Gregg Meyer gets a fancy bass boat for free every year, has a larger inventory of rods and reels than most tackle shops, owns more lures than any 10 fishermen can lose in a lifetime, and is absolutely compleled to spend at least 80 days on the water each year.

When Meyer isn't jaunting off to far-away places on the Western Professional Walleye Circuit [which he won in 1993 and finished second in 1994 with his partner, Bob Seitz], he often must serve as an unofficial guide to any of his several sponsors and their clients...

A superior angler will catch a few fish when everyone else can't, Meyer explains, and will get a lot more when the bite is on. Nobody catches fish all the time, but the professional always has a boat load of pressure.

How Meyer went from simply a good fisherman to a heralded pro has as much to do with happenstance as a knack for self-promotion.

"[23 years ago] a tackle shop owner asked me to give a talk on fishing. Things sort of took off from there," Meyer said. He hit the tournament trail... and has been casting into increasingly deeper water ever since. Through it all, he never stops learning, trying new things.

"What I've discovered about fishing is that the more I know, the less I know."