GREENVILLE, S.C – Three or four times a week over the past year random strangers would approach Alabama pro Matt Lee and congratulate him on his victory in last year’s GEICO Bassmaster Classic Presented by Dick’s Sporting Goods on Lake Conroe.
Of course, it was his younger brother Jordan who earned the title.
“We look alike, we share the same name and the same profession,” Matt said, explaining why it was understandable, even if it occasionally rubbed him the wrong way. Despite those surface similarities, anyone who knows the Lee brothers is aware that there are meaningful distinctions between the two.
“Matt is super-organized,” said Jesse Wiggins, who rooms with Matt at many events and who like both Lees will compete this week on Lake Hartwell. “He and his fiancée make plans to make plans. They keep me on track. I’m thankful they let me hang around with them because me and Jordan are the exact opposite. In fact, Matt has to send us each a link to the boat ramp every morning to make sure we get there.”
Another substantial difference is that while Wiggins and Jordan Lee have enjoyed almost unalloyed success throughout their Elite Series careers, Matt has been up and down. He qualified for the 2013 Classic on Grand Lake through the college ranks, then was a rookie on the Elite Series in 2015, like Jordan. While Jordan made it back to the Classic in 2016, 2017 and now 2018 on the strength of three superb Elite campaigns, Matt was less consistently solid. The low point came when he finished 82nd overall in the 2016 points race. He was the first man outside of the cut to come back.
“There’s not much separation between the guy who finishes 40th and the guy who finishes 102nd in the points,” he opined. “A lot of really great names have had really bad years, and then followed them up with really great years.” He might not have had the opportunity to flip that switch had Davy Hite not elected to retire, allowing Matt to come back in 2017.
“He keeps telling me that he owes me a steak dinner,” Hite said. “I think he’s good for his word. I also think that things like this work out for a reason. I didn’t give Matt anything. It’s just the way things worked out. Everybody knew he was a great fisherman.”
Hite echoed Lee’s belief that the line between success and failure is fragile: “It’s almost like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon with one foot on a banana peel,” he explained. In this case, he was that banana peel, and bananas – often thought to be bad luck in the boat – proved to be Lee’s path back. He made the most of the opportunity, earning six Elite checks in 2017, including four Top 12 Sunday appearances. While Jordan finished a remarkable 4th in the AOY race, Matt rose 57 places to end up 25th, well within the Classic cut.
Of course, in between being granted a reprieve by Hite and Matt’s ability to rack up all of those solid finishes came another event that rocked the Lee family: Jordan’s victory at Lake Conroe. Matt hugged him on stage, smiled throughout, and was supportive, but even Jordan said “there was no way that it could have been easy on him. Putting myself in his shoes, I’m sure that it wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, especially because he’d been struggling.”
Wiggins credited the positive attitude that he and the two Lees share with helping them to “step your game up or be left behind.”
Matt is the “old man” of their trio, having just turned 29, which means he’s 9 months older than Wiggins and over two years Jordan’s senior. He’s convinced that “the young guys like Jesse and (Dustin) Connell make it look really easy,” but the lesson that he’s learned over the course of his career is that momentum is critical. “Winning or losing can really be infectious. When you get the ball rolling, you can’t really explain it, but it just feels natural.”
Gerald Swindle, who lives next door to Lee at Guntersville, has watched the brothers grow and feels that he knows them as well as anyone. He was already fishing Red Man tournaments on Hartwell when the Lees were still in diapers, and he also watched other close friends claims Classic and AOY titles before he got two of the latter for himself. When you see your friends win, he said, “It gives you a sense of pride. You celebrate with them. Sure, there’s some envy, but you realize that if they can do it, I can do it.”
Even if Matt’s path has been more of a roller coaster than Jordan’s steady ascent, he’s had a front row view of all of his brother’s greatest successes, the better to model his own efforts on them, where appropriate. Nevertheless, while he admits to being humbled, he also claims that nothing short of even greater success will satisfy him.
“Just ask Jason Christie,” Matt said. “If you don’t finish first in the AOY race, it doesn’t matter if you finish 2nd or 106th, you’re not happy. I won’t be fully satisfied unless I win the Classic. I don’t think that’s being greedy, and I won’t be on suicide watch if I don’t win, but now I know I can do it. I’m ready to win.
“My first Classic was a great experience, but when you’re a college angler you’ve got school to worry about,” he added. “When you’re a professional fisherman, this is your job. I’ve been focused on Hartwell for several months now. I don’t take it for granted, but I expect to be here.”
Swindle said that after fishing with the Lees extensively in recent years, he’s realized how talented and driven they are, and all three neighbors “push each other to the next level.” Swindle, more any competitor not named Lee or Wiggins, knows that Matt Lee could be hoisting the trophy this Sunday night.
“Matt has often been overshadowed by Jordan because Jordan is such a gifted natural angler,” he said. “But Matt is the complete package. He’s going to have a long career. The only reason more people don’t know it is because he’s seen as playing second string to the MVP of the Super Bowl.”
As the “Super Bowl of Bass Fishing” kicks off tomorrow morning, fishing fans should be reminded that only last month, an underrated second string quarterback led the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Sunday win over the favored Patriots. Gerald Swindle certainly wants to win the title himself, but he won’t be surprised in the least if Matt Lee pulls a Nick Foles and rises from relative obscurity to our sport’s highest peak.