PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF |
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RUSTY ’ S RETURN TO TITLE TOURNAMENTS In August of 2009 , Rusty Salewske walked out of Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh with the slightly bitter flavor of disappointment in his mouth . He had battled it out for four days on the extremely stingy waters of the Three Rivers at the Forrest Wood Cup , finishing in the top 5 behind Greg Hackney , Mike Iaconelli , Cody Meyer and Scott Suggs ( anglers with over $ 10 million in combined career earnings ). No small accomplishment , but Salewske left Pittsburgh believing that he had left a career-defining opportunity on the table .
“ That Cup was mine to lose on the last day , and I lost it ,” Salewske says bluntly of his final day , in which he caught only one fish for 14 ounces . “ I showed up to my best spot as high up on the Monongahela River as you could run – it was a big seawall – and there was a barge tied up to it . I couldn ’ t fish that spot like I wanted to , and I let that get to me . I had the best area in the whole river , and I should ’ ve just gone fishing . I certainly have some regrets about that .”
Salewske followed with a 2010 FLW Tour campaign that he describes as “ my best season on tour ,” qualifying for
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the Toyota Texas Bass Classic and hovering in the top five for Angler of the Year until the final tournament of the season ( he finished 14th in AOY ). He struggled through a much tougher season in a 2011 plagued with mishaps – he blew two motors , scraped two lower units off his boat and eventually lost seven competition |
days in six events due to various misfortunes – cashing only one check for $ 4,000 and finishing 120th in AOY points .
And then Salewske disappeared from the national-tour spotlight .
As a successful paving contractor and the father of two high school-age daughters , it was time to focus on
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PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF |