Let’s start out with a positive note… I learned ALOT. If you don’t learn something everyday on the water, you are doing something wrong and will be left in the dust in this sport. I always wondered how some guys you see in this sport can go on a tare for a couple years, build a name for themselves, and then fade off into oblivion. I think I know the answer, you HAVE to keep learning. Each one of these tournaments, I walked away with a lot of valuable lessons that will undoubtedly make me a better angler in the future.
Another positive note on the season… I lived out my dream of fishing an entire tour season and fishing the championship on the biggest stage in walleye fishing… the National Walleye Tour. I’ve always wanted to do this, and I always knew I would get there, I just didn’t think it would happen this year… I guess one of the positives of the COVID-19 effect. In the past, it’s been just too hard to commit the time to an entire season while maintaining a balance with my job at Delta and having little kids around the house that need my attention! When it became apparent that I was going to fly very little this year, and the NWT schedule came out, my wife and I decided this was a good year to go for it!
The number one thing that comes to my mind looking back on this season is ‘missed opportunity’… Each tournament, I was in position after day 1 to either cash a check or make a run at a top 5 or win, I had some great opportunities, I just couldn’t put a damn solid day 2 together. Ugh. Oconto, I was in 9th after day 1, the Lake went slick calm for day 2, and plan A of casting glide baits on a Door County reef fell apart. If I caught 5 descent fish, I would have scored a top 10. I made a move to a reef I had some success trolling on and got the bites. I think I had 6 bites that day, and only got 3 to the boat. I still pulled a check out of this one, but my mistakes are inexcusable, I had my chances to hit a big one. Saulte Ste Marie, same deal. I had the bites on day 2, just couldn’t get a full limit to the boat. If I did, I probably would have cashed a low end check, and would have been happy with that. Lake Sakakawea was a bit different. I had a plan going into day 2 that I was super confident in, the fish just weren’t biting. I think my mistake there was sticking on fish that weren’t biting. My Lowrance sonar doesn’t lie, I just couldn’t make them bite. Lesson learned on those reservoirs, if they ain’t biting, move on, find ones that are.
Lake Erie Championship out of Huron. This was a massive opportunity for me. Only 47 boats competing for a championship on my home body of water… Day 1 I made the right move. I was in the top 10 and on a pod of winning fish. I had a couple giants there in practice, dragging the mud in 50 feet of water with crankbaits. The problem was, those rods I dragged the bottom with didn’t catch many fish, but 1 or 2 of these could win it for me. My plan going into this tournament was to commit 1-2 rods to dragging the mud to catch a giant kicker fish, and use my other 2-3 rods to fill out my limit with 23-24 inch fish. I had well below my expectations of what I thought I was capable of catching in the area that after day 1, but it still put me in the top 10 and only 2lbs out of the lead. Then Mother Nature did her thing, we had a blow day, and the unthinkable happened. Every one of us in the top 10 after day 1, pretty much all of us in the same area in Lorain, got knocked out of the top 10 and didn’t make the cut. I spent a few hours in that area of the lake graphing around and make passes that day 2 morning. The bait was gone and there was only a quarter of the fish we had the entire week of practice and day 1 of the tournament. I probably spent too much time there, bailed around noon, and headed back toward the Huron area to see if I could round up a pod of fish, salvage the day, and make the cut. I started to pluck away at them between Huron and Cedar Point and was making upgrades. I just ran out of time. I don’t really regret the decisions on made, maybe spending a little too much time in Lorain on day 2, but damn I wish somehow the stars had aligned a little differently and I could have put on a better showing, oh well. It stings to end the season this way, but maybe its what I need to going into next season, the fire burns hotter than ever.
Going into this season, I had a goal to maintain a 50% check cashing rate on the NWT and to make the top 10 in Angler of the Year standings. I clearly didn’t do that, but looking at the big picture, it wasn’t all bad either. I still finished 17th in Angler of the Year amongst a VERY good field of anglers. I fix a few of my very correctable mistakes, and I would have been right where I had hoped. Big Picture revelation… I know I can be very competitive at this level, and I know there are better times to come on this stage. Thank you to all who followed me and supported me through this journey! Julia, Stella, Nora, Lucy, my parents and siblings, friends, Dan, traveling partners, Vic’s Sports Center, Starcraft, Mercury, Lowrance, Bert’s Custom Tackle, Off Shore Tackle, World Wide Marine Insurance, Northland Tackle, Berkley, Abu Garcia, Simms, Aqua Vu, and Fish Hawk, you guys rock!
