The term ‘living the dream’ is often used in jest when one is working hard at something and getting nowhere other than another day older and deeper in debt.
In the case of the Bassmaster Classic, ‘living the dream’ has a whole other meaning.
If you grew up in a bass fishing family, there was likely a stack of Bassmaster Magazines sitting beside Dad’s chair in the family room. As you leafed through them, you would find Ray Scott in that big 10-gallon hat, standing beside the latest Ranger Bassmaster Classic rig with a whole bunch of the latest and greatest fishing tools on the planet.
Sure, Ray was trying to get you to buy the latest rig, but he was also planting a seed in your mind, that someday, somehow, you could be part of the greatest show on the water: the Bassmaster’s Classic. You wanted to see your name on the list with the greats. T guys at the top of the sport who all made their way to the Classic. Someday, you thought, it could happen to you.
For a small handful of guys, it does.
And this week, for Mike Huff, that day has come to fruition.
My wife and I have lived in Corbin, KY for almost 25 years. We have known the Huff family for a long time. Huff’s father is close in age to myself and a longtime friend. Our children went to the same schools, we have hung out together at ball games and other community functions. We watched Mike grow up from the young boy on the community fishing trip to Okeechobee through High School and College tournament teams and now finding to success as an Elite Angler heading to his first Classic.
This is Corbin’s third angler to make it to the Classic. Paul Elias was the first when he won in 1982 with the now-famous Kneeling and Reeling. Then came David Walker, who at one time worked for the Huff’s at their boat dealership.
A couple of tournaments into last year I called Mike’s dad, Rex.
“Rex, your boy has a legitimate shot to make the Classic,” I said.
Rex said that he sure hoped so. After all, just making the Bassmaster Classic is any fisherman’s dream. It is the toughest tournament to make of all. You have to beat out is the best in the world.
Through the 2019 season, Mike kept plugging along and until Guntersville, he looked to be a solid lock to make it.
Guntersville was Mike’s worst tournament of the year. I was there marshaling and ran into a dejected Mike backstage at the weigh-in. To his credit though, he picked up after that tournament where he’d left off before Guntersville and hammered right on to the end of the season. With two tournaments left, speaking to Rex on the telephone and made the statement, “I’ll bet his stomach is tied in a Palomar knot waiting on the last tournament.”
Now, Mike is going to compete in the biggest tournament in the world. The tournament that all the greats over the past 50 years have participated in. The tournament that has made men like Rick Clunn, Kevin Vandam, and Bobby Murray household names among fishermen. That tournament of all tournaments. Win, lose or draw, where those who “Live the Dream” take their place among the best fishermen in the world, the ones who make it to the Bassmaster’s Classic.
The only goal left to achieve is winning and bringing home that trophy that says “Bassmaster Classic Champion.”