RUSTY ’ S TITLE RETURN
California pro claims FLW ’ s biggest Award after 9-year hiatus
By Joel Shangle
PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF
STURGEON BAY , Wis . — “ Where have you been , Rusty ?”
It ’ s a question Rusty Salewske grew accustomed to in 2020 . Given that it had
been almost a decade since the Southern California native had last competed on the national-tour level when the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit kicked off the 2020 campaign in January , Salewske has answered it with good humor : “ Just doing life things ,” Salewske says simply .
Salewske ’ s return to the professional ranks should be judged as a success , based solely on his Pro Circuit regular season . He cashed checks at four of the six events , led the Harris Chain after day one with a 26-pound mega-bag , finished in the Top 20 in Angler of the Year standings and qualified for his fourth tour-level championship .
But nine months after he made his first check of the 2020 season following a nine-year tour hiatus , Salewske now has a new most-asked question to ponder : “ How does it feel to be the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit TITLE Champion ?”
The perfect answer still eludes him , but as Salewske smiles and shrugs his shoulders , this will do for now : “ It means the world to me . I don ’ t really know what it all means yet , but it feels pretty darn good .”
Salewske captured the late-August TITLE out of Sturgeon Bay , Wisconsin , in a dramatic fashion that seemed to fit the tone of an event that was equally notable for its multi-layered “ newness ” – new format , new schedule , new minimum fish size – as it was for its outstanding smallmouth fishing . With his trolling motor batteries drained after seven hours of battling 20-mile-per-hour sustained winds and 4-foot waves on the waters of Green Bay , Salewske connected with a 4-pound , 14-ounce smallmouth with 12 minutes left in the Championship Round .
That smallmouth – the second of a pair that Salewske weighed following a lastgasp move to salvage the last hour of fishing on his diminished batteries – eclipsed a 3-6 lead held by Bradford Beavers , giving Salewske 48-11 for the day and an 8- ounce cushion over Beavers ( who had made a Hail Mary move of his own to go to the bank to try to coax a largemouth bite ). That slim lead would hold for what Salewske describes as “ the longest 12 minutes of my life ” to earn him the newly minted champion ’ s belt and a $ 200,000 payday at the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit TITLE presented by Toyota .
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