Pete Weighs In
"Welcome to My World"
Why I'll Never Be A Journalist
Feb. 27, 2008
If you've never read anything by Chuck Klosterman, you should. He's a fantastic writer, able to take a subject like the TV show "Saved By The Bell" and develop it into a meaningful, entertaining essay. Get his book "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" and don't look back.
I recently read an essay in which he bemoaned the state of rock and roll journalism, stating that too many rock writers want to befriend the bands they cover, or may even be frustrated band member wannabes, and this prevents them from asking the tough questions. If you can't get reasonably adversarial, you'll never look at something in a meaningfully critical manner.
Well, I'm screwed. Ain't never gonna be a fishing journalist. I'm just too in awe of how good these guys are and I want to pick their brains without alienating them. On top of that, I definitely root for certain anglers.
That became abundantly clear to me at the Bassmaster Classic this past weekend, when for the first time ever I was openly rooting for my favorites, in particular Charlie Hartley and Clark Reehm.
I know that everyone has jumped on Charlie's bandwagon in the past few weeks, so I hate to seem like the guy who's constantly saying, "I liked that band before they were popular," (or, in the case of Hootie and the Blowfish, who I saw in Hilton Head, SC, in 1994, "I liked them before they were popular and long before no one liked them") but I guess I have to go there, because I thought Charlie was a credit to our sport well before this week. I've interviewed him four or five times and there's no one on tour who is quite as nice. To tell you the truth, a lot of the top sticks can be pretty difficult at times, but Charlie, no matter what the circumstances, has always been a gentleman.
Every time I've thanked him for an interview, he's made it clear that he's thankful to be interviewed. Every time I've asked if he's too busy to talk, his answer has been, "I'm never too busy." He loves to fish – maybe that sounds ridiculous, but I've met enough jaded pros out there who clearly wouldn't be fishing if they weren't getting paid for it so I know it's not entirely the norm.
Hartley's no newcomer, but he's a grinder, been out there for a while for the love of the game. He's had his successes – most notably an EverStart points title and the 2007 BASS Southern Open points title, but I've always gotten the impression that he's an overachiever, or at least that he considers himself to be one. No matter how hard KVD and Denny work, and I guarantee you they work their butts off, it all seems to come naturally to them. Charlie is in that second everyman tier that has to work just a little harder.
When he was on the stage – whether it was the first day when he had 20+ or the last day when he weighed in two fish, I got the feeling that he was on the verge of breaking out either into maniacal laughter or uncontrollable tears at every moment. An entire life waiting to lead the Bassmaster Classic and he'd done it.
I'm not taking anything away from Alton Jones, but I wish Charlie had won it. It would have been a win for all of us.
I've known Classic rookie Clark Reehm since he was a snot-nosed 17 year old punk and his dad was in my Virginia bass club. I came to fishing late in life, didn't fish a tournament until I was 25. Clark, on the other hand, knew he would be a bass pro when he was 12. We've become fast friends and his network of contacts has helped my writing career immensely.
We speak almost every day. When the phone rings, my wife usually asks, "What does Clark want now?" She recently commended me for going a whole day without talking to him, but I felt obligated to tell her we had talked twice and exchanged several emails. Clark has the bravado I'll never have – the pro fisherman's attitude that after a day with zero bites he still expects to catch the biggest sack of the tournament. But even though I don't share that perpetual optimism, he, Charlie and I all have one thing in common in that we live for the sport. Nothing interests him more. He gets it and wants to be a part of it more than anything in the world.
To be honest, I really didn't know how he was going to handle the Classic, but I'm genuinely proud of how he did. Everyone seems to think that in the Classic "second place is the first loser", but Clark came in with the reasonable goals of making it to day three (top 25). When he did that he upped his goal to the top 10, which he also accomplished, finishing 8th overall, ahead of a virtual who's who of bass pros. I had dinner with him and his family the night before the Classic started and he was visibly nervous. This finish will give him the confidence, the proof, that he can fish at that level, on the biggest stage of all. Will there be bumps along the way? Almost certainly, but Greenville will serve as a touchstone for his career.
He handled the media, the stage (most notably Elvis) and the limited time with his boat and tackle with the savvy and calm of a veteran pro – and he never gave up being Clark. Just like Charlie, even in the moments of his greatest triumph (Day 1) and greatest sorrow (Day 3), he was still the man who lived to fish.
I wish I could have been in either of their shoes. If I ever am, I hope I handle it half as well.
Dancing About Architecture
Feb. 25, 2008
Quote of the Day:
"Rock journalism is people who can't write, interviewing people who can't talk, in order to provide articles for people who can't read.” – Frank Zappa
Questions of the Day:
Could you substitute "Fishing" for "Rock" in the above quotation?
If so, who should be most insulted, the anglers, the readers, or myself?
Does the last question make too bold a leap in considering myself to be a journalist?
Terry Battisti once told me that a veteran outdoor writer had told him to never write anything too long for Bubba in Swamp Gas Corners to read in a single trip to the commode. Is that our limit?
I wrote the above paragraphs a few months back, but I was reminded of them today when I read an online column about "20 Pop-Cultural Obsessions Geekier Than Monty Python" (http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/the_knights_who_say_nerd_20_pop). I didn't previously know that enjoying FZ was indicative of nerd-dom. Believe me, I have plenty of geek indicators of my own. I enjoy the Simpsons, use Wikipedia, and even though I didn't know people trade game show tapes, I suggested in a recent blog entry that we should trade fishing tapes, so that makes three not including Frank --- oops, four, I also have a fantasy sports team (bass fishing).
But perhaps I like the idea of Zappa better than the man himself. I only have one of his albums (Yes, it's an album, not because I'm some retro vinyl geek, but rather because I inherited it from my parents), and I haven't listened to it in years.
But the quotation given above jogged my brain about what I can contribute to bass fishing as a wannabe writer. I'm not a great technician on the water, largely because I'm the most impatient, non-detail oriented person you've ever met, so breaking down techniques into their minute details is not my strong suit. Unless something very unusual happens, I don't love tournament coverage either, and I think some of the "human interest" pieces that are published (both those by myself and others) are occasionally no more than fluff.
So where do my writing skills have an opportunity to make a place for themselves in the fishing world? Furthermore, why is there no great bass fishing literature and why aren't there any meaningful assessments of the cultural importance of bass fishing?
Answering the questions in reverse order, my responses are "I don't know" and "I don't know."
You could say that there's no great bass fishing literature because it's a lowbrow, blue collar sport. You would be wrong. First of all, our sport is about as diverse as they get. I regularly fish with a Federal judge and a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer. I've also fished with guys who couldn't spell "CAT" if you spotted them the C and the A. I don't know if NASCAR's demographics are slightly more or slightly less diverse, but numerous colleges have created courses on the sociology of NASCAR and virtually every august (not the month) publication has taken its crack at explaining the allure and meaning of NASCAR. There have also been scholarly interpretations of rap music and cartoons, and more ruminations on baseball than you can count (and that's just from George Will). A phenomenon need not be expressly intellectual to be intellectualized.
So does bass fishing lend itself to great literature? Trout fishing and big game hunting certainly have in the past, and we're not that far removed from those sports (except for the tweed and the pith helmets . . . and their lack of Vienna sausages). Why them and not us?
Which brings me to another possible Zappa quote: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture." Caveat: for years I have thought this quote was from Zappa, but when I Googled it, it turned out that its origins are unclear. A lot of people seem to think it came from Elvis Costello, who seems every bit as literate but much less countercultural than Zappa. So indulge me for the time being by assuming that Frank said it. It keeps this train of thought relatively intact.
[Side note; the Robbins family has a long battled over the origins of quotations. My brother believes that our family motto ("You're only young once, but you can be immature forever.") was first spoken or written by Dr. Seuss. I have long believed it originally came from former American League relief pitcher Goose Gossage, who was recently elected to the Hall of Fame. My wife "solved" (small "s") the debate when she purchased a refrigerator magnet attributing the line to poet Ogden Nash. She purchased the magnet in an airport gift shop, which makes it suspect in my mind, so we've reached no consensus.]
So if writing about music is like dancing about architecture, does a similarly structured witticism apply to bass fishing? Is there some essence intrinsic to the sport that cannot be captured in words? I call BS on that theory, too. Books have been written on every topic under the sun, many more esoteric or more complex than our fair sport (but not necessarily more difficult to describe than why fish eat a buzzbait).
Maybe our day will come when Basil Bacon and Orlando Wilson will be studied in colleges, but I'm not holding my breath. But the possibility does exist to raise up our level of discourse beyond "they like a red worm" or the FLW vs. BASS rhetoric that misses every point. Maybe one day we'll have a Norman McLean, a Tom McGuane, a James Prosek, even a Hemingway. Just don't count on it to be me….I'll be too busy watching the Simpsons. But in the meantime, I leave you with two more Zappa quotes:
“The disgusting stink of a too loud electric guitar; now that's my idea of a good time.”
“A mind is like a parachute. It doesn't work if it's not open.”
[Cheap writing trick #476. When you don't know what the hell you're talking about, and can't quite figure out how to end a piece, use someone else's lofty-sounding quotes and let the reader do the dirty work.]
The Bait Monkey
Feb. 21, 2008
I'm not sure if it's against the GYCB rules for me to promote other websites in this blog, but if you're reading this I'll assume that it's not. Like many of you, I have a set routine of sites that I rotate through first thing in the morning, and one of my recent favorites is Tackle Tour (www.tackletour.com).
I "discovered" it in the spring of 2007 and again at ICAST when GYCB pro-staffer Mike Bucca introduced me to Dennis "Cal" Shew, one of TT's founders. Dennis informed me that by day he's an architect.
"Like George Costanza?" I asked.
No one laughed. But since then TT has worked into my regular lineup.
I thought I was a freak for oddball tackle, but these guys crush my tackle addiction like a grape. I think if Cal and friends were to sell all of their $500 Megabass rods and $100 swimbaits, they'd be sitting on a fortune greater than the GNP of most countries. And be sure to check out their forums --- there are some serious bait freaks there, too.
Great concept, great execution, great site.
Only problem is that their advice is a serious drain on my wallet.
If Larry King Was a Fishing Writer, His Column Might Look Like This . . .
Feb. 18, 2008
I couldn't live without split ring pliers . . . It still bothers me when fishermen say, "My partner's got a big sack today” . . . Skeet Reese seems like he has ice water running through his veins . . . Why isn't backing up a trailer an Olympic sport? . . . If the guy who invented Spike-It isn't rich, he should be . . . I predict a big comeback for pistol grip rods
. . . I'd like to meet the Frank they named Frank's Tract after . . . Do you think Gerald Swindle likes opera? . . . You can keepv your tournament jerseys; I still think a patch vest looks classy.