Few people in professional bass fishing retire. In a sport that feels like a grab-bag of NASCAR, professional wrestling and tall tales, the prizes are too sweet, the spotlight too bright, the itch of competition too strong and the sponsorship deals too abundant for most diehard competitors to willingly call it quits.
“There are plenty of people actively fishing today who were in the game before I started,” says Kevin VanDam, a 56-year-old angler widely considered the sport’s greatest competitor of all time. But unlike them, VanDam is moving away from the grueling schedule of a competitive angler.
Rick Clunn, at 76, is still fishing and cashing checks on the Bassmaster Elite Series, the sport’s lifeblood tour. At 72, Larry Nixon is chasing the dream and doing the same. At Major League Fishing — the sport’s other top-tier circuit — 65-year-old Tommy Biffle is pursuing sixfigure paychecks and hulking, chrome trophies. All three share the water with anglers from a mix of generations: Generation Z, fresh out of college and bristling with a new, electronics-fueled way of fishing; millennials, enjoying their fame as content stars; and Generation X, still peaking with the right combination of experience and athleticism.
In 33 years of chasing bass and big paydays, VanDam has a long track record of success catching America’s most popular gamefish. He’s captured seven Bassmaster Angler of the
