to echo what T-bone said, we loved fishing the ISM tournaments, had a ball, but when you spend 2 days pre-fishing(we aint as good as T-bone, we needed 2 days), food, gas, hotel and misc expenses(beer), it adds up. Then if you win the tourny, your still coming out in the hole...its hard to justify. I dont think we have ever fished a tournament "because of the money", heck we'd fish a shad tournament if we could, but knowing your gonna come out a loser either way, takes the wind out of your sails.
Im really excited about the "high-stakes" tournament the ISM is having at the river this year. We are like 100-1 underdogs there, but its the closest thing to what we started out fishing i have seen in awhile.
I know its taboo to says its about the money, but lets be honest, its always about the money. If you wanted to hang out with friends and fish, thats what you'd do, you wouldnt enter a tournament.
If there were absolutely no money involved, how many people would be traveling to compete? Some peoples threshold for spending money is different.
I said awhile back that i dont have all the answers, heck i dont even have half the answers, but i will honestly tell you it was the money end that got me and Mike into tournament fishing years ago. Being competitive made up the difference...
(side note, bass fishing dont really pay much better than crappie, some tournaments do, some dont)