At the end of a recent week of dawn-to-dusk practice fishing on the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers, FLW contender Mike Iaconelli arrives at Pittsburgh's Riverfront Park to a group of adoring fans.

They know it's their favorite pro by the look of his vehicle and boat -- sinewy black models plastered with decals of the companies that pick up his tab, plus an airbrushed skyline touting his TV show, "City Limits Fishing." Everything about them screams edgy urban attitude -- a brand-image the New Jersey-born Iaconelli has carefully crafted in a traditionally rural Southern sport.

For tournaments, Iaconelli dons the logo-laden uniform of his profession. But in rare downtime such as this, he wears the signature "Basshole" T-shirt he sells on his Web site, where one can also find "Bassho" baby doll T-shirts and his audio CD "How to Turn Pro in Five Years," a guide to hooking big sponsors as well as lunker bass.

"Very few guys -- very few -- can survive on tournament winnings alone," says the 2003 Bassmaster Classic champ, who will vie this week in the $2 million Forrest Wood Cup. At 37, Iaconelli is one of just a handful of anglers who have earned more than $1 million in tournament winnings, plus hundreds of thousands more in sponsorship deals, including royalties collected on tackle they endorse; name-licensing; free or delayed billing on trucks, boats and other gear; and cash for public appearances. Some spend as much time hawking products as they do fishing.

"Sponsorships are all a professional bass angler has," said sports marketing pioneer Sonny Vaccaro. "It started with NASCAR and now you're beginning to see it on the World Poker Tour. People who compete as individuals don't have the captive audience you have in a ballpark or a stadium where everything is branded, including the Windex Halftime Report."

But while Iaconelli is at the top of his game, thousands of others -- the weekend warriors and those lower on the competitive fishing food chain -- consider it a coup to get their entry fees covered, since some are as high as $5,000 an event.

"Sponsors want winners," said Jeff Taylor of Olmstead, Ky., one of 77 co-anglers who will fish the Cup as an amateur, but would love to turn pro. "You got to win to get 'em. That's just the way it is."

Competitive bass fishing ebbed into the mainstream when FLW owner Irwin Jacobs netted Wal-Mart as his circuit's name and title sponsor in 1996, according to FLW CEO and president Charlie Evans.

"It changed things dramatically when corporate America started recognizing this as a marketable sport," he said. "Corporate America doesn't sponsor fishermen because they're good guys but because they can make a difference in market share ...

"Although they are good guys ... they represent wholesome values and love of country. You can bring your family to a tournament and know you'll never hear cussing."

Most of the time. In a rare instance in the 2006 Bassmaster Classic, Iaconelli had a public meltdown over livewell problems. After he cursed his Ranger boat, Ranger dropped him from representing its product. Should he win Sunday in Pittsburgh, Iaconelli will collect the guaranteed $500,000 first prize from FLW Outdoors, but not the additional $500,000 bonus guaranteed to anglers fishing from Ranger boats that meet contest specifications.

FLW Outdoors bars anglers from hawking alcohol and tobacco, and it works with Proctor & Gamble, Kellogg's, Land O' Lakes and other consumer giants whose goods stock Wal-Mart shelves to recruit anglers they can use to represent their products. Dave Lefebre of Union City has been a Team Keebler angler for years.

"It's a brilliant move on the FLW's part," Vaccaro said. "Having a winning pro on a cereal box will keep FLW fans coming back to Wal-Mart to shop."

It's much tougher for individual anglers -- basically, freelancers -- to woo mainstream sponsors on their own, according to FLW pro Scott Nielsen of Salt Lake City.

"The sport has come a long way, but it has a whole lot farther to go for advertisers to make household names out of anglers," said Nielsen, 56, whose career earnings total about $60,000. "A lot of guys have gotten agents, then gotten rid of them after a year. Agents have a hard time shopping anglers. It's just not there yet. It's not like baseball or football, where an average player can make $7 million a year."

Nielsen prefers dealing with fishing-related sponsors, and only those whose products he likes.

"They're less demanding, leaving you more time to fish," he said. "A lot of companies will offer to pay you just to say you use their stuff, but I'm not interested."

Evans said it has become harder for anglers to fib, especially in high-stakes tournaments, where cameramen are on the water, too.

"These guys are usually willing to talk technique, so it's not just, 'This is the lure we use,' it's 'Here's how we use it,'" Evans said.

That works for BASS Open angler Josh Giron of Elizabeth.

"If the pros are using it, then we're going to try it," he said. "If you believe in the angler, you're going to have confidence in his product. And if you think it's going to work better for you, it probably will."

Ian Miller, 13, of Portage, one of two boys who will represent Pennsylvania in the National Guard Junior World Championship July 31-Aug. 1 in Kittanning, says Iaconelli is his fishing hero, and he buys the Ikey Head lure Iaconelli designed for Tru-Tungsten.

"Is it better?" Miller said. "Yeah, I think it is."