“If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.” — Buck Owens and Roy Clark, Hee-Haw
Despite plenty of gloom, despair and agony during the 2020 Basspro.com Bassmaster Opens season, Matthew Robertson wasn’t about to give up, even though the thought crossed his mind.
Robertson suffered an onslaught of slings and arrows, but he kept on keeping on, turning around a season of misfortunes into a Classic berth and Elite invitation.
“If you keep on getting hit and hit, it doesn’t matter how far you’re down,” he said, “if you fight back, you can get back on top faster than you ever realize.”
Robertson, 34, announced his presence with authority in B.A.S.S. by qualifying for the 2019 Classic via Bassmaster Team competition. He made a splash in Knoxville, Tenn., at Classic Night with a flashy Siberian mountain goat coat, beaver pelt hat and shades. His signature “On ‘Em” caps were also a hit — only his 47th-place finish was unmemorable.
This year, with a goal of making the Elites, Robertson used money from his pressure washing company in Central City, Ky., to enter all eight Opens. Things began OK, with top-50 finishes in his first two events. The string of tragedies began at Sam Rayburn when all the gear in his truck was stolen.
“They got everything I own, except a small assortment of tackle in my boat,” he said, estimating his loss at $15,000. “They left me the spare tire.”
Offers to help poured in. Local angler Ivan Bach heard of Robertson’s plight on social media and told him to use a $500 gift card he won in a draw from Lufkin retailer Tackle Addict.
“I honestly didn’t really want it, but I went to the tackle store and they insisted I use it,” Robertson said. “I got bare essentials to finish out the tournament and left the rest for him.”
His middle-of-the-pack 87th on Rayburn put Robertson in a hole, which seemed to deepen. On the way to Lake Hartwell, his brakes went out, costing a cool grand. Then while gassing up in Jasper, Tenn., a tractor trailer backed into his boat trailer. He ratchet strapped the axle, took off the tire and hobbled two hours the wrong way to White Bluff, Tenn., where Craig Odom of C & O Marine had a replacement trailer.
On the water, equipment woes plagued Robertson. With an hour to go on Day 1, the shift actuator went out on his boat.
“The boat would go in forward, not reverse, but I thought I could use it still,” he said. “The second morning, it was stuck in reverse.”
Former Bethel University and Classic qualifier John Garrett had brought Robertson and his fish to weigh-in on Day 1, and Aiden Summerville loaned Robertson his boat for Day 2, which allowed him to salvage a 66th.
The hits weren’t done. On his drive home, Robertson’s tail pipe dropped and dragged, eliciting a stop to yank what was left and throw it in the bed of his truck.
Back home, he was discussing the misfortunes with his wife, Kassie, and pointed out it was a dog-eat-dog world and he’d been wearing Milkbone underwear. (Credit Norm from the television show Cheers.)
“I’ll be honest, and I’ve never said this, but I was thinking if I keep on having stuff like this happen, I’m not going to have enough money to finish the year out,” he said. “I took some blows. Blow after blow. It was insane.
“So I told her, and I wasn’t really thinking about taking the rest of the year off, but that maybe I just get back at them next year. She told me I damn well better not. She told me, ‘You ain’t quitting. You’re going.’ So I went.”
About broke and still low on tackle, he continued to decline help as all “kinds of people offered me stuff, but I’m not one to take handouts.” With the dream of winning and qualifying for the Classic still a possibility, he spent $50 at Walmart on line and baits and headed to the next Central Open on Alabama’s Neely Henry.
“It was only about a four-hour drive, so there wasn’t as much distance for bad stuff to happen,” he said.
Robertson opened Neely Henry in 10th with 11 pounds then moved to fourth with 11-8. With the biggest bag of Day 3 at 10-9 despite being one shy of a limit, he finished 1 pound back of winner Cody Bird and earned his biggest Bassmaster check at $19,153. His luck was turning.
A week later on eastern Tennessee’s Cherokee Lake, Robertson started well, tying for second with 14-8 then taking the lead with 14-0. With no fish at noon on Championship Saturday, a late move helped him catch a 12-4 limit for a winning total of 40-12, doubling his previous best with a $37,333 payout.
“I don’t even know how that happened,” he said. “I had a horrible practice, catching one or two fish a day. Sometimes you stumble across stuff you don’t know you stumbled upon. I tapped into a goldmine just off finding a little pebble. Just luck.”
Not only had he secured a Classic berth, but after a 17th at Texas’ Lewisville Lake, he was in the hunt for an Elite invitation. The top four in each division and combined points if fishing both would qualify him to B.A.S.S.’s top circuit. He went into the final Eastern Open sweating it.
“I was nervous going into Lay Lake. I got on what I felt was a winning pattern, throwing a big swimbait, catching big spots, but I knew I needed to fish for a limit,” he said, taking to heart his buddy Wendall Anderson’s advice. “He said, ‘Don’t do nothing stupid. Go catch five fish. Just catch five.’ ”
Robertson hits rewind to a year ago. He and his partner, Joe Johnson, were in a winter event running down a rough, windy lake. Looking for something to brace himself, Johnson grabbed the cupholder insert, which came out and found its way in the water after clanging off the cowling.
“I said, “Really Joe?’ I had it replaced. The very next weekend, he did the exact same thing,” Robertson said.
On Lay Lake, with the hole still gaping, Robertson landed a nice cull bass, which somehow slipped down the cupholder hole. Robertson spent minutes reaching for it to no avail. With panic setting in, he resorted to taking out his rear center compartment.
“I’m out on the water tearing my boat apart,” he said. “I take that tub out and I’m reaching in there feeling around, and I still can’t find it. Finally, it flopped again. I heard it, and my face was down in the hole, shoulder deep. Got ahold of the tail and slid it back and got a better grip and pulled it out.
“It was underneath my back passenger side compartment, wedged between it and the gas tank. It was a pound bigger than what I had in the livewell. That was the fish that got me in the Elite series.”
With his 31st at Lay Lake, Robertson finished 11th in the AOY points in the Opens Eastern Division. He also held that spot in the Central, but his 1,318 combined points put him third in the overall Open standings, just 11 behind Opens champ Bryan New and 10 back of Justin Atkins.
“I got in by 18 points, and the weights were tight,” he said. “But the screws still ain’t in my damn box.”
Robertson said he knows he’ll have to tighten up as he’ll be going against 100 of the top bass pros when the Elites launch the season Feb. 11 on the St. Johns River.
“I know every one is a great fisherman, but I feel like I just got done fishing against one of the toughest groups of fisherman in the world,” he said. “I’m hoping to do what I did in the last part of this year. Winging it is what got me in this year.”
And sticktoitiveness. Robertson said he learned a little bit more about himself after going through his down-and-up season. He sums up the year with a message all should heed.
“No matter how bad you’re getting beat up, you’ve got to keep fighting,” he said. “You may not see it, but sometimes you’ve got to go through the trials and tribulations. It builds character. And you’ll end better than you were, for sure.”