While bass did come up to the top
in his areas, Neal wasn’t necessarily tar-
geting surface schoolers – or bass that
broke the surface – as others did. He
figures only four of the fish he weighed
in were schoolers, something that
probably hurt his weight.
“I think those schoolers were the
bigger fish, and I just didn’t have the
opportunities to catch them like the
other guys did,” says Neal. “If I was to
do anything different I might try to find
more spots where I had more opportu-
nities to catch schoolers, but other
than that, I really wouldn’t do anything
different. It just wasn’t my time yet.”
OCTOBER 2017 I FLWFISHING.COM
NeaL’S key to SUcceSS
There’s no substitute for experience under pressure, which is why Neal has
made two straight top 10s at the Forrest Wood Cup and three in five tries.
The offshore bite Neal was on was what he calls a “timing deal.” If he pulled up
on a spot that hadn’t just been worked over by another angler he would probably
catch fish. However, if he got on the wrong rotation, caused, for example, by inad-
vertently pulling in after another angler, he might not catch fish. On days one and
two he had most of his weight by noon, but on day three he hadn’t had a bite by
1 p.m. Now with six Tour seasons behind him, Neal handled the situation with vet-
eran poise.
“Three or four years ago if that happened, I’d have been done,” Neal says. “I’d
have been so mentally shot. Now, I’ve learned you can always make adjustments. I
did that, got on a better timing late that third day and caught them again.”
He finished the day with a 15-13 limit and advanced one spot up the standings.
67