EDITOR’S NOTE
A NEW SEASON,
A NEW CALENDAR
I
haven’t actually seen Mrs. Frankart in at least 15 years, but every few weeks
my high school English teacher visits me in my dreams. She’s angry, usually,
and I’m terrified because there I sit, in her second-floor classroom at Seneca
East High School in Attica, Ohio, and I haven’t finished whatever assignment it is
that’s due in class that day.
I’ve talked to people who’ve studied the meaning of dreams about why I have
this recurring dream, and the consensus is it’s caused by the stress of meeting
publishing deadlines.
Their interpretation makes sense to me. My life is a parade of deadlines, budg-
ets, schedules, outlines and calendars that dictate what I need to accomplish and
when I need to have it finished.
As I write this in early December, tacked up behind me on my office wall are a
2017 365-day calendar that shows me the “big picture” schedule for the year, a
12-month calendar open to December 2017 that’s keeping me on track for the
month, the 2018 FLW Bass Fishing magazine production schedule with our print
deadlines, and the annual tournament coverage assignment sheet that lists the
travel schedules and tournament responsibilities for each full-time and freelance
member of FLW’s web team.
On my hard drive, I have saved spreadsheets with magazine editorial calen-
dars, magazine and website budgets, and outlines for various special projects,
which all have their own deadlines.
Beside my laptop is the final draft of the 2018 FLW calendar that was pack-
aged with this magazine. The final printed version will go on my wall, too.
Sometimes I think I need a calendar that shows me which calendar I’m sup-
posed to look at each day, but for that I rely on FLW Production Manager Michelle
Dowling, who’s sort of the enforcer of the deadlines. She provides me with to-do
lists and random threats of violence whenever we approach a print deadline (like
the one coming up in just a few days).
It’s no wonder this stuff is living with me in Dreamland.
Though the dreams they create are a tad awkward, all those deadlines also
prepare me every year to shift my focus away from the planning sessions and
boring budget meetings that are too common in the offseason and toward the
only two calendars that should be on a bass angler’s mind when spring is on the
horizon: the one that lists the FLW tournament schedule, and the natural season-
al “calendar” that Mother Nature outlined for bass to follow.
For me, and probably a lot of you, late winter is when I fully shift back into
“bass mode,” when instead of living life according to a schedule of days, weeks
and months that’s dictated by my career, time is organized into prespawn, spawn
and postspawn; takeoffs and weigh-ins; first casts and last. Those are deadlines I
don’t mind to put on the calendar.
Mrs. Frankart is retired now, and while I don’t think I made much of an impres-
sion on her, she certainly did on me. She had a reputation for law and order in
the classroom, but also for helping kids prepare for college and life beyond.
Perhaps that’s why she continues to be the symbol of punctuality in my dreams,
reminding me every so often to stay on track and finish the work so I can enjoy
the good things to come of it.
Curtis Niedermier, Editor-in-Chief
4
Publisher
Irwin L. Jacobs
Editor-in-Chief
Curtis Niedermier
Production Manager/
Graphic Designer
Michelle Dowling
Assistant Managing Editor
Chad Love
Editor Emeritus
Colin Moore
Field Editors
Rob Newell & Matt Williams
Contributors
Joe Balog, Tyler Brinks, David A. Brown,
Capt. Steve Chaconas, Ken Duke,
Gary Garth, Dan Johnson, TJ Maglio,
Sean Ostruszka, Dennis Sherer, Paul Strege,
Jimmy Watson
Graphic Designer
D.W. Reed II
Graphic Designer/Illustrator
Matt Pace
Director of Advertising
Al Chapman | 270.252.1628
FLWFishing.com
Senior Web Content Manager
Jesse Schultz
Senior Editor
Kyle Wood
Associate Editor
Jody White
Social Media and
Communications Specialist
Chris Burgan
Letters to the Editor
FLW Bass Fishing
30 Gamble Lane, Benton, KY 42025
[email protected]
Chairman & CEO
Irwin L. Jacobs
President of FLW
Marketing Division
Trish Blake
President of FLW
Operations Division
Kathy Fennel
Chief Financial Officer
Dave Mahler
Vice President, Controller
Tommy Boaz
Vice President of Marketing
Kelly Oettinger
Vice President of Operations
Dave Washburn
FLWFISHING.COM I JANUARY 2018