After qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic three years in a row, I never took it for granted, but I started to expect that I’d qualify most years. That’s why my 2022 Bassmaster Elite Series season was so stressful – throughout the entirety of the schedule I was never inside the cut until the last day of the season. Of course, that’s the most important time to be there, but it rattled my nerves along the way.
My occasional struggles on tour this year weren’t necessarily the result of bad strategic decisions, but more or less tough luck. I lost more fish than ever before. It even happened at the Classic, where I was in fifth place after the first day, but I lost two big ones at the boat that really would have changed my fortunes. Everybody loses fish, but that’s an especially bad time to do it.
The one bad decision I’d like to have back occurred at Santee Cooper, where I ended up 74th. On Day 2 I found and hooked a female of about 5 pounds on a bed. There was also a male on the bed and another female about the same size ready to move up. Unfortunately, I thought I had her hooked better than I did, and when I went to boat flip her she came off.
I’ve heard stories about guys catching 25 or 30 pounds off of a single bed there. I believe that if I’d put her in the livewell the other big girl would’ve moved in, and I would have caught her too. Instead, I settled for the male and my worst finish of the year. I bounced back at the next tournament with a second-place finish at Chickamauga, but by the time we rolled into the season-ending event at La Crosse I still had ground to make up.
During the La Crosse tournament, I tried not to look at the points. So much can change each day, depending on your performance and those of your competitors, so a lot is outside of your control. All you can do is make good decisions and try to execute flawlessly.
I started off well in Wisconsin, sacking 15-11 on Day 1, which had me in seventh place. I was less than 2 pounds out of the lead, but 2 pounds less would’ve had me in 24th place. I’d found several groups of fish, but when I went out on Day 2 they had either moved or they just wouldn’t bite. I could see my season slipping away, and I started to lose confidence.
Fortunately I kept my cool, cycled through some areas that had produced in practice and managed to catch 11-01. All of that weight came between 10:30 and 11 o’clock. I slipped 11 places into 18th, but I was still less than 2 pounds out of the Top 10. That had me 1 pound inside the Classic cut. It sounds like it would be easy to hold onto that position, but with weights so tight the slightest misstep could mark the end of my Classic streak.
On the third day on the Mississippi I had my best day of the tournament – 16 pounds even – and while that left me 3 ounces short of the Top 10 cut, it put me inside the Classic. I ended the year in 42nd, and with double-qualifiers that earned me a berth to Knoxville for the Classic.
Thankfully, I fished clean when I had to do so, and the result was what I wanted. In a season of highs and lows I was thankful to end on one of the former.
The 2019 Classic was the last one that I did not compete in, but I’ve been there before, for last year’s Elite Series tournament where I made the Top 10. It’ll be a month later this time around, and the water should be about 10 degrees warmer.
I’ve spent a ton of time on the Tennessee River system at that time of year. In my head I know how I want to fish it. Since it’s not far from home, I’ll put some time in this offseason. I’m certainly not going to take an opportunity that I nearly missed for granted.
