bass fishing tips

ESPN (the magazine), formerly an abbreviation of Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, is published bi-weekly and owned by an American cable television network dedicated to broadcasting mostly sports-related programming twenty-four hours a day. The company was founded by Scott Rasmussen and his father Bill Rasmussen, along with Donny Stanley and his son Cardell and was first launched on September 7, 1979 with the show SportsCenter (which aired its 25,000th episode on August 25, 2002).

ESPN was originally owned by a prestigious joint venture between the Getty Oil Company (which was purchased by Texaco later on) and Nabisco. As of 1984, the entire family of ESPN networks and franchises are owned by ABC and the Hearst Corporation. ESPN was started as an alternative to standard television news broadcasts and the information that is usually found in the Sports sections of newspapers. It was begun as a fairly small-fry operation at first and they had to broadcast unorthodox sporting events such as the Worlds Strongest Man Competition, the short-lived United States Football League (USFL) before ESPN landed a contract to show National Football league games on Sunday evenings in 1987.

ESPN the Magazine, like the industry leader in sports television that created it, is big, bold and brash like most of the athletes that it portrays and it uses its oversize format to show off very striking full page images and splashy sidebars. Contributors to the magazines include familiar on-air talent such as Dan Patrick, Chris Berman, Stuart Scott, Rich Eisen, Linda Cohn, Peter Gammons, John Clayton and many others (including the athletes themselves).

In comparison to other sports magazines, ESPN gives you broader features such as playoff previews, personality profiles, photo spreads with a major emphasis on basketball, football, baseball, hockey, soccer and some newer extreme sports. ESPN mainly targets young, active men whose lifestyles include watching sports, attending games and participating in different types of athletics. The editorial focus of ESPN Magazine plays off the news and includes what happens in sports and which match-ups and young players to look out for. Also, ESPN emphasizes both the humor and fun of both mainstream and off-beat sports.

Have you ever had a person try to be an authority on a subject they knew nothing about? After talking to that person for a while you realize that he really doesn't know what's he talking about, let alone be able to teach it to anyone. There are people like that in every subject including bass fishing. So, you might want to ask yourself what do I want to look for when I subscribe to a bass fishing magazine or buy a bass fishing book.

Over the years, I have bought thousands of books and magazines on bass fishing. Many of them were outstanding but a few, once you got reading them made you wonder if the author had even went bass fishing in his life. Yes, they gave you bass fishing tips and told you how to use the newest bass fishing lure but overall it looked like he just read about the technique somewhere then copied it to his book or magazine. The technique he wrote about didn't go into detail about how he used it personally or if he had any success with it in his own experience.

So, the very first thing I look for is experience, does the author or publisher of the magazine or bass fishing book have experience? I am not talking about a year of bass fishing or writing bass fishing reports that the local bait store has given them the information to write. Does the author actually use what he is recommending? If he is telling you how to win bass fishing tournaments, has he personally ever fished in them? I am talking about honest to goodness "I have caught bass for 10 years experience" and I can help you catch more bass by teaching you this method.

The second thing I look for is easy reading. I don't want some big worded, long drawn out article about a certain aspect of bass fishing. I want something I can read, get the point of what the author is saying about the bass fishing technique and move on to the next article or chapter. Forget all the "fluff" the author has added to make the bass fishing article or story longer, just give it to me straight so I can move on to the next chapter and learn more bass fishing techniques.

I am a visual person, so I want pictures! I want to see what you're talking about. I want to see the results of that big fish you landed using the technique you're telling me to use. I want to see a diagram of the knot you used and how to tie it if you're going to tell me to tie my line a certain way. If I am reading a book you wrote, I want to see pictures of that 10 pound bass you caught. So, the third thing I look for is pictures to prove to me you actually did what you said with this great bass fishing tip and so I can learn how to tie that knot with a diagram.

The fourth thing I want is access to your bass fishing homepage. I want somewhere I can go and follow up on other techniques to use. I also want a place I can check you out and read your other bass fishing articles or chapters of your books to really see if you know what you're talking about when you tell me the way I should be bass fishing, and a place I can check your bio out to see if it matches the experience your telling me you have.

The fifth thing I want is simplicity. I don't want to have to go out and buy a new bass boat just to try out your fantastic bass fishing tip or your new fangled bass fishing method. I don't want to buy anything except maybe a new lure, rod, or a reel to catch fish with your technique. I want to be able to use this wonderful bass fishing tip even if I fish from shore. (Some exceptions to this rule, like deep water fishing, etc.) My point is I don't want to have to buy some new expensive gadget to catch bass. Just give me the basics that almost anyone can use regardless, of where they fish for bass.