Bass Fishing Magazine
Editor-in-Chief
Curtis Niedermier
FIRST CAST: CURTIS NIEDERMIER
Production Manager/
Graphic Designer
Michelle Dowling
Associate Editor
Justin Onslow
ready for
another decade
S
Senior Designer/Illustrator
Matt Pace
Field Editor
Matt Williams
ometime in mid-December I was scrolling through Instagram and saw a post by
FLW Senior Designer Matt Pace (@imattpace) with a beautiful photo of a full
moon and this line of text: “The Cold Moon. The last full moon of the decade.”
The end of a decade … I hadn’t even realized. A few days later, the significance of
the 2010s coming to a close set in while, motivated by Matt’s post, I began assem-
bling a list of FLW highlights from the last decade for a website article.
Wow, we accomplished a lot in 10 years. You should check out the article at
FLWFishing.com and see for yourself.
Personally, I’m most proud of the fact that we simultaneously published 100
magazine issues in the last decade (hooray, print!) while also expanding our social
media audience into the hundreds of thousands and streaming thousands of hours
of live tournament coverage (digital rules!). I’m also happy to brag that FLW helped
launch the careers of some of the sport’s biggest stars in that time, which brings me
to an interesting story from early on in the decade.
It was 2011 in Hot Springs, Ark., on the evening after the final day of the FLW
Cup. I walked into the bar on the ground floor of the Embassy Suites and was greet-
ed by David James, who, at the time, worked in the marketing department at Rapala,
but has since passed away.
David invited me for a beer and asked if I wanted to join him in a few minutes for
dinner downtown. He was going to be hosting a prospective pro-staff member and
his family. That’s not the sort of thing I would ordinarily partake in, but I figured it
was a good chance to see a different side of the industry, so I accepted the offer and
asked whom we’d be taking to dinner.
His answer: Jacob Wheeler.
Jacob, at the time, wasn’t yet the mega-star we all know now. Still in his early 20s,
he’d qualified for that Cup by winning the Bass Fishing League All-American, which
had earned him an interview with Rapala and a spot on the cover of this magazine
with the headline “The Next Superstar.” FLW and Rapala were both apparently on
the right track with regard to Jacob’s career prospects.
That evening Jacob showed up with his entire extended family, introduced them
all and spent dinner talking fishing with the same fervor I’ve heard from him every
time we’ve worked together since then. I don’t think I could ever match his enthusi-
asm for bass fishing. That’s one of the traits that has made him successful, and I’m
sure it’s one of the things David was hoping to see in him. They inked a deal a few
weeks later.
The following August in Atlanta, Ga., I watched as Jacob, wearing a Rapala hat,
was joined on stage by some of those same family members after being handed the
FLW Cup trophy. Man, what a swift climb to the top.
Today, Jacob has won almost $2 million and at press time was ranked No. 1 in
the Bassfan World Rankings. And I can say I was there to witness a key moment in
his career – a career that is barely a decade old.
Reflecting on the 2010s makes me wonder what’s coming in the next 10 years.
Who’s the next Jacob Wheeler? What new bass fishing star will we be writing about
when 2029 comes to a close?
Whoever it is, I hope our paths cross as they live out their story and I help to tell it.
Curtis Niedermier, Editor-in-Chief
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FLWFishing.com
Senior Editor
Kyle Wood
Digital Editor
Jody White
Staff Videographer/
Photographer
Rob Matsuura
MajorLeagueFishing.com
Sr. Director, Digital Media
Joel Shangle
Sr. Manager, Digital Editorial
Rachel Dubrovin
Sr. Manager, Digital Content
Development
Josh Gassmann
Digital Content Editor
Ellise Verheyen
Digital Content Editor
Olivia Fissel
Staff Writer
Mason Prince
President and CEO
Jim Wilburn
Executive Vice President and
General Manager, MLF
Don Rucks
Executive Vice President and
General Manager, FLW
Kathy Fennel
Vice President, Controller
Tommy Boaz
Vice President of Marketing and
Business Development, MLF
John Acosta
Vice President of Operations, FLW
Dave Washburn
Director of Account Services, FLW
Jenn Sonnek
FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2020