MOBRIDGE, S.D. – Matt Robertson’s 2022 Elite Series season was on life support after three tournaments. He was 75th in Progressive Insurance Angler of the Year points after finishes of 61st at the St. Johns River, 49th at the Harris Chain and 78th at Santee Cooper.
“I went home and had to regroup,” said the 36-year-old Kuttawa, Ky., pro. “I went out there and banged on some Kentucky Lake fish. I don’t know what was going on with me the first part of the year, but something wasn’t right. I was losing fish.”
Robertson has been on a remarkable run since. Lake Oahe marks his fifth top 17 finish in a row and third top 10. He turned it around at Chickamauga Lake with a 4th-place finish, which remains his best this season. Robertson has a chance to top that today at Lake Oahe. He enters Championship Sunday in second place – 2 pounds, 13 ounces behind leader Austin Felix. No matter what happens today, Robertson will be at least 10th in the AOY standings heading into the final tournament of the year next week on the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis.
“Yeah, man, we’ve got our (stuff) together, and now the train is rolling,” he said.
Robertson has been steadily improving this week, going from 20th with 16-1 on Day 1 to 9th with 17-8 on Day 2 to 2nd with 19-0 on Day 3.
“The last three days I’ve kind of changed it up every day,” Robertson said. “Don’t just stick to one thing. I think you’ve got to give them a little different look. One day I caught ‘em on a dropshot, a few on a Damiki rig and a Carolina rig (Saturday). I caught a couple on a dropshot (Saturday) too, but mixing it up through two, three, four different baits and not getting stuck on nothing.”
It will be interesting to see where Robertson chooses to fish Lake Oahe today. After weighing-in Saturday, he had winning on his mind.
“It’s a ballsy move, but I’ve got a place about 72 miles down the lake that I haven’t been to yet, and it’s got some big ones on it,” Robertson said. “The problem is I’m about 99 percent sure I’m gonna run out of gas on the way back.”
With Seth Feider making today’s top 10 final too, Robertson is confident he can get a ride back to check-in at 3 p.m., if he runs out of gas.
“I don’t care if I catch a bass (Sunday), we’re going to go for that win,” Robertson said.
