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Norman,
OK - This is the second part of a two-part story about how bass pros view environmental issues. On Monday, FLW Tour pro Randy Blaukat encouraged his peers to become more aware of such issues and to press their elected officials to act upon them. Today, Elite Series legend Rick Clunn talks about how his approach to discussing these issues has changed over the years.
Veteran Elite Series pro Rick Clunn has never been accused of being bashful or afraid to speak his mind. While marching to the beat of his own drum, at times he has also served as a conscience for professional angling.
Furthermore, over the course of his three decade career in the sport, Clunn has mentored (both directly and indirectly) a great number of younger pros on the responsibilities and issues attendant to the sport, both on and off the water. Randy Blaukat is one such pro who has been influenced by Clunn’s actions and statements.
But while Clunn agrees with much of Blaukat’s environmental activism, and respects the younger angler’s efforts, in recent years he has diverged from Blaukat’s outspoken call to action.
“I wouldn’t overly criticize or preach to (other pros),” he said. “I don’t take preaching of any sort very well. I went through the stage that Randy is going through and I admire him very much but I’ve mellowed a bit. I was alienating more people than I ever won over. For every Randy Blaukat who was won over, ten would look confused or call you an idiot, so I started wondering.”
The Landscape
Like Blaukat, Clunn was not inclined to endorse a political candidate or party, but expressed concern over the way some anglers, pros and non-pros alike, ally themselves politically.
“There are a lot of (candidates) who just give lip service to environmental issues,” he said. “You see presidents and just because they say they fish and hunt, they’re not necessarily going to support positions that favor fishing and hunting. I’m not saying they’re not, just that a lot of people jump on the bandwagon without really thinking about the truth.”
But on the other hand, he recognized that “aggressive environmentalists turn off a lot of the outdoor public. They see it as wanting to limit access. So the question is: How far do you go?”
With respect to environmentalism, Clunn himself has undergone a series of changes and epiphanies over the course of his three plus decades in the sport. First, he had to reassess the terminology involved.
“A lot of people don’t have a problem with the word conservationist, but they have a problem with the term environmentalist,” he said. “I always thought they were one in the same.”
Second, over time he has come to believe that his influence on the angling public and the professional anglers themselves may be overestimated or misstated. “My influence has been greatly exaggerated at all levels,” he said. “I might be able to convince someone to buy a rod or buy a lure, but I can’t influence their vote for president. I might be able to pump him up, but not really.”
Evolution
Clunn admitted that he’s typical in that he didn’t become environmentally conscious until he had a certain amount of perspective and had spent a great deal of time outdoors.
“It doesn’t happen to younger anglers as a rule,” he said. “It only happened to me when I got into my mid-thirties. That’s when I started seeing that we needed to take better care of our natural resources. When I was raised, the country people in Oklahoma were not environmentalists. That’s a modern day convenience enjoyed by those people who have money.”
As stated previously, Clunn believes that preaching or teaching will only reach a very limited number of recipients. He said that the only way for people to become true converts is to allow them the opportunity to spend time in the outdoors. “All we can do is provide the opportunity and the vehicles,” he said. “Nature will win them over long before I’ll ever win them over. The only people me and Randy can win over are those who are already inclined to think that way.” |
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In that respect, he views himself as “an assistant to nature.” One way in which he effectuates that role is through his outdoor awareness training schools. “I teach awareness and I appeal to their selfishness. I try to teach them how to increase and use their vision, all of their senses, really, to a heightened level.”
The need to increase awareness allows him to live with the fact that the boats and tow vehicles currently used to pursue the sport at its highest level are not necessarily environmentally friendly. “I wish my truck got 50 miles per gallon,” he said. “But look at the alternative. We keep cutting off awareness for the masses to have access to the outdoors and the only vehicle left for the masses is fishing. Hunting is disintegrating. Camping is diminishing. The only true numbers are in fishing. What’s more important to me than how many gallons my boat burns is that the masses get exposure to nature. Nature will eventually teach them, not another human being.”
He recognizes that this approach “is not perfect,” but says that removing public access to nature will certainly spell a faster decline of natural resources than will allowing fuel-inefficient motors. And that access, he said, can’t be solely “through Natural Geographic and the Discovery Channel. They’re wonderful, but they don’t help you understand and what man doesn’t understand he’ll eventually destroy.”
Final Words
Clunn’s changing approach to spreading environmental awareness bespeaks a somewhat fatalistic worldview.
“We’re working against a lot of things,” he said. “Even some of the most dedicated people in the general public, people who really want to do right and know in their hearts what is right, you have to wonder can they afford what it’s going to cost.”
“For most people, if it comes down to ‘me or nature,’ it’s going to be me,” he said. “Only a few people like Randy are going to stay the course. The only way society will respond is if it reaches a catastrophic level. If certain areas – in this area it’s California and Florida – are said to be on the verge of an ecological breakdown, then man will respond, but unfortunately we tend not to respond until it reaches that level.”
Despite what at first glance appears to be a negative outlook, Clunn also cited some positive changes that he’s seen in his years on tour. “Even the religious right is changing, much to my surprise and happiness,” he said. “Ten or twenty years ago, there was never any mention of the beauty of nature or the need to be better custodians in the prayers before tournaments. It was the old school – man had dominion over nature and even if it’s destroyed it doesn’t matter because we’re all going to a better place. But in the last five to ten years it has really changed. Now they talk about how we do have a responsibility to be better custodians. I look at that as a big step.”
With respect to his own impact, he makes a concerted effort “to set examples for my co-anglers, but I don’t preach to him,” he said. “So if I see a wad of line or a cup floating by, and I could have made three casts in the time it takes to pick it up, I pick it up.”
“There are three million fishermen out there,” he concluded. “If each of us can affect one or two a year, then the effect could be huge.”
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