With three events left in the Progressive Bassmaster Elite Series season, I was sitting 80th in the Angler of the Year standings. That’s not where I wanted to be. I’m not going to sit here and pretend it was. But that’s not the story I want to tell right now. The story is how the year ended, because that’s the part that’s got me fired up heading into next season.
Something changed in those last three events. I don’t know if there was one moment I can point to (aside from Dave Mercer slapping me in the face). I just started fishing better. Trusting the first read instead of the fourth one. Making the call and living with it instead of second-guessing it for the next three hours. Letting the day tell me what to do instead of showing up with an answer already picked out.
I ended up just missing the 2027 Bassmaster Classic. That stings, and I’m not going to say it doesn’t. But I’ll take how I got there over a lot of seasons where the number looked better and the fishing felt worse. Here’s the truth about it. It wasn’t a fishing fix. It was a head fix.
Coming off the heart situation from the tick bite, I don’t think I ever really dealt with what happened. I just went back to fishing because that’s what you do. But some part of me was still bracing for something to go wrong all season, and that’s not the headspace you can compete from at this level. You can’t fish free when part of you is still guarding against last year.
Those last three events, I finally let go of that. I stopped fishing like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop and started fishing like myself again. That’s the whole difference. Not a new bait, not a new area, not a new game plan — just getting my head back to where it needed to be.
So now it’s the offseason. For me that means the real work starts.
I go back through the year, event by event, and figure out what actually worked versus what I just got away with. I sit down with my sponsors and start planning gear and rigging for next year instead of scrambling to figure it out between tournaments. I put time on the water with no clock running, which doesn’t sound like much until you realize how rare that actually is during the season.
I’m also just grateful. Not in a greeting card way. My family put up with a lot this year, on the road and off it. My sponsors stuck with me through a stretch where I wasn’t giving them much to show for it. Fans kept showing up in the comments and at the ramp even when the results weren’t there. That doesn’t go unnoticed, and it doesn’t get repaid by me showing up next year and going through the motions.
A bad stretch doesn’t have to define a season. It sure doesn’t have to define the next one. I know exactly what worked in those last three events, and I plan on starting next year fishing like that from day one instead of building up to it.
That is what has me excited. Not just how this year ended, but knowing exactly why it ended that way.
See you on the water.
