Story by Pete Robbins - Photos by Mark Jeffreys  

Norman, OK - A year ago at this time, Clark Reehm was looking forward to fishing the Bassmaster Classic on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell and embarking on his rookie season on the Elite Series trail. He had irons in the fire with several endemic and non-endemic sponsors and was ready to begin his major league career. He’d had great success in his last Bassmaster Open campaign, and while he was certain the competition would be tougher at the next level, he had no reason to believe that he wouldn’t be competitive.

In some respects, the world was his oyster.

This year, things have seemingly changed for the worse. Absent a miraculous outcome at this week’s final Central Open at Lake Texoma, he won’t get to fish the Classic on the Red River, a body of water he knows well. While he has had a mixed experience chasing sponsor support, with the Dow well below 9,000, sponsor dollars are getting harder and harder to come by. It’s a tough time to be anything but a top-flight veteran in the sport.

Nevertheless, the soon-to-be sophomore is buoyant about the state of his career. With the initiation phase of his Elite Series journey completed, he’s more aware of what it takes to do well, both on and off the water. A big part, he said, is understanding the financial realities attendant to being a full-time pro.

“I’ve got more money now than I did at this time last year,” he said. “Last year I didn’t have a pot to piss in. Last year, two weeks before the Classic I had fifteen to twenty thousand in credit card debt and $38 in my checking account.”

The one saving grace he had at that time was the guaranteed payday of the Classic, and he capitalized upon that to the tune of $22,000, most of which was almost immediately reinvested in BASS in the form of entry fees. It also allowed him to live a reasonable lifestyle on the road. When his colleagues went out to dinner, he could join them. He could afford to split a hotel room or a cabin. He believes those little niceties went a long way.

“Because I had some success early on, I was able to live a reasonable lifestyle on the road,” he said. “I’ve done the peanut butter and jelly route. I’ve done the sleeping in my truck route. But your well-being suffers unless you live a somewhat normal lifestyle. It makes a compelling story, but how many times do you remember guys catching them and doing well when they were sleeping in their trucks. It usually doesn’t happen that way. Another big part of it is camaraderie.”

Entry fees and the occasional dinner out are only the tip of the iceberg. “It may hurt some feelings to say this, but a lot of younger pros, especially those under 25 years old, they get out there and they don’t realize what it’s going to cost,” he said. “They’re out on their own for the first time and they don’t factor in all the incidental costs. They don’t think about flat tires or all of the licenses they’re going to need to buy or new baits when they’re out on the road. Those expenses add up very quickly.”

But the need to be financially prudent is a double-edged sword. No one wants to bankrupt himself, but Reehm believes that the angler who has money weighing heavily on his mind, especially to the extent he allows it to affect his on-the-water decision making, “shouldn’t even bother to show up.”

“I realized fishing the Opens that when you start worrying about money you don’t do well,” he said. “There are certain things you can’t control, like entry fees and the price of gas. If you hesitate to make a long run that you need to make, you don’t need to be here.”

He admitted that the country’s current economic woes have made pursuit of sponsor dollars a tougher mountain to climb, but he said it wasn’t easy before the stock market plunged.

“There are a lot of people fighting for the same money,” he said. He cited one Elite Series colleague who approached three companies who he figured to be virgin territory, only to learn that each of them had already been contacted by multiple anglers from various levels of the game. 

“There are so many people who want a piece of the pie – and now that includes not just BFL-level guys, college anglers and the women – that it’s hard to show your value, why you deserve $50,000 or $150,000 when someone else is asking for just $10,000.”

Even though there has always been a hierarchy of anglers trying to get paid to fish, he believes that emphasis has increased in recent years, as a result of both the tournament culture and economic realities. “In years past it was affordable to fish local tournaments or event the opens, but now with gas so much more expensive, guys have had to figure out new ways to get them to the lake, so everyone is looking for sponsors, from the local club guy up to the Elite Series and FLW Tour pros.”

He spent much of last winter working a deal with a major non-endemic company, a deal which eventually did not materialize. In the end, he wrapped his boat with the logos of Kicker Fish Bait Company and Fin-Tech. Does he regret holding out on the mega-deal when he might have been able to obtain something at a middle level?

“No,” he answered. “My biggest regret about it is leaving some people who wanted to wrap my boat high and dry while I waited to learn if (the big deal) was going to pull through. They understood, but I don’t ever want to be that guy who comes back and says I got a better deal. I never strung them along, but there were times when it was a little uncomfortable.”

While he remains talkative and upbeat, he revealed that it’s not an easy path to pursue, nor one to be taken lightly. “The reality of doing this is that it has consumed my life for the past several years,” he said. “I don’t buy anything or do anything if it’s not for fishing or not fishing-related. I don’t have a family or a mortgage. That’s what really saved me. I don’t know how I could have done it if I had to think about those things as well.”