BACKLASH
Q & A
ILLUSTRATION BY RACHEL IDZERDA
MATT AREY Shelby, N. C.
By Sean Ostruszka
80
What’ s one lake you want to see on the FLW Tour schedule? Beaver Lake doesn’ t count.
Beaver is not an option? I want to make sure we keep going there. It’ s paid for the house I’ m sitting in right now.
We already go there. Where’ s somewhere we don’ t go?
Well, I’ d love to see a Forrest Wood Cup in the Charlotte area. There’ s just such a huge fishing following around here. So a place like Lake Wylie, which is too small for a regular Tour event, would be great to see as a Cup location.
You know where I’ d like to go? Logan Martin. I won the Cup as a co-angler there, and we’ ve never been back. But I love it there. It’ s like Norman where there are so many fish and so many mean spotted bass. I want to go back there.
So is it solely hunting in the offseason for you?
I play indoor volleyball pretty regularly in the offseason. We have a regular league that plays once a week. Some of the guys are pretty good.
Are you and your long arms crushing it at the net?
Man, I like to play, but there are some guys that are good. There’ s a retired NBA player who also had a volleyball scholarship – Richard Anderson. He’ s 6-10. He doesn’ t play much anymore, but if he wanted to he could break your nose. There’ s another guy who is 6-7. He’ s a monster. He doesn’ t play to his full abilities because it’ d be unfair.
What exactly is livermush?
Don’ t ask. Just eat it. I mean, if the ingredients to hot dogs were on the sides, no one would eat them.
No, I’ m asking. What is it?
I honestly couldn’ t tell you what’ s in it, but it’ s just a breakfast meat. Shelby, N. C., is famous for it. It comes in a block, and you can cut some off and fry it, or just eat it raw. I like it on toast with egg and cheese. It’ s like sausage. It’ s definitely in its own category for taste. You either love it or hate it. I love it.
Livermush, toast, egg and cheese. Quite the chef, huh?
I’ m about as far from a chef as you’ ll find. I just got myself a Big Green Egg. I’ m trying to learn my way around that, but 90 percent of the time my wife would rather me stay out of the kitchen.
You have to have one thing you’ re decent at making.
I think I make a mean deer chili, but that’ s about it. One thing I wish I could do more of at tournaments is cook. Some guys get off the water and cook these great meals. Me, I’ m too lazy and tired after 12 hours of practice. I just want to grab a sandwich and go to bed.
Do your eating habits improve when your family travels with you?
They only travel with me a few times a year, and really, they know the routine. So I have my downtime, but not much changes. They know I have a job to do.
Still, it has to be great when they are there.
Dude, there is nothing better than having my 4-year-old daughter, Reese, cheering for me at the end of a dock at takeoff.
Is she a pretty good angler?
She’ s getting pretty good. She has her little Shimmer and Shine pole and she can cast a little bit. Mainly she just drops it straight down, but she’ s caught a carp, one catfish and several bream. I try not to dictate when to go fishing, but when she says she wants to go, by gosh, we take off and go.
FLWFISHING. COM I JANUARY 2017