COLUMN
NEWELL’S NOTES
ROB
NEWELL
Brad Knight reflects on his year as the reigning champ
O
nce a Forrest Wood Cup win-
ner is crowned, what happens
after the confetti falls, the
check is deposited and the Cup takes
up its new home in the reigning cham-
pion’s house? When does it actually
“sink in” that being a Forrest Wood Cup
champion is a reality? How does it
change an angler’s life?
To find out, I asked Brad Knight
about his life since winning the Forrest
Wood Cup in 2015. I chose “BK” because
the Forrest Wood Cup was Knight’s first
win as a professional angler. So many
other previous Cup champions had won
national-level titles before grasping the
Cup. But for Knight, his Cup win was a
double doozy in that his inaugural victo-
ry at the Tour level also just happened to
be the biggest in the sport.
Sinking In
12
According to Knight, the experience
of becoming a champion was nearly
overwhelming.
“The last thing I remember was turn-
ing in my key fob to the check-in boat on
the final day at Lake Ouachita, and then
the next six weeks were a complete
blur,” he says. “I really don’t remember
much about that time period. It changes
your life so suddenly. One minute you’re
Average Joe Tournament Fisherman,
and the next minute you’re a fishing
celebrity. There is no instruction manual
for how to proceed.”
For several weeks after he returned
home, Knight’s house became a revolv-
ing door of family and friends wishing
to congratulate him personally.
“The only thing I can compare it to is
having a baby,” Knight says. “Everyone
wanted to come over and see the tro-
phy in person. It was crazy.”
After his company left each night,
Knight stayed up even later answering
texts and emails. What little sleep he
did get was broken up by the too-good-
to-be-true syndrome, where he would
wake up wondering if winning the Cup
really happened.
“I literally had to put the Cup in our
bedroom so I could see it when I woke
up from those dreams,” Knight admits.
“Then I’d just look at it, knowing no one
could take it away – and that’s probably
when it finally started to sink in that I
had won.”
Business Plans
Winning the Cup finally put to rest
Knight’s nagging question of whether
professional fishing was truly a real
business for him.
“I spent so many years running the
roads, chasing this dream,” he says.
“When you drop 12 grand on a couple
of bad tournaments, you start to won-
der whether this is really the right thing
to be doing for your family. Winning the
Cup legitimized professional fishing as
my business.”
Ironically, not having many sponsors
before his win actually worked to his
benefit after earning the Cup victory.
“When I started fishing pro-level
tournaments, I refrained from signing
entry-level pro-staff deals with lure or
tackle companies,” he says. “I didn’t
participate in any of those wear-a-
patch-for-30-percent-off type of pro-
grams. That turned out to be a huge
blessing because I was not beholden to
those companies when I won the Cup.
They did not already own my likeness
for 10 bags of worms. I was more of a
free agent to pursue solid compensa-
tion deals after the win.”
With that, Knight became obsessed
with the proposal process, working on
sponsor pitches tirelessly to capitalize on
his win and eventually adding key spon-
sors such as Strike King to his resume.
FLWFISHING.COM I JANUARY 2017