To say that I was nervous about conducting this interview with the man who considers himself the single most important figure in professional bass fishing journalism today, would be a tremendous understatement.  I have known about Nighswonger's reputation for chewing up and spitting out small, unimportant nobodies and I was concerned that our conversation might go that way.  However, you, my devoted Brush Pile Readers asked for this interview, and I was determined to get it for you.  So, without any delay, my interview with Keith Nighswonger, ProBassAnglers.com UNIVERSAL VISIONARY.

ProBassAnglers: Why did you choose "Universal Visionary" as your company title?

Nighswonger-I wanted a company title that was befitting a person of my position.  You see, I am more than a President, and certainly way more than a CEO.  I am a "see er," I see things, ergo, the title of Universal Visionary.

ProBassAnglers: Well that does make perfect sense.  Next question:  This tour season, ProBassAnglers.com has it's own Angler Of the Year race that it has created.  Please comment on your AOY and explain it's place within the sport.

Nighswonger-Our Angler Of the Award is aimed at seeing which angler out there today, really had the best season, in 2005.  There really is no other award like it and if anybody else tries to create one like it, well, they will fail miserably and I will personally tap dance on their graves.  The PBA-AOY takes a look at the 42 anglers who have fished both tours this season, BASS and FLW.  We use a state of the art mathematical formula created for us by some of the most brilliant minds at the Ms. Daisy's Pre School in Pacoima, California.  The anglers are evaluated based on the place they finish in a tour event, the weight they catch and the number of keepers they weigh in.  It really is the most perfect way to determine the angler who is having the greatest tournament season.  It also is an awesome way for us to determine who is not having a good season so that we me point out the angler's failures in our fan-favorite, "he's in the worst slump of his life" articles.

ProBassAnglers: Does it bother you that other media outlets have created their own criteria for determining who the best anglers are?

Nighswonger-No it doesn't, they have to fill their miserable pages with something don't they?  Besides, real fans of professional fishing can see through the garbage.  We have hired great minds to put together our point standings.  Point standings by the way, based on real fishing accomplishments, actually accomplished within the present decade.  No, our standings are the best, someone can try to accomplish a better accomplishment, but all that would accomplish is just getting the word "accomplish" accomplished more times than accomplish needs to be accomplished, and I ask you, is that any accomplishment?  We are interested in seeing who has had the best season this year.  Next year, we will want to see who had the best year that year.

ProBassAnglers: One of your most popular pages is Bassstats.  Why is that?

Nighswonger-I like to read the kinds of things that I like to read.  So I personally assigned our editorial staff to get busy gathering up as many statistics on bass fishing as they could gather.  Let me tell you, that our editorial staff, has worked long and hard on this one.  First, I wanted a page title that had some "sizzle."  Since there are not a lot of words that have multiple "Z's" in them, we actually went back to Ms. Daisy's Pre School in Pacoima, California to inlist the help of more great minds.  The word they came up with, is the most amazing word that I think I have ever read.  Imagine a word with four S's.  Now, imagine, three of those S's in a row!  BASSSTATS, is the world's only word with three consecutive S's.  Now that is "sizzle."

ProBassAnglers: The Tournament Organizations seem to involved in a real cut throat battle for supremacy in today's "Bass Wars,"  where do you, as "Visionary" see bass fishing headed over the next ten years?

Nighswonger-NO MORE QUESTIONS-MY BURGER WITH THE SESAME SEEDS PICKED OFF HAS ARRIVED.

ProBassAnglers: Keith Nighswonger, Universal Visionary of ProBassAnglers.com, thank you for your time today.

ProBassAnglers can bet, I will try to get me back for more interviews in the future.  Next time, I feel the need to create some news, and draw some attention to myself, I will make sure to schedule another interview with me.