As a writer, I commonly get the advice from well-meaning friends and colleagues that I shouldn’t read the comments.
I don’t mind reading the comments.
While a lot of what the keyboard warriors’ type is garbage, occasionally I glean a good piece of advice from their invective. Sometimes it helps me improve my craft or realize a mistake. I’m not above admitting it when I’m wrong.
The comments this week have been brutal. They haven’t hit me directly, but they’ve gone after the sport, the success of certain youthful anglers, and the role of technology. There’s a valid discussion to be had about that latter point, and it’s being undertaken more civilly through some varied channels, but much of it is just nasty
Be that as it may, if you can’t take any joy in what we saw on Fork this week, I feel bad for you.
Tone down the vitriol and the clutter on your screens and today you saw anglers demonstrating what got us all into fishing in the first place – pure joy, abetted by mastery. There was raw emotion, pure happiness, anglers falling back on the decks of their boats in disbelief at what they’d accomplished. More anglers slack jawed or foaming at the mouth trying to comprehend what Lake Fork produced, as they themselves put the lake on a pedestal.
Again, I get that healthy debate is good. No fan, angler, executive or podcaster should be the Commissioner and ultimate judge of where the sport should go from here. But man, for the second straight year we watched 10 dudes duke it out on a venue where 100 pounds doesn’t allow you to contend. Put aside the misery and gnashing of teeth for a moment and remember what it’s like to dream.
Think of the day when you finally catch a 38-pound limit. Now imagine what it would be like with a six figure check on the line. Your toes should curl. If they don’t, put an asterisk by your heart, because it may not be beating.
Pontificating aside, here’s what I saw, heard and thought as Lake Fork showed again why it’s the unicorn of bass lakes:
Century Club – All ten anglers who competed today earned an Elite Series Century Belt this week at Fork. For rookies Tucker Smith (1st, 127-8), Paul Marks (2nd, 126-11) and Easton Fothergill (8th, 106-8), it was of course their first. It was also the first for sophomore JT Thompkins (5th, 120-4) and veteran Seth Feider (10th, 101-8). It was the second for Trey McKinney (3rd, 122-3) and Wesley Gore (7th, 107-6), both of whom also achieved the mark last year at Fork, and for Jay Przekurat (9th, 106-7), who won one at the St. Lawrence. It’s the third for Kyoya Fujita (4th, 121-13), who previously earned belts at Toledo Bend and the St. Lawrence
New Heights — Some of the past Century Belt awardees topped their previous best Elite Series weights. Fujita fell short of the win, but beat the better of his two previous Century Belt efforts by over 19 pounds and Przekurat beat his St. Lawrence weight by nearly 4 pounds. McKinney and Tyler Williams didn’t beat their weights from last year.
We Got Country AND Western – Of those anglers who earned their second or third Century Belt, three of them have only done it on Fork, and only with largemouths – McKinney, Gore and Williams. Przekurat had previously topped 100 at the St. Lawrence, so this was his first one with largemouths. Kyoya Fujita had previously earned one on Toledo Bend and one on the St. Lawrence, so this was his second largemouth belt, and second in Texas (although his Toledo Bend victory launched from Louisiana, the lake straddles the two states).
Thirties – Marks was the only angler to top 30 pounds each day. Smith failed to meet that mark on Day 1. He started off the tournament in 20th with 25-4. After that, he never tallied less than 33-1 and rose to fourth and then third and then first. Fujita accomplished the feat the first three days but fell short with 21-3 today.
Making Up for Lost Time – McKinney ended his streak of 30-pound days on Lake Fork yesterday, after producing six of them in a row. He tallied “only” 21-5 on Day 3. Today, however, he made up for that lost opportunity with a bag that totaled 38-2, the heaviest of his young career and the heaviest of the tournament. He’d previously topped out last year with 33-11 and two bags of 33-10 apiece.
Could Have Been Two – Fothergill was on pace to hit the century mark at this year’s Bassmaster Classic with 76-15 after three days of competition. Of course, that’s only a three day event, so he never got the chance to see if he could do it.
Fothergill to Mercer – “I hope I can see you every Sunday.”
Boat Flips: Wesley Gore – “It’s about to get dumb, son. First three bites are all big.” He landed two of them, an 8-7 and a 5-1, boat flipping the two beasts.
Boat Flips: Trey McKinney – “I don’t think it gets much more hectic than that. That thing looked like a tarpon coming out of the water.” He boat-flipped the still-green 7-2 into the boat shortly before 7:30 a.m.
Lagniappe – Smith had five cookie cutters in his bag by mid-morning, but these weren’t your usual cookies – 6-3, 6-6, 6-8, 6-14 and 7-2, a situation that made it hard to cull. Then he reached into the bag once more at 10:39 and found another cookie that had a few extra chocolate chips baked in, a 7-14 giant. With a limit of 33 pounds already sacked, he managed to add 1-11. He beat second place finisher Marks by 14 ounces. The lesson, as always: Even when your belly is full with tasty cookies, take one more, especially if it’s a big’un.
Wesley Gore on First World Problems – “I never had a great big one. I just caught a bunch of 7-pounders and squeaked in there.”
Tortoise and the Hare – Feider was the last member of today’s Top 10 to hit the Century Mark. A 5-2 at 11:21 a.m. got him there and then he culled twice more. He’s also not only the oldest member of the group to hit the mark today, but also the longest-serving on the Elite Series roster. Once you have the belt, though, it doesn’t matter how it came about – it’s yours to keep.
Lincoln/Kennedy – At Hartwell, Marks and Smith finished first and second, with a weight difference of 13 ounces. At Fork, Smith and Marks flipped positions. Their weight difference was 14 ounces.
The Holdovers – Three members of last year’s Top 10 at Lake Fork also made it this time around: McKinney, Williams and Gore. McKinney, who won last time and therefore couldn’t do better, came in third. Gore finished seventh last year and seventh again this year. That’s his best finish in Elite competition. He also finished seventh at Wheeler last season. Williams finished fourth last year and sixth this time around.
Doubled Up – McKinney now has a combined 253-2 across the last two Elite events at Fork. No angler in Elite Series history has put together a better two-tournament weight. That’s an average of over 6-5 per fish.
Tyler Williams Upon Passing 100 Pounds – “I gotta get a bigger trophy cabinet now.”
The Points Game – Small points changes can make a huge difference in the AOY race. There wasn’t much room for the top ten to move up or down today. Indeed, three of them maintained their Day Three position and two moved up or down one spot. Smith moved up two and Przekurat went down two. Fujita (first to fourth) dropped the most. McKinney (fifth to second) and Gore (10th to seventh) gained the most.
Learning From the Best – “I just felt like KVD right there,” said McKinney after he landed a 5-14 largemouth shortly before 8 a.m.. He caught it on a 6th Sense 500DD deep diving crankbait, not VanDam’s preferred 6XD, but the real lesson was in how he handled the bass. As it came close to the boat, it was obvious that the fish was barely hooked on one treble. Rather than rush the fish or boat flip it (as he’d done with earlier big fish) and possibly come up empty, he took his time and when opportunity struck he turned the lure so another hook would grab. Anyone can learn what bait to use and even where to use it, but little actions like that are the difference between Century Belts and going home early.
Learning from the Youngest – My wife Hanna is a relative newcomer to the sport of bass fishing, since she wasn’t raised on it. Nevertheless, she keenly observes the sport and has no preconceptions about who to cheer for. She was the one who advised me to watch the YouTube content produced by Patrick Walters and Justin Hamner – which turned out to be a great find. Today she was extremely complimentary of McKinney, who has been the target of some criticism for his use of FFS and occasional rules violations. “He talks a lot,” she said. I didn’t know where she was going with that. “It’s really good. A lot of them never say anything when they’re on camera, or don’t explain what they’re doing, but when I listen to him, I’m always entertained, and I learn a lot.” Apparently, some of my on-the-water lessons have gotten through to her. At about 9 a.m., while watching the broadcast, she became fed up with the pros’ failure to retie their lures after big catches. The best in the world out there, and they’ve got a five-foot-nothing redheaded backseat driver critiquing them.
Nature Factoid – Until today I had no idea there were prairie dogs at Lake Fork.
Tucker Smith – “I feel like I’m in a dream right now.”
Hot New Pet Among Manly Men – Bedazzled poodles like the one that follows Smith’s mom around.
