Ehrler’s year in review

After his rookie season on the Bassmaster Elite Series, 2015 Rookie of the Year Brent Ehrler talks about the highs and lows of his year.

After a decade of success on the FLW Tour, including a $500,000 Forrest Wood Cup win in 2006 and more than $2.2 million in career FLW earnings, pro angler Brent Ehrler from Redlands, Calif., decided to go “all in” and try to qualify for the 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series.

That’s right – you can’t hand over your credit card to pay entry fees and then show up to compete in the Elite Series. You first must qualify. So Ehrler, who at 37 was certainly no kid, hooked up his Ranger and hit the road for three 2014 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Opens. When the slime had settled in 2014, Ehrler had the following three Northern Opens finishes: fifth; 52nd; and 21st.

“B.A.S.S. takes the Top 5 anglers from each division to qualify for the Elites,” Ehrler recalled, “and I finished the 2014 Northern Opens season in seventh. But two of the guys in the Top 5 were already Elite Series anglers, and when an Elite guy finishes in the Top 5 of the Opens, they skip past him and go to the next guy in line, so that’s how I was invited to fish the Elites in 2015.”

Tournament turning points

After qualifying for the Elite Series by the skin of his teeth, Ehrler began the grueling nine-event 2015 schedule at the Sabine River in Texas, March 19-22. Hoping to get off to a fast start and silence any doubters about his decision to fish with Bassmaster, Ehrler’s first tournament did not go well – he finished 87th out of 113 anglers.

“I had three fish for 5 pounds and change,” Ehrler laughed. “That place is a really tough fishery, and pre-fishing was terrible. There’s a lot of water to fish, and about 90 percent of it is dead. I ran different directions during each of the three days of practice. One day I was 80 miles from the launch going one way, the next day I was 80 miles a different way, and then the last day of practice I was 50 miles in another direction. It was one of those things where I just spread myself way too thin.”

When asked whether the poor finish made him question whether he belonged on the Bassmaster Elite Series, Ehrler was quick to respond: “I knew that I just had a bad tournament. I didn’t feel like I was over my head. It was decision making – I just didn’t fish Sabine right. I was a little disappointed in my first showing on the Elites. It was exactly what I didn’t want to do. There was a lot of hype because I’d fished the FLW for so long, and I show up and finish 80th-whatever, and it just wasn’t a good way to start. But there were eight tournaments left.”

With Texas in his rearview mirror, Ehrler headed to Lake Guntersville, Ala., for the second Elite event, April 9-12. Whether it was his familiarity with the lake or simply confidence and better decision making, Ehrler cracked his first Elite Top 10, finishing ninth. “One thing I remember most about that event was a scene like something you’d see on Animal Planet. These 4- and 5-pound bass were on the surface crashing bait. I was casting to them when a blue heron flew by and my line went over its shoulder, and I snagged the heron. These giant gizzard shad – 8 to 10 inchers – were jumping out of the water, and big bass were crashing through ‘em. It lasted about 30 minutes, and I never had a bite. The next day I returned to the same area and lost two big bass on topwaters. It was crazy.”

As a result of his good finish on Guntersville, Ehrler earned $12,000 and accumulated some much needed Angler of the Year (AOY) points, which are tallied all season to determine not only the AOY title, but also Rookie of the Year. “I didn’t really focus on Rookie of the Year,” Ehrler confessed. “My ultimate goal for 2015 was being one of the 55 anglers who qualify for the 2016 Bassmaster Classic. Guntersville got me back on the road to the Classic.”

Stops three and four of the 2015 Elite schedule were closer to home for Ehrler. First up was the Sacramento River, April 30-May 3, in his home state of California, followed quickly by a trip to Arizona’s Lake Havasu on May 7-10. “I was excited to go to some lakes that I had some history on. Just being out West, I felt really good about those two tournaments.”

Ehrler finished 28th at Sacramento. “I’ll never forget the long runs at that event. It’s really rare to launch in Sacramento when fishing the California Delta. For guys that did well in the tournament, I don’t think one bass was caught within 30 miles — maybe 40 — of where we launched. So we had a long run. I was burning 50-plus gallons of gas every day. It was a full 1 1/2 hours of driving just to get to the area where I wanted to start fishing. And then on the way back to the weigh-in, I had to stop and get gas. Think about it: During an eight-hour fishing day, we were driving the boat for three to four hours.”

Next up was Lake Havasu, where Ehrler had done well in the past. “The lake has changed a ton, but I felt really comfortable going there. I remember the first day of practice was maybe one of the best days I’ve ever had on Havasu. The bass were biting so good you could do anything you wanted to do and catch one. I could have had well over 20 pounds on the first day of practice. But the lake is famous for feeling angling pressure, and this time was no different. It was a complete night-and-day difference from the first day of practice to the second. I went from getting 50 bites a day to only 10, and instead of 20-plus pounds, you’re talking only 12. It was unbelievable.

“This was one place where my Humminbird 360 Imaging really came into play,” Ehrler explained. “There’s a lot of manmade structure on Havasu, and I was sight fishing much of the time. But when it was cloudy, or during low light in the morning, I relied on my 360 to show me where to cast. If you make a cast right into the middle of a manmade structure, there are so many zebra mussels that your line will break just fishing through them. And if it doesn’t break and you hook a bass, then it will wrap you around the structure and break you off. So what the 360 allowed me to do was identify the sides of the structure and then cast safely.” Ehrler’s game plan worked well and he finished 13th.

Because of a long break before the next event, Ehrler headed to the Lone Star State to compete in the Toyota Texas Bass Classic on Lake Fork, May 23-25. Fishing against 34 of the other best anglers from the Bassmaster Elite Series and FLW Tour, Ehrler won the three-day event with 15 fish for 89 pounds 12 ounces and took home $150,000 in cash and prizes.

The strong showings on the Elite Series continued for Ehrler on Kentucky Lake in Tennessee on June 3-7. He finished 16th. After another long break, he packed up his gear and headed for the St. Lawrence River event in New York July 30-August 2, where he took 32nd. While the St. Lawrence has produced big bags in the past, anglers generally found tough fishing. “If we were there three weeks earlier, we would have been on a full-blown spawn bite. Or if we were a few weeks later, the fish would have been set up deep. But as it was, the fish were in that odd transition period from shallow to deep, and it was difficult to get bites.”

Tournament seven was Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, Aug. 13-16, and once again Ehrler cracked the Top 15, this time with another 13th. “Because I’d never fished a tournament there, I visited it prior to cut off and fishing wasn’t that good, and during the tournament it was even worse. We had a flood tide, and you couldn’t even see where the boat ramp went down into the water. In 2 1/2 days of tournament practice, I caught only three or four bass. Thankfully, though, I caught one right off the bat on a vibrating jig during the tournament itself. Only five minutes in and I had one in the livewell, which allowed me to relax a little bit. I’d been so freaked out about weighing a single bass. I ended up running and gunning and caught all but one bass on spots I hadn’t fished yet. I caught my other fish flippin’ and pitchin’ around docks, grass, rocks and shoreline targets with a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog and a Senko.”

With two tournaments left, Ehrler was feeling pretty good about his chances of qualifying for the 2016 Bassmaster Classic. “At that point I knew I just had to catch a few fish in each tournament to make the Classic, but I really wanted to crack the Top 5 in Angler of the Year points. I was really excited about the season because I thought I would finish strong. I like Michigan’s Lake St. Clair, and even though I’d never fished Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin, from what I knew about the fishery, it played into my strengths.”

But like the famous saying, “Man plans, God laughs,” things didn’t go as Ehrler hoped, and he finished 65th at St. Clair on Aug. 27-30. “Using a drop-shot in 18 feet, I caught my first tournament bass and had to let it go because it was hooked outside the mouth. Then I lost the next six fish that bit. I hunkered down on that one spot because it had been so good during practice, and I ended up with only four bass for 11-7. The next morning I was still convinced the spot had to produce, but by 11:30 a.m. I had only two fish in the livewell. And they were nothing special. So I finally left and hit a backup spot, and they were biting like crazy. In a few hours I had five for 18-7. Obviously, I should have moved a lot sooner.”

Based on the Angler of the Year points, only the top 50 anglers compete in the Elite’s final event of the season, the Toyota Angler of the Year Championship on Sturgeon Bay Sept. 17-20. Even if Ehrler didn’t weigh in a single bass in this season-ending event, he’d finish the year 25th in AOY points, so the pressure of making the 2016 Bassmaster Classic was gone.

“It should have been a more relaxing event because I’d qualified for the Classic, but it wasn’t. Sturgeon Bay is famous for spectacular smallmouth fishing, but it was really difficult, and I stressed out about it. Like the St. Lawrence, I was shocked that it was that tough. I was worried about catching one. And then after I’d caught that one, I was worried about catching five. And on top of that, my fish were not that big. My keepers came from 10-15 feet. I found lots of fish in 25-30 feet and you could catch them on every drop with a drop-shot, but not one of them was a keeper.” Ehrler finished the tournament in 34th place, and ended the season seventh in AOY points. Because of his strong first season on Elite Series, he was also named Rookie of the Year.

On to the Classic

The 2015 Elite season wasn’t a cake walk. “There weren’t many tournaments that I felt it would be really easy to go out and catch bass. There were quite a few grinders, where it was just flat-out difficult to catch one. And it’s frustrating that not once on the final day of an event did I take off from the launch thinking I had a realistic chance of winning the thing.”

Having qualified for the 2016 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro, March 4-6, on Oklahoma’s famed Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees, Ehrler is excited for the opportunity. “When I started fishing, the Classic has always been on my radar. It’s the coolest tournament – ever. Even back during my time with FLW, I told myself that my career would never be complete if I never fished a Bassmaster Classic. And I’m really excited about Grand Lake. I feel like I can compete there. The fish could be caught deep or shallow. It’s a reservoir that fishes like a lake, and it plays into my strong suits. I’ve been there one time, and it’s like some of my favorite Western reservoirs. I think a jerkbait will play a big role, but we’ll see. Whether it’s jig fishing, crankbaits or whatever, I should have a good shot.

“Looking back, this season went by really fast. It’s been a long road, but I accomplished my primary goal – making the 2016 Classic. I think this year was a good first step in establishing myself in the Elite Series.”

Ehler’s on-the-water office

Boat: Ranger Z520 with 250-hp Mercury OptiMax Pro XS

Trolling motor: Minn Kota Fortrex 112

Shallow water anchor: 10-foot Minn Kota Talon

Electronics: Humminbird Onix with LakeMaster