Fishing for Big Checks
Maryland pro Bryan schmitt, who has six multiple-day tournament wins with flW since 2010, sees Morgan’ s point, but he loves to roll the dice any chance he gets. schmitt has built his career on the big score.
“ once you win something, you want to win again,” he says.“ i’ m always trying to sniff that out in practice.” not unlike Morgan, schmitt’ s strategy is to avoid information.
“ everyone has their feelings mixed in about a spot or pattern,” says schmitt,“ and dock talk is never fresh.” instead, in practice he focuses on searching for overlooked patterns and predicting where the fish will be come tournament time. even schmitt’ s hometown wins on the potomac River have been punctuated by finding something unique.
“ every tournament i’ ve won on the potomac has always been off a different spot,” he says.“ i try to see the whole lake and develop a pattern, and then i always look for an off-the-wall, goofy deal.” in addition, schmitt’ s approach nearly always includes a jig.
“ i don’ t care where you are, if you find fish eating a jig, they’ re usually winning fish,” he says. finally, schmitt concludes that it’ s difficult for most anglers simply to maintain a high batting average and still carve out a career. he’ s willing to take the bombs that come from gambling on the obscure if it means once in awhile he photo by chaRLeS waLDoRf finds what he’ s looking for. the extremes offset, and he’ s been able to make the cup and other championships and can garner the attention needed to earn money off the water.
“ andy Morgan makes a good living and has made a name for himself by being consistent. a guy like me is only going to be a recognizable name – and make a living – by winning.”
Wins earn fat paychecks and garner media attention, and lure sponsors, which is why Bryan Schmitt prefers to risk bombs in order to swing for the fences.
JULY 2018 I FLWFISHING. COM 27