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Connell scrapped his old water and went looking for winning opportunities . As the clock ticked down and he slid down to the bottom of the SCORE- TRACKER ®; he stayed calm and kept idling and beaming , working smarter , not harder . In the third period , he made a pass down the dam and struck paydirt . For five days , the dam produced very little for those who fished it . At this point , all the other competitors had written it off .
“ That was a magical moment ,” Connell says . “ When my ActiveTarget lit up with huge schools of bait and bass on the face of the dam and no one else was there fishing it , my confidence went through the roof .”
In the last hour of the day , Connell caught 21 pounds to go from the bottom of the SCORETRACKER ® to the top in the Knockout Round . He knew , for the first time in his career , he had just set himself up to win in the Championship Round .
“ At that moment I learned something very special ,” he says . “ When you finally let go of points , when you forget about the SCORETRACKER ®, when you drive away from all your history for the week into the unknown and have the faith and belief in yourself that you can find something better – you have just found the place , mentally , where the beast closers make their magic . When they find a new vibe just starting to jam while everyone else is listening to reruns , confidence soars to new levels .”
Connell ’ s win at Cayuga was of the same nature . From the beginning , he decided to gamble on smallmouth when 80 percent of the field was fishing for largemouth .
“ I knew smallmouth would be the least pressured fish , so I committed to looking for them on ActiveTarget ,” he says . “ I practiced during the tournament to figure out how they were set up and exactly how to present my bait to trigger a bite . I figured out when to leave them alone and for how long to let them set back up . Every day I was getting better at dialing those smallmouth in while fishing pressure was eating away at those guys targeting largemouth .”
At Mille Lacs , Connell was totally focused on winning from the beginning . During the Qualifying Round , he would constantly check the wind forecasts five
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days out to the Championship Round to see where he needed to focus his practice efforts for the tournament . With a threat for big south winds during the Championship Round , he used the calmer tournament days to practice in the south end to set up the win .”
“ Three years ago , I would have never won Cayuga or Mille Lacs ,” Connell admits . “ Because I would have been running flats with a winding bait , focused on just making the Knockout Round , with no plan after that .”
Wheeler with the assist
Connell admits that Jacob Wheeler ’ s existence and performance in pro bass fishing has been a profound inspiration to him . The two have roomed together since the inception of the Bass Pro Tour , so Connell has studied Wheeler ’ s winning ways carefully .
“ He ’ s opened my eyes to what ’ s possible in this sport ,” Connell says . “ He ’ s the guy who pushes me to be
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LOOKING AHEAD
Connell ’ s focus on changing conditions paid dividends at Bass Pro Tour Stage Seven on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota .
better every day . He ’ s helped me become a more positive person . He helped in pointing out some of my old habits and encouraged me to embrace new technology . And , ultimately , he helped me define the power of letting go of tournament constraints like time , the SCORETRACKER ®, the cut lines , the points , and to trust in your own abilities to go into the unknown and discover something better than the same old ruts that everyone else has been in .”
Wheeler himself expresses a great deal of satisfaction in seeing the season Connell has conjured up .
“ I ’ m super proud to see what DC has accomplished this year ,” he says . “ Since the beginning of the Bass Pro Tour , it ’ s been awesome to watch how DC and I have both evolved as anglers to excel in this format . My hat ’ s off to him on his amazing season . I think it ’ s fair to say , he has become a beast closer .”
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PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON |