It took three years of dogged determination for Minnesota bass angler Seth Feider to achieve his goal of qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite Series.
He came close when he finished 10th in the Central Opens in 2012. The following year, Feider fished the Northern Opens and again landed in 10th place.
He finally earned his invitation to the Elite Series in 2014 by claiming sixth place in the Northern Opens.
Feider’s biggest challenge en route to the Elites has been learning to fish bass waters that are unlike Minnesota’s natural lakes where he leaned his bassin’ basics. His strong suits in Minnesota were drop shotting for smallmouth and pitching heavy jigs and Texas rigged plastic baits into grassbeds for largemouth.
In his first year of fishing the Opens, Feider opted for the Central division. He wanted to fish bass waters that were out of his comfort zone so he would be more prepared should he qualify for the Elite Series. It was a boost to his confidence that he made a strong run at the Elites by fishing Lewisville, Table Rock and Fort Gibson.
Of all the tactics Feider adopted that year, fishing a shaky head worm proved the most productive. It played an important role for him the next two years and is likely to do so when he fishes the Elites.
The Opens also gave Feider a strong dose of reality when it comes to fishing bigtime, multi-day bass tournaments.
“It doesn’t ever seem to go how you expect it to after practice,” said Feider, 30. “There are always a lot of variables. It’s a game of adjustments.”
Feider made his most dramatic adjustments last season while fishing the Northern Open at Lake Champlain. After practice, his game plan was to snatch largemouth bass from grassbeds with topwater frogs in the Ticonderoga area. He wound up catching mainly smallmouth bass on a drop shot rig.
Another major challenge for Feider is financing his Elite Series campaign. Rapala, Daiwa and Outcast Tackle support him with sponsorships, but their funding falls far short of what Feider needs.
To help Feider pay for the initial Elite Series entry fees, his family and bass fishing friends did a number of fundraisers on his behalf. The fundraisers included tackle donations that could be raffled off, T-shirt sales and a few kegs of beer that a local bar sold on tap and donated the proceeds to Feider’s Elite trust.
“I’ve got some good friends and family in Minnesota,” Feider said. “They’ve been pretty responsive. Hopefully, I can make them proud and put Minnesota on the map.”
Even with the support that Feider has garnered, he will need to claim checks in some of the first four Elite tournaments of 2015 to make it through the rest of the season.
He said he believes the first three events at the Sabine River, Guntersville and the California Delta set up well for him. Even though he has never fished any of these places, all three are likely to produce a grass or flipping bite. That’s just fine with Feider.