Opening Day: It’s been a big to-do in baseball for forever. In bass fishing, there’s a similar level of excitement for that first launch, run, cast and catch, but this year anglers have more pressing concerns.
With the relatively quick turnaround amid COVID-19 complications, many of the competitors have been concentrating more on getting their ducks in a row for Thursday’s first day of the AFTCO Bassmaster Elite at St. Johns River.
“With this year being a little different, with having a lot less time to get everything ready, there’s more focus just on making sure I’ve got everything I need and all my equipment ready, instead of the anticipation of getting there,” said Hank Cherry, 2020 Bassmaster Classic champ. “This year has been, get the truck wrapped, the boat wrapped, make sure all my equipment is in, make sure the boat is broke in.
“I hate showing up at the first event and having any issues with my equipment. I want to be clean and cut and ready to go when I get there.”
That might not be the case with all 99 Elites. The offseason was shortened two months after the pandemic forced rescheduling to late fall last year. The quicker-than-usual 95-day turnaround, along with supply chain disruptions, created a hurry-up-and-wait deal for many Elites. A good number have posted that they were scrambling to get equipment as well as finalize sponsorship deals for wraps and jerseys.
Contacted a few weeks ago, Minnesota pro Seth Feider was his usual blunt self.
“It’s a stressful endeavor,” he said of preparing with two less months. “Seems like every year it’s a struggle to get everything ready. I don’t have a boat right now. I don’t have all the parts for my boat, even if it was here. Distribution chain ruined all that.”
B.A.S.S. has given a grace period to anglers, some of whom might start the year with last year’s boat, although Feider reported he received his boat and was in Florida ready to roll. There remains anticipation to get to competition, despite the last-minute business calls, waits for deliveries and trips for gear and installation. Feider said he looks forward to all the stresses of preparation switching over to fish catching.
“I’m excited to get back fishing. It’s just life on tour. Catching them every day or die, one of the two. We have nine tournaments — 18 days you’ve got to catch them,” he said before quickly amending. “27 days you’ve got to catch them.”
The idea behind the story was to capture feelings an Elite experiences on the first day of competition. It’s a fresh start as they pass emcee Dave Mercer for the first time in a long time. But Feider wasn’t aligned with Opening Day being that big of a deal.
“I get butterflies every time they call my number and I blast off,” he said. “It doesn’t much matter it being Opening Day or the end of the year, it’s kind of all the same to me.”
Veteran Texas pro Clark Wendlandt said there is something to Day 1 of a season that sets it apart.
“It’s kind of a nervous excitement,” he said. “You got a little anxiety because you want to get off to a good start, and you haven’t fished a tournament in how many ever months. There’s definitely a level of excitement that comes with it.”
Wendlandt said he takes comfort in going to a fishery he’s been on recently. He posted a solid 16th-place finish at St. Johns on his way to the 2020 Bassmaster Angler of the Year title. At 54, he became the oldest by eight years to claim that crown, yet as reigning champ, his approach to the season won’t be any different.
“It doesn’t really feel like a defendable title,” he said. “Basically I’m going to go out trying to have the best year I possibly can. If everything rolls right, maybe it will happen again. I’m thinking about the year just like I always do.”
Rookie KJ Queen, the youngest angler in the field at 24, said he’ll be super amped up launching at Palatka for his first Elite event, even if his knees are shaking a bit.
“It’s definitely nerve-wracking. It’s the Elite Series, something I’ve dreamed about doing ever since I was little,” Queen said. “I finally get to do it and make my dreams come true. It’s nerve-wracking, but the excitement is overwhelming.”
Queen is among the 13 newcomers for the 2021 season, but he’s competed against and become friends with a number of Elites around his Catawba, N.C., home. He said it should ease his stomach having familiar faces in Shane Lineberger, Matt Arey, Shane LeHew and Rob Digh.
“I think it will be like pulling up alongside them at a weekend tournament, laughing, joking,” he said. “That’s kind of helps the nervous tension.
“It’s just another day fishing. You kind of have to look at it that way so you don’t get overwhelmed by all the nerves of it being the Elite Series.”
What would really calm his nerves would be a start like he had in his first B.A.S.S. tournament, last year’s Basspro.com Open on Lake Toho. In the first five minutes, Queen felt like a king, pulling a 6-pounder off a bed then landing a 5-pounder 10 minutes later. When will that tension pop this time around?
“Hopefully, it’s whenever I get to my first spot and put the trolling motor down. I get that ease of calmness,” Queen said. “It always helps whenever you catch that first fish, no doubt. And once you get that fifth one, you can definitely calm down.”
Catching eases a lot of qualms, even queasiness. Rick Clunn, who’s entering his sixth decade of tournament fishing, said plenty about the first day of the season, including there’s a reason why B.A.S.S. spends money to have extra porta potties at launch sites.
However those butterflies manifest, Clunn said opening day offers a fresh slate.
“The first tournament of the year is an opportunity for me to not be guilty of the height of insanity that Einstein talked about — doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,” he said. “This is your opportunity to change that.”
The angling legend has reworked his approach in the past decade, from concentrating on catching limits to landing big fish, which translated into St. Johns victories in 2016 and 2019.
“Between those, I’m not doing good,” he said. “It’s really just a question of balancing my old way with a new way. There’s been more failures, but successes have been pretty phenomenal. My changes have translated into wins.”
That’s everyone’s hope, to take action on their shortcomings and adjust to improve the outcome. Clunn said success can sometimes be an angler’s worst enemy because it’s easier to change after bad results.
“You don’t want to mess with something that’s working, even though you always need to improve and make changes,” said Clunn, who added that process begins with the first practice for him. “I’m rehearsing all the possibilities I see on the day and have an answer for all of them.”
Clunn, who’s competed since the early 70s and will launch at his 466th event at St. Johns, admitted his mind still races on the eve of the opener.
“I do have trouble going to sleep the night before every tournament,” he said. “That’s the final rehearsal that keeps going on in my brain, and it takes me a while to finally get it out of my brain and go to sleep. In practice, I’m fishing so hard that I have time to eat a little bite of food then I hit the bed.
“Consequences are not as bad in practice as they will the first day of tournament. Errors will translate into the outcome of the event.”
When the nerves subside is different for each. Wendlandt said there’s certainly excitement when first idling past the takeoff officials and getting up on plane as he heads to his first spot. So when does he settle in?
“Probably the first cast,” he said. “The last two years, I had a run down the river a good ways. You’re all excited but you’ve got a little time to collect yourself in a 20-mile run, then when you settle in and start fishing, it all comes together.”
Cherry, 47, who had plenty of Opening Days in baseball, said there’s various points of excitement heading out for the tour.
“There’s a lot of anticipation, but I fish all winter long preparing, kind of like spring training, for that first event,” he said. “It doesn’t really hit me until I start packing. Once I start packing, it’s like the first day of school all over again. I know where we’re going, what to expect, and I know how it’s going to be. It’s just that anticipation, is it going to be different?”
There is something special about starting the year anew, and he admits there are butterflies of wondering what it will hold. The feelings begin once he says goodbye to his wife and kids.
“It’s really when I leave my driveway. That’s when it becomes all business,” he said. “I remember why I’m going to do this. We’re supporting our family. It’s our job. It becomes real.”
And when does he relax, have all his experience take over and get in a groove?
“It’s always that first bite. The first bite of the year always seems like the hardest to get,” he said. “And I need that first bite. I don’t want to be three, four hours into a tournament. But I never make a first cast to where I’m actually going to throw a bait. I always pitch one out left or right. I never want to catch one on the first cast.
“I get excited and I have the confidence that I know what I’m doing. In a tournament, it seems like I’m always in first gear, trying to stay within the moment, stay calm, but when I get that first bite I change into a whole other gear.”
The 2021 Elite season is shifting into gear — let’s see who gains traction.