It has already been three months since I made my last cast of the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series season in late August on the Mississippi River. During this offseason, I fished a bass tournament in Mexico, did a little hog hunting and just returned from a three-week fishing adventure in South Africa.
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself, but it’s time to get down to the nuts and bolts of preparing for my 2026 Elite Series campaign. The first and most important thing on my agenda is to get my office in order. By office, I’m referring to my rig.
I’ll soon pick up my 2026 Nitro Z21 XL in Springfield, Mo., where these high-performance boats are manufactured. When I hitch the boat to my truck and head for home, I’ll be fully assured that all the rigging has been done properly.
From the electronics to the trolling motor to the Power-Poles, I don’t have to worry about potential problems. That gives me the confidence to run my office as hard as I sometimes need to.
I’ve had many conversations with Elite pros who have had to tweak their new rigs to get everything working right. That’s not an issue with the boat riggers at Nitro.
One of the things fans don’t realize about being a professional angler is our equipment isn’t just given to us. We either work for it or pay for it. That includes boats, motors, trucks and of course, fishing tackle.
I always sell my previous year’s boat and pick up a new one. That may sound like a quick and easy process, but it often takes weeks and sometimes months to complete. And that’s just a small fraction of the overall preparation that must be done before the Elite season begins.
I am fortunate to have partnered with the very best companies in the fishing industry. Working with sponsors like Bass Pro Shops, Nitro Boats and Mercury motors truly make the process much easier.
The biggest focus right now is getting together with my current sponsors and soliciting new ones. This is a critical part of being a professional angler. Sponsors are essential to keep us out there competing. I simply couldn’t do this without them.
This offseason, my wife, Trait, and I have worked very hard communicating with sponsors and potential sponsors via email, phone calls and doing whatever we need to do to keep our partnerships healthy. Last week I traveled to Odessa, Texas, to work at a Bass Pro Shops grand opening there.
I was alongside fishing legends like Roland Martin, Jimmy Houston, and of course, Johnny Morris himself. When you have an opportunity to work with people like that, it doesn’t seem like work at all. They’re just great people to be around.
Organizing tackle is the most tedious part of offseason preparation for me. I always wait until the last minute — like two weeks before the season starts — to do this.
I’ll go out to my shop, lay all the rods, reels and lures over the floor and tables. Then I’ll start labeling, respooling and reordering things. It’s a time-consuming mess. I wish I had a caddy who could do it for me.
In two and a half months, I’ll hear my boat number called for the first time in 2026 at the Elite tournament on Lake Guntersville. I can’t tell you how excited I am to kick off my 15th season as a Bassmaster Elite Series angler.
