dudley claims he still doesn’t fully know. then again, in
talking with him after having just won his fourth flw tour
angler of the year title – the first angler to win four in the
tour’s history – you come to realize he may know more
than he thinks. by adapting his approach to the fishing
business off the water, he’s learned to do the same thing
on the water, showing that he can stay as relevant as ever
while capitalizing on decades of experience. and there’s
something else he definitely knows for sure.
“My first three angler of the year titles were awesome,
don’t get me wrong,” says dudley, “but this title means
more to me than my first three.”
a cot and youtube
In trying to figure out how dudley just pulled off his
historic aoy run, it’s important to see where he’s been, as
well as where he’s going.
dudley’s road started almost 25 years ago.
“a guy who lived in town with me, steve lloyd, actually
drove down to birmingham, ala., and slept on a cot out-
side the b.a.s.s. office,” dudley says. “this was back when
registering was busy signals on the phone and everything.
so he drove down, slept outside and then was the third
person in the door when they opened. he signed he and I
up for the bassmaster Invitationals. I was 18 years old.”
dudley enjoyed a fast start.
“Most people don’t know this, but I won angler of the
year,” dudley says. “the invitationals are considered triple-
a now, but back then, all the big guys fished them – denny
brauer, roland Martin, all of them – and I beat them.”
at 19, he fished his first bassmaster classic, fished his
first full year on the flw tour and won a bassmaster event.
at 28, he won the flw cup, and five years later he won his
first flw aoy. he added two more in 2011 and 2012.
so, at the ripe old age of 36, he’d won a championship,
four pro-level aoys and five tour events.
that’s about when the changes started.
for a number of years after his 2012 aoy, dudley still
cut checks and qualified for flw cups, but he wasn’t con-
tending for wins like he did earlier in his career.
“I reckon I hold my standard high,” dudley says. “a lot
of guys are happy just to cut a check. Me? I’m mad. I want
to compete. I want to win.”
that came to a head last year, when he finished 38th
in the standings (not terrible at all, but his lowest finish
since 2009) and failed to make a single top 10 for the first
time since 2005.
something had to change, and he found it in the most
unlikely place.
“My kids would bug me to watch these videos on
youtube,” dudley says. “before two years ago I probably
hadn’t watched two minutes of youtube videos, but little
by little I’d start watching more and more. I’d be surfing
around realizing all the stuff you could learn.”
dudley was so taken by the scale of youtube and its
reach that he did something he never thought he’d do:
he became a “youtuber.”
“there’s probably not too many 40-year-olds trying to
become youtubers, but that’s exactly what I decided to
do,” dudley recalls. “I realized just how big this thing is,
and I can honestly say it’s changed my entire perspective
of not just myself and how I fish, but even in shifting my
career to the digital side.”
Fall 2019 I FlWFIshInG.com
suddenly, the man who used to talk your ear off about
the intricacies of salt content in soft plastics was now
talking at length about engagement rates and follower
demographics on youtube, and about growing his follow-
er base to 300,000 and his digital goals off the water.
for those that have known him for a while, it’s quite
the shift, but it may be the shift he needed.
dudley’s 2019 season Recap
en route to his historic fourth flw tour angler of the
year title, david dudley was able to constantly adapt and
show off what makes him one of the best tournament
anglers in history. his performances can also teach any
tournament angler some valuable lessons.
sam Rayburn Reservoir – 13th
“I survived because of one hole. I didn’t have much
going, and I’ve learned that sometimes you can find fish
and repeat the pattern elsewhere, and sometimes you
just have that one spot. I just had the one hole and
milked it for all it was worth.”
lake toho – 21st
“that’s one where experience played a big factor,
just in being patient. I about left an area and decided to
stick it out a little longer. I caught 23 pounds in an hour,
just from being patient.”
lake seminole – 74th
“I can say at that one I didn’t do well due to a lack of
exploring all my options. I checked the rivers and vari-
ous areas, but I didn’t check a particular area of the
lake. that’s where all the big weight came from. If I’d
checked it, I probably could’ve found something more
than I had.”
Grand lake – 25th
“that one was definitely patience. It was so tough. I
decided in practice to try and find an area where I could
put my trolling motor down for eight hours and get two
to three bites. It took me three days to find it, but once I
did, I went into survival mode and grinded it out there.”
cherokee lake – 12th
“that was a fun one. everything was developing dur-
ing the week. It basically was just back-to-your-roots
bank fishing.”
lake chickamauga – 5th
“that was a tournament of leftovers. we were catching
the leftovers of fish that just got done spawning or left-
overs from the shad spawn or leftovers of the fry
guarders. sometimes, you just have to pick out what’s left
in the fridge instead of trying to cook up something new.”
lake champlain – 7th
“that was all about being able to erase history. I
checked a lot of history in practice, and I wasn’t com-
fortable with what I was seeing. so I switched it up. I’m
really proud of myself for that one, to not get caught up
with what I knew.”
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