“A lot of anglers know each other’s
style so well, and they change based on
their belief of what others are doing,”
Sprague says. “All too often, they’re
completely wrong. I don’t have that
experience or knowledge, and I don’t
care to have it.”
Neal Just Keeps Moving
Michael Neal might be the only suc-
cessful bass pro in history who didn’t
come up beating the bank.
“I grew up fishing strictly offshore,”
Neal says of his early days on Guntersville
and Chickamauga. “I never honed my
dock-skipping skills or my flipping. I’ve
always been a cover-water type of guy.”
Though he’s now entirely capable of
slowing down and fishing targets, Neal
confirms he still enjoys a love affair with
staying on the move. The approach of
staying on the trolling motor and quickly
covering water helps him stay in the
game when he knows he needs to catch
a lot of fish in a day.
“I look for high-percentage places to
catch one or two fish,” Neal explains.
“Concentrations [of fish] are not my
main objective.”
Neal moves rapidly, relying on lipless
crankbaits – like his favorite SPRO Aruku
Shad – jerkbaits, swimbaits and
crankbaits. Occasionally, a soft plastic
comes out, but it’s usually a Big Bite
Baits Fighting Frog behind a swing-head
jig, allowing Neal to keep winding.
Limited BPT practice doesn’t allow
Neal much time to uncover offshore
haunts, so he continues to move quickly
when he’s fishing up around the shore-
line, never coming off the trolling motor.
Four top-10 finishes were the result in
2019, including a top 10 at the RED-
CREST championship.
Unlike Sprague, Neal had a bit of
experience with the Major League
Fishing format before 2019. He was a
previous competitor on the MLF Selects.
There, he quickly realized the need to
come out swinging.
“It helped me more mentally than
anything else,” he says. “A lot of guys
don’t realize how fast it’s going to hap-
pen; how fast the SCORETRACKER
lights up.”
The suddenness of action immedi-
ately knocks many competitors off their
game. Neal’s fast-paced style, however,
is often responsible for numerous catch-
es in the first round and the confidence
that comes with them.
Michael Neal swings one in on day
six of the MLF Bass Pro Tour Stage
One event at Lake Garcia in
Kissimmee, Fla.
Dance with the date Who
Brought You
Without question, Both Neal and
Sprague find it incredibly important to
stay true to their fishing styles and never
waver based on the success of others.
“I’ve never had a good finish trying to
fish someone else’s way,” Neal says.
“There’s always some part of the lake that
you can fish in a way you’re comfortable
with, and that equals confidence.
“Even if I find a concentration of fish,
I’m not going to camp on it,” he
explains. “That’s just not what I do. I’ll
put it in my rotation and hit it several
times a day, but I’m going to keep mov-
ing. You have to keep that type of mind-
set to fish your way and never allow yourself to get out of your comfort
zone.”
Sprague has a similar attitude.
“All I can do is go fish what I prefer
and try to beat the fish,” he says. “I’m
still star-struck; I’m not going to lie.
These guys are truly the best, but you
need to put all that aside and just do
what you do.”
It seems easy enough, but is it really?
At least to Sprague and Neal it sure
seems to be.
In 2019, both anglers proved that
their individual fishing styles were
strong enough to take on the road and
adapt to any format. The results were
immediate career milestones and prime
seats at the BPT table.
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