RUSTY ’ S TITLE RETURN
his trolling motor nearly depleted and Beavers clinging to a lead , Salewske finally pulled the plug on Snake Island and ducked into one final spot – an expansive grassy flat with a rock pile in the middle – to try to scratch out a fish or two .
He was rewarded almost immediately with a non-scorable smallmouth , which hinted to Salewske that there were biting fish on the spot . Fifteen minutes later , he hooked a 2-15 ; 31 minutes later , he plucked the 4-14 winner out of the rock pile .
And then the waiting began . As Salewske fished the final 12 minutes – and even after his MLF official had called “ lines out ” and read off the SCORETRACKER ® standings – the new TITLE champion grappled with the idea that somebody had overtaken him .
“ I didn ’ t want to believe that I had won ,” Salewske says . “ As a fan of Major League Fishing , I ’ ve seen it happen so many times , man . Guys will get late news that somebody had caught one with a minute to go and took time to get to SCORETRACKER ®. I refused to believe it for a second or two .”
LOOKING FORWARD WITH TITLE INTENTIONS
Rusty and Kelly Salewske took the leisurely route home to Alpine , California from the Door Peninsula , stopping for an unplanned three-day visit ( and some trout fishing ) in Colorado with his parents . They also spent plenty of that driving time reassessing their plans for Salewske ’ s immediate fishing future .
“ Man , it ’ s still hard for me to believe that I won ( the TITLE ), to be honest with you ,” Salewske says . “ It really means everything to me . This is the level of competition that we all strive to have success at – it ’ s why we ’ re all here in the first place . We ’ re challenging ourselves with the best that we can fish against , and when I know I ’ m up against the best , it ’ s rewarding to have success .
“ But I can tell you for sure , we ’ re not on the two-year plan anymore . We ’ ll just fish the next few years and see how it goes ; we ’ re not drawing that two-year line anymore . I had a pretty okay year in 2020 , and a pretty great end . I think that ’ s a pretty damn good place to start .”
Elation often happens long after the final whistle , as Rusty Salewske found out while waiting for the dust to settle at Sturgeon Bay .
PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF
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