Bassmaster.com has asked our team of writers and staff to reflect on their favorite moment of 2016. Jim Sexton is the Vice President of Digital for Bassmaster.com and a pretty great boss.
My favorite moment of 2016 wasn’t a big fish catch or an amazing come-from-behind victory. No it happened during a quiet moment backstage at the Toyota Angler of the Year Championship with Gerald Swindle, who had just won AOY.
The Mille Lacs, Minn., crowds were gone and most of the media had disappeared when Swindle recounted a slightly painful conversation from the 2016 GEICO Bassmaster Classic that motivated him throughout the year.
It’s easy to forget that Swindle didn’t make the 2016 Classic in Tulsa. “I didn’t fish my best last year,” he said. But he still attended the Classic, and dutifully worked at his sponsors’ booths at the Outdoors Expo.
“One morning I was walking into the building, wearing my jersey, and an older guy said, ‘Are you fishing the Classic?’ No sir I replied, I didn’t make it this year.”
“Well, don’t worry son,” the man said. “Keep working, and you’ll get in there with the big boys.”
“That really hung with me,” Swindle said, his eyes still moist from the AOY victory celebration. “It reminded me I had work to do.”
Then Swindle seemed to notice a couple of Elite Series competitors hanging around, waiting for the official standings to come out. Both were anxious to see if they had made the cut for the 2017 Classic. A writer asked Swindle if he had advice for guys who didn’t make the Classic.
Swindle seemed to enjoy the question, having recently lived that experience and come out the other side with an AOY title. “On the last day of the Classic, after you are done working in your sponsor booth, go back and cut off a little piece of the carpet. A little one by one piece. Keep that in your pocket next season. When things get tough and you want to give up, reach into your pocket and remind yourself what you need to do.”
Swindle sometimes plays the fool on stage, with jokes and big smiles. But he’s got a deeper side, sort of a country boy philosopher, with wisdom gained through years of fighting and scrapping.
That humble exchange with the G-man was my favorite moment of 2016.