In this Olympic summer, it may surprise most people to learn that nearly 40 million Americans fish – a fact, according to the American Sportfishing Association, that makes fishing more popular than golf and tennis combined. Additionally, if fishing were ranked as a corporation, its annual sales of $45 billion would place it at 47 on the 2007 Fortune 500 list of America’s largest companies. That’s well ahead of such global giants as Microsoft or Time Warner. Looking at it another way, the number of anglers in the United States is greater than the population of California.
From August 14-17, the top 77 bass anglers in the world will compete for a $1 million top award in the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup – bass fishing’s world championship – on Lake Murray in Columbia, S.C. Anglers from all 50 states plus Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Spain competed for more than a year to qualify for the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup. California, a state known for phenomenal bass fishing, is sending the most qualifiers with 24. Arkansas has the second most anglers in the field with 17, followed by Alabama with 13 contenders, North Carolina with nine, Kentucky with eight and Texas with seven. The winning pro will earn as much as $1 million. Now that’s one heck of a fish tale!
*****from Jim Modlin by way of the folks at the FLW Fishing Tour*****