Entry 79-2

Meet Mark Rose

The Hardest Part Of Being A Professional Fisherman

Editor's Note: Mark Rose was an Executive Director for the Boy Scouts when the tournament-fishing bug bit him. Armed with the courage required to be a tournament fisherman, Rose left a safe and secure job to enter the uncertain world of professional fishing. Rose jumped out on the tournament circuit and has never looked back. This week, we’ll meet a young man with a vision and learn what his life is like, living his dream.

Question: What’s the hardest part of being a professional fisherman?

Rose: I love my wife and my small daughter, and being away from home, for as long as I have to be, really wears on me. The professional bass-fishing trail requires that you spend a lot of time on the water. If you’re going to compete with the best bass fishermen in the nation, you have to spend at least as much time on the water as they do. That time on the water is time away from the family.

Now one thing that many people do not comprehend is that when I say time on the water, the water that I have to spend time on is not close to home. I have to go to a lot of different lakes all over the nation. I have to learn how to catch bass in New England, Florida, California and everywhere in-between. So time on the water is not just guiding on lakes close to home. I have to learn how to fish clear-water lakes in extremely cold weather, and dirty-water lakes in extremely hot weather. I have to learn to fish rivers, man-made impoundments and tidal waters. I have to learn to catch bass in good and bad weather, when they are biting, and when they are not biting. So to learn all the aspects of my craft, I have to travel a lot and spend a lot of money on traveling.

I’ve been lucky enough to win money in three or four tournaments this year to cover my expenses, so the financial aspect of my fishing is not nearly as much of a problem as being gone so much and living on the road so much. My wife teaches kindergarten in West Memphis, Arkansas and we set a goal for me to try to earn enough money for her to quit teaching and come out on the road with me, and that is the direction we’re working toward right now.

Question: How does your wife handle your being gone all the time?

Rose: We spend a lot of minutes on the cell phone each week. She keeps me informed on what is going on at home, and the decisions I need to make. If I’m coming through the central part of the United States, she will meet me somewhere out on the road, and we’ll spend time together. We’ll often go to church on a Sunday in some strange town that I happen to be passing through. She understands why I have to be out on the road so much, and she is very supportive of what I’m doing. She knows that I’m working as hard as I can to do well enough in professional fishing so that we can spend more time together in the future.




 

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