Profile of a tournament fisherman 



Until recently, there were very few 

 tournaments in North Carolina, and 

 these were generally held for billfish 

 with competition dominated by the 

 wealthy fishermen, many from out of 

 state. But with rising incomes, more 

 economical equipment and a 

 resurgence in the coast as a 

 recreational site, more tournaments 

 have been organized. The tournament 

 scenario has also changed to include 

 the middle class and local fisherman. 



Marlin, mackerel and surf fishing — 

 the fishermen are as diverse as the 

 tournaments. What is the difference 

 between a surf fisherman and a 

 mackerel fisherman? How do the tour- 

 naments differ? What impact will this 

 have on us? These and many more 

 questions have been asked by local 

 communities who see their beaches and 

 waters becoming populated with 

 fishermen in the off season. 



To answer these questions, a Sea 

 Grant project studied tournament and 

 recreational fishing. Sea Grant 

 researchers Leon Abbas and Peter 

 Fricke mailed surveys to participants 

 in 13 saltwater tournaments held on 

 the North Carolina coast in 1979. 

 From a field of 1,060 participants, 53 

 percent of the surveys were returned, 

 and the data were compiled and 

 analyzed. 



"With this information," Fricke 



Photo by Cassie Griffin 



says, "we can determine the 

 socioeconomic impacts tournaments 

 have upon local communities and the 

 North Carolina coast, and the social 

 organization of a particular 

 recreational activity." 



Here's what they found. The 

 average tournament fisherman — we'll 

 call him Joe — fishes eight to 10 years 

 before he enters his first tournament. 

 Joe is almost 42 years old and has a 

 college education. With almost six 

 years of experience in tournament 

 fishing and over 17 years in sport 

 fishing. Joe enters at least four tourna- 

 ments a year, traveling an average of 

 164 miles to each tournament. 



Earning a median income of $70,000. 

 Joe's expenditures for tournaments in 

 1979 were distributed this way: fuel 

 and oil, 32 percent; lodging, five per- 

 cent; bait, tackle and ice, 12 percent; 

 food and beverage, 14 percent; boat 

 services, seven percent; travel 

 (public), 15 percent; crew costs, 14 

 percent; and miscellaneous, one percent. 



Abbas figures that Joe and his tour- 

 nament party spend approximately 

 $978 to participate in each tourna- 

 ment, and this didn't include the entry 

 fee. In addition to the expenditures in 

 the tournament community 

 (breakdown above), Joe and his 

 friends also purchase en route gasoline, 

 fishing gear and food. 



As Joe begins to specialize in a par- 

 ticular type of tournament, several 

 new factors become important. Jim 

 Surf Fisherman is primarily middle 

 class (he has a mean income of less 

 than $30,000), fishing in a team with 

 five other people. He really can't af- 

 ford to take much time off from work, 

 so the tournament's weekend schedul- 

 ing is just right for him and his family. 

 Often, he will schedule a week's vaca- 

 tion if two consecutive weekends 

 promise tournaments within a 

 reasonable distance of each other. Jim 

 may even have his wife and two other 

 couples comprising the team, which 

 will definitely see both men and 

 women in competition. 



A new breed in tournaments, Tom 

 Mackerel Fisherman is also middle in- 

 come (mean income is less than $30,- 

 000) and either self-employed or a 

 professional in a technical industry. 

 This job status allows him to take off 

 periods of time to travel to and enter 

 more tournaments. About 20 percent 

 of the competitors Tom will encounter 

 are business partners and acquain- 

 tances like the two or three friends who 

 fish with him. To accommodate these 

 friends on the water, he owns a small 

 boat, approximately 18 to 26 feet long, 

 which can be trailered. Almost no 

 women compete in these tournaments. 



The wealthiest of the three, Bill 

 Marlin Fisherman, has a mean income 

 of almost $80,000 with a great number 

 of his friends earning over $100,000. 

 He often travels an East Coast circuit 

 of tournaments in his company-owned 

 boat which is definitely too large to 

 trailer and is expensive to maintain. 

 Bill hires a professional crew to man 

 his boat and attend to the needs of his 

 business associates on board. Again, 

 almost no women compete. 



With this information and more 

 specific data from the survey, both 

 sponsors and communities could see 

 the tourism benefits reaped during the 

 tournament season. Toni Zindel, presi- 

 dent of the Cape Hatteras Anglers 

 Club, says their surf fishing tourna- 

 ment was started over 23 years ago to 

 encourage people to come down to the 

 coast for the excellent fall fishing. 



Melanie Ply, executive vice- 

 president of the Outer Banks Chamber 

 of Commerce, is a believer in the tour- 

 naments. "Not only does it lengthen 

 the tourism season on the Outer 



Toni Zindel, president of the Cape Hatteras Anglers Club 



