ONAMIA, Minn. — Matt Lee is having his best year since joining the Bassmaster Elite Series in 2015. The reason for the success might surprise you.
“I love my brother but as an angler I don’t want to be known as Jordan Lee’s brother,” he said. “I want everyone to remember me as Matt Lee, the angler.”
The reboot for Matt Lee, the angler, began on March 26, 2017, the day his brother hoisted the champion’s trophy after winning the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK’S Sporting Goods.
Jordan Lee had completed an impressive 2016 Elite Series season. Matt Lee, not so great. That made the separation between them as successful anglers more obvious.
Until then, and beginning when both began their quest to join the Elite Series, a routine pattern emerged that would eventually handicap Matt. The brothers fished more as a team, as brothers do, when coming up in the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open tour.
They compared practice notes, often openly sharing information about lures, patterns and other strategies. When one needed help, the other was fully transparent about what he was doing. That began in 2014 and carried over to their Elite Series rookie years.
The brothers competed against the fish, but at the end of the tournament what measured success was where their names landed on the final scoreboard.
“After Jordan won the Classic I started thinking that I was a good enough angler to do well on my own,” said Matt.
It is important to note that Jordan was never a crutch for Matt. He was a skilled angler on his own. Matt just needed a break out moment. It would come soon.
The 2017 Elite Series season had already started when Jordan won the Classic. Matt finished 94th and Jordan 16th at the first event held in February on Cherokee Lake in Tennessee. The pattern was beginning all over again.
The turnaround came quickly after the Classic for Matt. At the first event held on Toledo Bend he finished 12th. Then came an eighth place finish at Lake Dardanelle. A 12th place at Lake Champlain and fifth place at Lake St. Clair raised the total to four Championship Sundays for the season.
“My goal this year was proving to myself that I can be the AOY contender that everyone forgot about.”
How that all happened began with practice.
“I went out with a new mindset about doing my own thing in practice,” he said. “I never knew where my brother was fishing in every tournament that I’ve done well in this season.
That’s not being selfish, but smart. The brothers still talk but leave out the details out of respect of being fellow competitors.
“Practicing smart, doing my own thing, has allowed me to think more openly about what I should be doing to catch more quality fish,” he added.
“I don’t think any two anglers can fish the same, even brothers,” said Matt.
After Day 1, Matt Lee is sixth at the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship. Coincidentally, Jordan Lee is seventh.
Call the reboot of Matt Lee a successful work in progress.