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Winter 2023
page 52
Okeechobee in the second tournament of the year. After that, he put on a show, never finishing below 29th, and earning four top-five finishes.
“If I can just get past Florida…” was his mantra in subsequent years. Well, this year he got past his nemesis state with ease, finishing 20th at the St. Johns and 26th at the Harris Chain. He seemed to be firing on all cylinder, with four top-12s (3rd, 12th, 2nd and 7th) in a row. Then the tour went to Oahe, where he was expected to challenge for the trophy, and he finished 66th to leave the door slightly open heading into the final event in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
Fortunately for him, he has a lot of experience catching bass up there. Unfortunately, he struggled to fill out a limit on Day Two and snuck into the cut via a bass
he caught at 2:09 as the clock ticked down. It’s just as easy to lose the title at the last event as it is at the first, and in both cases, he didn’t let a tough couple of days kill a season.
THE COMPLETE PACKAGE
You want to be a bass pro? Well, the old joke was that you were a long-haul truck driver who occasionally stopped to fish.
Today that’s still true, but you’ve gotten a few more jobs piled onto your plate.
Since the first time I interviewed him, circa 2012 or 2013, he’s always been a natural when it comes to explaining his experiences and tactics. The only ones I can think of who are comparable are KVD and Ike, the latter of whom speaks in fully- formed paragraphs as if he wrote out his answers ahead of time.
Moreover, he sees the bigger picture. He’s great with fans, especially kids, and he also wants to be a steward of the sport. When we asked him to join the Board of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame, he did so readily and with humility. When it came time to inform last year’s inductees of their status, he not only volunteered to call the Kerchal family about their son Bryan, but