THE BASS FEDERATION
obviously it didn ’ t go great for you , finishing 134th . Is that one you chalk up to nerves and inexperience ?
A . “ Okeechobee was just a totally different fishery . I mean , just the shallow water and the endless vegetation is something that I hadn ’ t had a whole lot of time with . To me , it was like , where do you even start ? But yeah , that was pretty intimidating . Everything I researched was about trying to find the clean water , so I spent a lot of time running around in practice just trying to find areas that looked good , or what did clean water even mean , because clean water in different ( parts of the country ) means different things to different people . And I did feel like I found an area , and there were fish there . I had some misfortune and lost a couple good ones the first day that really hurt me , and then I came back the second day , and if I would ’ ve duplicated that the first day and not lost those fish , I probably would ’ ve made a check . But not ever having been there and not knowing exactly what to look for , that definitely didn ’ t help me .”
Q . Was it difficult to get your confidence back and gear up for Clarks Hill and the rest of the season after that ?
A . “ I still felt like going into Clarks Hill , with it being a reservoir , that was going to suit my style a little bit . I could look for deals that I do back home — kind of the same thing I did at Conroe , like brushpile fishing and points and rock piles and stuff like that . And luckily at Clarks Hill , my first hour of practice I caught a decent limit of fish , and that definitely gave me a confidence booster that what I was doing was right , and then I was able to build on that for the next couple days of practice and then even going into the tournament . Once I would catch my limit each day , I would spend like half the day practicing and looking at new stuff that I hadn ’ t looked at yet to try to kind of practice while I was in the tournament . And it really worked there , and then when that happened , that really boosted my confidence for the next several events .”
Q . What was the biggest thing you learned throughout last season ?
A . “ What I really learned last year that I wasn ’ t doing prior to the Invitationals is I wasn ’ t fishing fast enough . I found that I could fish through areas a lot faster , and I didn ’ t have to necessarily catch a lot , but I could cover the amount of water needed to be able to run into areas that had fish . ( Before last year ) I would spend a lot of time on the really good-looking stuff and trying to figure out how to get those fish to bite versus moving on and finding active fish .”
Q . How would you describe yourself as a fisherman ? What ’ s your style , your strengths and weaknesses ? What sort of fisheries do you feel most confident on ?
A . “ Natural lakes is probably my number one confidence . Okoboji is a natural lake that has grass and rock piles , stuff like that . I ’ ve had a lot of success up there . And then another strength is reservoirs — brushpile fishing or anywhere I can kind of isolate where the fish are going to be . I really like throwing jigs and crankbaits , so I try to kind of mix power with finesse .”
Q . You ’ re back in the Invitationals in 2024 . Was that an easy decision even though you don ’ t have the financing through TBF this time around ?
A . “ Yeah , I made just enough money ( in 2023 ) to do it again this year . So that ’ s kind of where I ’ m leaving it . I ’ m going to try to make it last and run as long as I can , and hopefully pick up some more sponsors as it goes . I ’ m really trying to grow my social media and stuff like that to help with all that .”
Q . I know your TBF journey was a little different than most having to fish in a different state than you lived , but how did TBF help put you on this path ? Is that something more people should be aware of , how quickly you can get from fishing locally to where you are now ?
A . “ Absolutely . I think for a lot of talent in every state , locally , that advancement is not the easiest decision to make . But with me , the money from winning the 2022 National Championship was enough to get me to be able to not only be qualified but to go and chase the dream , and that was definitely a huge game-changer for me .”
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78 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | FEBRUARY-MARCH 2024