Neal shook off the Pickwick experience and rebounded on a tear to post finishes of third ( Guntersville ), fourth ( James River ) and 15th ( Lake Champlain ) to surge back up the AOY standings and eventually claim his second AOY trophy in a row .
“ After Pickwick , I thought my shot at AOY was done ,” Neal said . “ I went from leading the points to 14th , I think , and I thought I had no shot at the title . But then after Guntersville , I jumped back into fourth in the standings and thought I had at least an outside shot at it .
“ Back-to-back titles – that ’ s not something when I started my career that I thought I ’ d even have a shot at doing ,” Neal admitted . “ To be able to do that and to do it against guys I started out fishing against and still fish against today . Andy ’ s from home and he ’ s the one I ’ ve always looked up to , and he ’ s very consistent and a very good angler and kind of flew under the radar for a long time like I have . To be my age and close to what he ’ s accomplished , it ’ s just very humbling .”
Morgan said Neal ’ s back-to-back title accomplishment should come as no surprise to those who really know him .
“ There for the first couple of years it was like he knew he could catch them , but he wasn ’ t super confident ,” Morgan said . “ He didn ’ t have an edge , so to speak . But as the electronics have gotten better , Michael has gotten better . Michael has fallen into his niche . Everything is lining up and syncing for him good now . Now he ’ s got that edge . I can see it vividly . “ His skills have always been there . I don ’ t think Michael ’ s gotten any better with a rod and reel – he ’ s always been able to do what he needs to do with that . But it ’ s the edge thing . The confidence . The gameplan . What he ’ s got laid out in his mind . And nobody ever really knows what that plan is – even the angler that ’ s using that plan sometimes really doesn ’ t know how to bring that plan into words . But that plan , he ’ s figured that out , and he ’ s making it work . Jacob ( Wheeler ) gets a lot of the recognition right now , but Michael is really close to Jacob in that regard . Michael is really throwing some punches that are legendary .”
confidence breeds confidence
Both Neal and Morgan admit that , without confidence , an angler is just making casts hoping for the best . Both recognize it as a weapon in their tournament arsenal , and Neal readily admits that it ’ s become a much more powerful arrow in his quiver in recent years .
“ Confidence is knowing that you can make the right decision without any reason to make that decision ,” Neal explained . “ Being able to trust your gut even though that ’ s not what the textbook says should be done for that point in time . If you don ’ t have confidence , you ’ re not going to do well . And I ’ ve made it a point the last two years to go out and fish the way I know how and the way I enjoy – whether that ’ s finesse fishing for smallmouth or throwing a ChatterBait in grass . Just being able to go out and do that and feel like I can make it work .”
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adjusting goals according to success
When Neal first arrived on the professional fishing scene , his goal was to make the championship at the end of the season .
“ You hear some motivational speakers talk about how if you have a smaller goal you don ’ t try to overshoot that goal ,” Neal said . “ My goal became to try to make the top 10 in the points . Then later in the season , my goal would be to try to win the AOY . But this past year my goal straight out of the gate from day one was to win Angler of the Year . Winning a tournament is a bonus to me . If you can do it , great . They pay great . But the guy that has the most consistent year - I ’ d rather have that than one tournament win any day of the week .
“ So next year I ’ m looking for Angler of the Year and to win the championship ,” Neal said . “ I ’ ve won both Pro Circuit and Bass Pro Tour regular-season tournaments , and I haven ’ t won a championship . So that ’ s my goal .”
Lofty goals for sure , but Neal sees them as reality waiting to happen . The sentiment is echoed by Morgan , who said Neal is just hitting his stride and will be competitive and productive at the highest level for years to come .
“ He ’ s very competitive , and he puts in a tremendous amount of effort ,” Morgan said . “ Practice days , tournament days … it ’ s all the same to him . He goes , goes , goes . He ’ s up early and out late . He doesn ’ t like to go somewhere and get defeated ; that doesn ’ t sit well with him . I see Michael ending up in the top 10 of all time by the time he ’ s done . Absolutely . He ’ s got too much drive . Too much savvy . He works too hard . He ’ s never going to be a slouch . I mean , he ’ ll have a rough patch here and there , but yeah , he ’ ll be top 10 of all time , for sure .”
“ he ’ s very competitive and puts in a tremendous amount of effort .”
PHOTO BY GARRICK DIXON
MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2022