CONNELL THE CHAMPION
The Decisions that Led to a REDCREST Title
By Joel Shangle
B ass fishing is a lot like life : You take your cues from the world around you , and hopefully you make the right decisions . As he sat next to the REDREST trophy in the aftermath of the most important day of bass fishing in his life , that reality seemed to hit
Dustin Connell in waves .
“ This is unbelievable ,” Connell muttered dazedly to himself as MLF videographers rigged the Alabama pro with a microphone for a post-game interview . “ Not five years ago , I was close to quitting . I was done with bass fishing – I didn ’ t have a back-up plan , but I was done . I had some people help me out and encourage me to keep goin ’ when I was at the very bottom . They wouldn ’ t let me quit . So I went back out and kept at it . Man , that was a good decision . Boys … we just won REDCREST .”
Connell ’ s stunned elation was hard-earned , and it came after a solid week of good decision making on Lake Eufaula that propelled him to a REDCREST championship and a $ 300,000 payday .
On the heels of a weather-driven venue change from Lake Palestine , Texas , to Lake Eufaula , Alabama , less than a week before competition – a change that sent the 40-angler field on a scramble to adjust their travel paths and shortened practice to a single day – the Favorite Fishing pro doggedly worked his way through four days of constantly changing conditions on Lake Eufaula .
He started out at Point A on Day 1 ( fishing shallow , dirty water on the bank ), and gradually fought his way to Point B in the Championship Round ( throwing a jerkbait around offshore brushpiles in clean water ), following the cues that the Chattahoochee River was giving him and making micro-decisions inside of bigger decisions along the way .
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