Petal's own Cliff Pace is considered a baby in his field - professional bass fishing.

Pace just turned 27 on May 22 and has been on the Bassmaster Tour for two years.

During a recent break in a hectic schedule, he took some time to talk about fishing in a question-and-answer format.

Q. When did you realize fishing was something you could do as a profession?

A. I don't know that I've still realized it. It's just something I've always wanted to do, something I pursued wholeheartedly. I've been fortunate enough to be successful with it. There's very, very few people in the world to get to do it. It's pretty slim odds. I feel pretty blessed.

Q. When did you fall in love with fishing?

A. I can't remember a time in my life when I didn't enjoy it. I guess since birth.

Q. When did you start competing.

A. I started when I was about 14, around here fishing local level tournaments. Tried to fish as many as I could. In 2003, I decided to fish some of the Bassmaster Opens, which below the professional level. It'd be like comparing the NIKE Tour to the PGA Tour in golf. I never looked back since I started.

Q. What was the time commitment?

A. I qualified for the Bassmaster Tour in my second year. It took me two years.

Q. What was it like to finally make it?

A. It was kind of like a big relief. Then it's kind of a lot of nervousness. You really don't know what to expect because you're stepping into the unknown. You're leaving your safety net per se. In any sport, once you get comfortable at one level and you go to the next, there's always going to be that uncertainty whether you're going to be able to perform on that level. Am I going to be able to do this?

Q. What else goes into being on the tour besides the actual fishing?

A. The actual fishing part is probably the least time consuming part of it. I feel like I fish less now than I did when I was not fishing professionally. You're constantly preparing for the next event, working with sponsors. The demand for your time becomes a lot more than it ever was.

I've never had people wanting me to work seminars on the weekend and doing outdoor shows over the phone. That takes away from the time you're used to having to prepare for what's coming up. The more successful you are with it, the more demanding it comes.

Q. What do you do to prepare for an event.

A. It pretty much starts at the beginning of the year when we get our schedule. We have no control over that schedule. The first thing I do is find whatever company makes the best map for that lake. I order a map for every lake I'm going to fish and research all the bodies of water. You can get a lot of information off the internet. Then it comes down to your equipment preparation, which is pretty much never ending. I actually prepare my boat for each event because all of my tackle would not fit on my boat. I'd have to have five boats. So I take things out that I know aren't going to come into play. You exchange (that equipment) for the stuff you need for that particular body of water that you're going to. That's a couple-day process. You're always doing maintenance on your tackle, boat, motor, electronics, truck.

Q. What are your goals?

A. My ultimate goal for this year would be to make the Bassmaster Classic again. That was something I was able to do in 2005 and last year I missed it by two places. And that was very disheartening. This year I'm working hard on making that. It's a wonderful, wonderful thing to be part of. As far as the future goes, really to keep doing what I've been doing. I've always tried to pursue the highest playing field possible.

For the last year I have reached the highest playing field. Just get better and stay consistent. One goal I set for myself when I first started was to win $1 million with BASS. I'm still clipping away at that. It'll be a long time before I get there, but I think it's something I can accomplish if I just stick around long enough.

Q. What are your career earnings now?

A. Somewhere just over $200,000. $210,000-220,000, something like that.

Q. In your opinion, what's the biggest factor between having a good day and a bad day?

A. A lot of it boils down to your practice period. The practice period in each event is three days. After three days of practice, if you haven't figured out what's going on, you're in trouble - typically. Sometimes you can get lucky, but the competition days are eight hours long. It's important to have a pretty solid game plan. When you have bad days, typically, it's because the game plan didn't work and you couldn't figure out what changed. Or you have a game plan that was (flawed) to start with.

The good days are usually the easiest because you've already put together what you need for that competition. You go out and execute and turn it into a good bag of fish, weigh them in and go change your line and prepare for the next day. The bad days are the hardest because its a grind all day long. If you lose your mental focus on what you're doing, you might as well quit.

Q. What was your family's reaction when you made the decision to fish professionally?

A. They were very, very supportive. My wife has supported me with it ever since we were married. It takes a lot of days on the road to do what I do. My entire family has all supported me, they always thought it was something I could do.

Q. What is the best moment of your career?

A. Either one of the two tournaments I've won, or making the Bassmaster Classic.

Q. Can you imagine doing anything else?

A. For a living? I hope not. I work really hard to be able to do what I do. I still work when I'm home. I work a full-time job every day that I'm home. It's not always just fishing.

Q. Where do you see the future of the sport is going?

A. It's going to get bigger. It's growing every year. There are more and more corporate companies starting to realize the marketing opportunities that this sport has to offer. That, in turn, has put more money in it. ESPN bought BASS three years ago, gave it a lot of publicity and actually showed to the world it's not a bunch of rednecks out there going fishing every Saturday morning. I don't see any reason why the sport should not be there a long, long time.

Q. Do you feel you're getting involved at the right time?

A. I really don't know if there is a right or wrong time to get into it. I didn't get into it because I thought it was the right time. I got into it because it was something I've always wanted to do. I feel it is a good time and the sport will get better, and better and better. But I'd have love to be involved in it 10 years ago if I was old enough.

I didn't look at the sport of bass fishing as this is something that's about to blow up. When I was 5 years-old, everybody wanted to be a professional baseball player and I wanted to be a professional fisherman. I've worked my entire life to reach that goal.

Q. You're mass producing your own bait?

A. One big part of my time this year has been focused on designing a series of products for my sponsor V&M. They actually allow me to sit down and make a line of products that a professional fisher would want. I specifically design a set of lures that include three different types of jigs and a shaky head. I've always had to make what I wanted because I was never satisfied with the things I could buy. A jig, I might not like the head design or the hook that's in that particular bait.

For the last five or six years, I've been putting together products that would serve me exactly like I want them to. They have started making these products just like I was. It's available at www.bayououtdoors.com. I know that Mak's Quick Stop in Eastabuchie, he actually stocks it and you can buy it off the shelves.

Q. Do you see yourself designing more than just bait?

A. Who knows? Nobody knows exactly what the future holds. I hope to design more for them. We did these particular ones as a starting point, to see how it goes. It's going great. I'm hoping to add to that in the next few years. It's just a real extreme process to take something out of my hand and put it into production on a national level.

I'm building 50 and trying to find somebody that can build 1 million to the same quality. That's what's important, the quality.

Originally published Friday, June 1, 2007