake is different and you have to fish the conditions. Some lakes you need to fish in the grass while in others you need to find the drop-offs. You need to be able to figure out tidal water and what lure you should be casting."

Burns offered one more piece of advice for would-be professional anglers:

"Go to school," he said. "This is a business, so you better learn to be a businessman. Learn how to speak and how to take care of yourself in public. Once you've become successful, you can earn as much in speaking, doing commercials and seminars as you can fishing."

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