It’s hard to comprehend that I won the Gamakatsu Bassmaster Elite at Arkansas River. I’m still waiting for someone to smack me and wake me up. Every time I walk in the house and see that trophy, it is hard to believe it is actually mine.
This is year five of being a Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series angler, which is hard to believe. I feel like I just started. But winning this trophy is something I have dreamed about since I was 5 years old. All I’ve ever wanted to do is fish on the Elite Series. There was never another option other than being a professional bass fisherman for me.
I’m a river rat at heart. It is how I grew up fishing, so I never felt uncomfortable on the Arkansas River. It felt like home in some ways. But I’m confident in my ability to give myself a chance anywhere. Catching them on the Megabass Magdraft is my favorite way in the world to catch a bass, and that was my main deal in this tournament. When you are comfortable, it seems like you fish better and things go your way.
The key to my success was really finding an area I had all to myself. Before the event started, I thought it was an obvious area, and other guys would find it. That was the biggest key, along with the fact that I felt like I had bass coming to me. I was able to milk the area for four days and had enough fish to get me through.
My weight went up every single day, and that is exactly what you want to happen. When that happens, you put yourself in a really good spot.
I fished through the area on Day 1 and came back, and when I came back, I noticed four or five new pairs had moved up to start spawning. That clued me in that they were still coming to me.
The moment that keeps running through my head is the 6-pounder I caught on the final day. It had been a slower morning, but I always felt like it was going to happen. I trusted my gut, and I caught it with 15 minutes left in my day, 3 feet from my trolling motor. Things like that don’t happen very often. I was fishing down the middle of this pond I had found and saw a couple of logs out there. I poled down and looked at those logs with my Garmin Perspective Mode. My first pitch, one swam off with it, and I missed it. I pitched out there again and hopped it back to the trolling motor.
She bit it when I had about 3 feet of line out and swam off to the left. I thought it might be a gar, but it came right up and jumped. I don’t think I’ve ever felt those kinds of emotions after a fish catch. They all kind of ran through me in a span of two seconds. I felt like I had won the tournament at that moment.
The goal now is to get another one. We are starting to get to the point where you pay attention to Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year. I want to channel the momentum from this win, carry it through the year and give myself a chance at AOY. I’ve been close before and I let it slip away, so I want another shot at that.
