“i have a good gig on the hunting
side of things, but i want the fishing side
to be funded by my winnings and spon-
sorship deals,” notes Weaver. “this year
i signed an agreement with abu Garcia
that hopefully i can build on, and my
deal with Zoom gets better every year.
Mostly, though, my sponsors are in mid-
dle Georgia. i’ve got work to do attract-
ing more industry sponsors.”
since frazier is fishing the Bassmaster
elite series these days, Weaver now trav-
els to tour events with his brother or for-
mer co-angler standout Jason Johnson,
who’s now a tour pro. Weaver also has
been befriended by a diverse collection
of anglers with various skills such as andy
Morgan, cody Meyer, John cox, and
brothers chris and cory Johnston, and
he’s benefitting from other connections
he made during his co-angler days.
at lake harris in late february, he
notched a respectable 23rd-place
showing that temporarily boosted him
JULY 2018 I FLWFISHING.COM
to within cup qualification range. no
surprise; florida lakes suit his style of
fishing. he prefers to cast to grass with
Rat-l-traps, chatterBaits and frogs. Yet
he also knows that versatility – espe-
cially offshore in the tennessee valley
and other regions – is the key to long-
range success. there, his game needs
work, as his performances at smith
lake (160th place) and Kentucky lake
(155th) indicate.
“You can never really be satisfied
with your abilities. You’ve got some
guys who are phenomenal at one tech-
nique or another, in a certain type of
fishing situation, but the really success-
ful ones can do a lot of things well,” he
says. “so i’m learning as much about
different techniques as i can. this stage
in my career is more about learning
than anything else. i want to make a
name for myself as one of the future
greats – that’s the kind of reputation
i’m trying to build.”
Weaver has a number of trophy
buck racks he’s taken through the
years, but now his sights are set on
tournament trophy hardware. it
seems reasonable to compare deer
hunting with fishing, given that either
sport requires a certain amount of
expertise and an understanding of the
quarry, but the Georgia pro doesn’t
see it that way.
“i don’t think that just because
you’re a good hunter you probably
would be a good fisherman,” observes
Weaver. “hunting has taught me to be
patient and understand that every-
thing’s not going to go my way every
time i get in a stand. that’s the same as
when i get in my boat for a day of fish-
ing. either way, determination is the
most important thing, and i have a lot
of that.”
enough determination, perhaps, to
have a long and successful career as an
flW tour pro.
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