You need money to make money. Or so the saying goes. Does the same apply to success? Bassmaster Classic competitors Chris Lane and Brent Chapman believe so.
Lane won the first Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open event of 2012, and Chapman the second. Both are hoping those wins help them on the Red River. Chapman said he has experienced how the confidence that comes with a win can carry into the next tournament.
“The last time I had a big Bassmaster win was in 2005,” Chapman related. “I had won the Cabela’s Top Gun Championship in August, and three weeks later I went to the [Bassmaster] Shootout and won.
“I’d really like to see my win at Lake Lewisville catapult me right into winning the Bassmaster Classic. I don’t want to be too optimistic, but I’m excited about this, for sure,” he said.
A win not only gives an angler confidence, the winnings decrease an angler’s stress over the financial side of his career, Chapman said. Also helping him mentally at the Classic is knowing he has already sewn up a 2013 Classic berth, part of his Open prize.
“That’s huge,” he said.
Lane completed the 2011 Bassmaster Elite Series season ranked 12th in points, no small victory. He followed that by winning the first Open of the 2012 season, which was on the Harris Chain in late January. The successes came after about two years of struggling against a slump.
People often ask how he pulled out of it and what’s changed in his life, he said. “Much,” is his short answer. It boils down to learning how to trust his skills and instincts.
“And to not always be ‘fishing scared’ whether that’s financially or against your competition,” he said. “And not listening to anyone else. It’s like a clock that starts to tick. I seem to be at a place now where my clock is working.”