After a year of media exposure,
Knight says the unexpected conse-
quence of being a Cup winner was
being recognized everywhere he went.
“It’s one thing to be recognized at
sport shows and seminars when you’re
in the fishing environment,” Knight
says. “But it’s another thing when
you’re out to dinner with the family and
people come up out of now here and
just start talking fishing – for hours. I
have always been cordial and as
accommodating as possible, but at
times I just wanted to turn myself off
and not feel like I had to be ‘on’ all the
time.”
His brush with fame has given
Knight a new appreciation for what
NASCAR drivers, sports legends and
music stars deal with all the time.
“I’m a pretty private person, so it
was a real eye-opener to see what the
power of media can do,” he adds.
The Fame
On the Water
As far as his fishing, Knight says win-
ning the Cup in 2015 did not change
his overall approach to tournaments in
2016.
“Winning the Cup did little to boost
my overall confidence,” he says. “I say
that because if you’re going to compete
at this level, you better already have a
pretty high level of confidence. To pay
the kind of money we do to compete is
not something you want to do unless
you have a tremendous amount of
confidence in yourself to begin with. So
it’s not like I roll into tournaments now
saying, ‘I’m a Forrest Wood Cup cham-
pion, so I’m going to win this one, too.’
It doesn’t really work that way.”
Knight does admit that winning the
Cup has given him a little more breath-
ing room on the water.
“I can take a few more risks during
tournaments,” Knight explains. “I can
try some off-the-wall stuff that I might
not have done before. So it has freed
me up in that respect.
“Also, I’m not as hard on myself after
bad events,” he continues. “We as pro
anglers are our own harshest critics. As
competitors, that’s the way it should
be. But sometimes I think we can be
too hard on ourselves to a fault, and it
hampers performance. So I’ve tried to
lighten up on myself just a bit. During a
long drive home after a bad event I
only beat myself up for six hours.
Instead of 12.”
JANUARY 2017 I FLWFISHING.COM
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