BOT Jacob Wheeler – On The Road
Over the last year Jacob Wheeler has had someone travel with him to document exactly what it is like to be a touring Bass Pro. We recently caught up with Jacob, and asked him what were the advantages and the disadvantages of having someone film every aspect of his life on tour.
Advantages – In my opinion it is an advantage to have someone on the road with you as you are putting all of the pieces together to build a brand. You get a close hand look at the good, the bad and the ugly of the life on tour. That is especially true on the days when you have not done well. On these days many times all you want to do is go back to your room, tie up your rods for tomorrow, grab something to eat, and maybe head to bed. You can't really do that when you are showing what is truly happening. Whether your day goes good or bad is what you have to show them, and what happens when you have good and bad days is a big part of what goes on. I love doing the social media part of fishing, and that does not stop when we are on the road. You cannot just show the good parts and leave out the bad, you have to show it all. Difficult times, bad weather, and just plain old fish not biting are all things that can and will happen. Being on tour is not as glamourous as people make it out to be, but I love what I do and would not change a thing.
Disadvantages– You always have distractions when you are on the road, and to have someone with me all the time recording everything that I was doing at first did not work for me. In my first tournament I had my camera guy with me, the bite was tough and I was struggling to catch fish. I felt like I always had someone watching and I did not feel relaxed. Do not get me wrong, I am not blaming my bad tournament on my camera guy, it was just an adjustment that I had to get used to. I had just come off of a third-place finish in AOY points the year before, I was expecting to get off to a good start that next season and that did not go according to plan. Starting the year off like I did kind of threw me for a loop. I started to wonder if this was the best choice for me and I will say it took awhile for me to adjust. Overall I think it has worked out and I am happy that I did it. It gives everyone a true look at just what it is like to be on the tour.
Follow along as Jacob competes in 2019 on the Major League Fishing Bass Pro Tour by subscribing to his YouTube channel
here.
