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Winter 2020
page 38
SALVUCCI: I would fish with Jared. We have a good
time and we don’t get to fish together as much as we used to.
WB: What would you call your favorite or biggest
accomplishment, whether it’s a tournament win, a PB an AOY, overcoming a bad day or ???
When I was 18, I had just graduated high school and I moved out I was living with a friend of mine and I spent my rent money to go fish a tournament. Luckily, I won or at least made money on the tournament, so I was able to pay my rent. So, I would say yes, I was definitely hooked on fishing. I bought my first boat when I was 18.
The competition is what drives me. I’m a super competitive guy. No matter what it is – even a game of corn hole. It’s not just the fishing, it’s the competitive part. The competition is what makes me able to kick it into another gear.
WB: What would you say is your favorite and/or
confidence technique?
SALVUCCI: My favorite is topwater. I love throwing
anything topwater – frogs, buzzbaits or anything. But of course, that’s a seasonal thing.
Confidence is any time that I am power fishing. As long as I have a ChatterBait, a square bill, a Rat-L-Trap or some type of power fishing bait, that’s where I feel my confidence
WB: What’s your home lake, fave lake and most
dreaded?
SALVUCCI: I like the first win I had with Wild West
at Lake Mead. I had never been to the lake. I pre-fished it for two days and I beat a lot of good guys. Roy Hawk fished that one. Justin Kerr fished it and other guys, but I won it.
I broke down a lake of that size and won the tournament. I think I won it by something like five- pounds AND I came in a fish short the first day. I broke off a three pounder on braid, so I should’ve won it by eight-pounds.
I was doing this in my head the other day. I fished
11 times on Lake Mead, and I’ve had only two days
where I didn’t weigh in over 10 pounds. I don’t know I
just mesh with that lake.
WB: You’ve already won two Wild West Classic
and the U.S. Open. Is there anything else that is on your bucket list of accomplishments, anything that you strive to do out here in the West?
SALVUCCI: I like to win on different lakes. I got real
close Shasta one year and that one still sticks in my head. I guess just to be more diverse and win on different lakes.
I like to fish for big ones. My personal best is 10 1/2 pounds. If you looked in my garage and saw how many big, big swimbaits I have, you would know that’s all I used to do I think I have a 10 1/2 at Clear Lake and the same 10 1/2 at Santa Margarita. I would like to catch more bigger ones.
WB: What do you do as your day job?
SALVUCCI: Chief Operating Officer for a huge
underground utility company. I have worked for this company for 21 years. I started with this company when there was three employees and we are at 275 employees right now, so I have help build this company from the ground up. That’s something I’m pretty proud of. I started when I was 18.
SALVUCCI: My home lake is Santa Margarita. It’s
like 10 miles from me. Me and Jared have always referred to it like a mini Clear Lake. It has big Florida-strain largemouth in it and grass. My most dreaded fishery would anything with gin clear water. My favorite lake is Clear Lake. I bought a house on the lake. Someday, I will just have to move there.
WB: If you could fish with anybody past or present
who would it be?
WB: What do you want everyone to know about you,
that they don’t know now?
SALVUCCI: When I was 10 - 11 - 12-years-old, I
had a float tube and my mom used to take me and my brother out to the lake to fish. She didn’t fish. She took us hunting and fishing, whenever we wanted. She would take us out sit in her van and read a book and would be out float tubing from daylight to dark. My mom was such a trooper. •