Bass Fishing Jan 2017 | Page 84

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