How does one become a professional walleye fisherman?

Passion, drive, determination and above all, a love for walleye fishing are all essential building blocks for a career as a professional walleye fisherman. If you think being a professional walleye fisherman means getting up everyday, jumping in your boat, hauling in tons of walleye and returning back to the docks where a fat paycheck is waiting for you, this is a reality check. One key piece of advice that can be given is to have some level of college education under your belt. Specifically courses in finance, business and marketing will go a long ways towards your success. You are going to have to work hard selling yourself to potential sponsors that are willing to put up the financial backing for you to get started. There will be expenses for everything from tournament entry fees to boat maintenance and virtually everything in between. Your financial lifestyle will not come by wining professional fishing tournaments. It will come from those sponsors willing to take a chance on you. Wining tournaments will simply open the door for more sponsorship opportunities. Outside of the financial aspect of it, you also need to be an agile fisherman. This basically means that you need to maintain the ability to quickly switch from one fishing technique to another in any given situation. Understand walleye movements, habits, preferences and anything else walleye you can think of. Knowing their environmental behaviors inside and out will enable you to be dead on a walleye hot spot 80% of the time. Another important skill to have is the ability to maintain control of your environment. You can be fishing in 104 degree weather one day and 4 below the next. In either situation, you need to know how to handle your boat, your equipment, your navigational system and anything else that you use in your career. It also doesn’t hurt to have a supportive significant other waiting for you after a long hard day out on the water. Good Luck!