Of all the elements comprising a Bassmaster Classic Night of Champions, the most easily overlooked would have to be the highlight reel music? I mean, it’s there, but set against the barrage of dramatic images, no one really notices, right?
Well, record 2024 as the year of the perfectly paired and profoundly meaningful music selection.
Aerosmith’s Dream On teed up one of the most sincere and motivational speeches we’ve heard in a long time. But before we review 2023 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Kyle Welcher’s brief, yet poignant presentation, consider the song’s backstory — one with a striking relevance to Welcher’s tale.
Expressing the inevitable highs and lows of passionately pursuing one’s ambitions, future Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler wrote the Dream On lyrics at age 14. He’d put those words to music about three years later.
Released as a single in 1973, Dream On would become one of Aerosmith’s biggest hits, ultimately earning a 2018 induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
So what does this have to do with bass fishing? Consider the chorus.
Dream on.
Dream on.
Dream on.
Dream until your dreams come true.
He dreamed, he worked, he achieved.
Tyler or Welcher?
Both, actually.
Variance and victory
On a night reserved for honoring champions across the spectrum of Bassmaster competition, Welcher spoke truths that no-doubt resonated with every angler in the sound of his voice. He began with a self-prescribed dose of reflective reality.
“This is an unbelievable sport,” Welcher said. “Last year, I wasn’t even in this room.”
Setting the stage for Welcher’s explanation, Bassmaster Emcee Dave Mercer had welcomed Welcher to the stage with his standard Elite Series introduction — a title Welcher did not immediately embrace.
“The first time that Mercer called me ‘Stone Cold Kyle Welcher,’ I told my wife, ‘I don’t really get it,’ and she was like, ‘It kinda fits,’” Welcher said. “My entire adult life is pretty well documented. I played poker professionally, and I dealt with a lot of games that had a lot of variance — a lot of variables that you can control and some that you can’t control.”
Here’s where Welcher parallel parks it right between regret and redemption.
“Variance is not why I wasn’t at the Classic last year; I made bad decisions (in 2022) and didn’t catch ‘em,” he said. “But because of my willingness to embrace variance, now, I’m super glad that I have the nickname Stone Cold, because my entire adult life has been an up-and-down. After you do that so many times, you kinda get numb to it.
“That’s the beautiful thing about this sport — it’s performance based. Whenever it’s going bad, it feels terrible, but when it goes good, it feels better than it’s ever been. The 2022 season was like that for me. It felt like everything I did was wrong and then in 2023, we came out of it higher than we’ve ever been.”
The connection
Referencing the evening’s highlight reel, which showed victorious moments from past Classics, Welcher shared a candid glimpse into his formative year.
“I remember sitting in my parents living room as a teenager and I was looking through a Bassmaster gallery and it was Aaron Martens giving an AOY speech,” Welcher recalled. “That was the first time I saw that there was a Night of Champions. I saw all those guys in suits and how seriously they took bass fishing.
“That just lit a fire in me. From where I was sitting, it seemed like an entirely different world. It didn’t even seem like there was a pathway to get there.”
Fortunately, Welcher would come to recognize the route to his dreams.
“B.A.S.S. has done a phenomenal job of making an ironed-out path. But I quickly realized that when you make your own path, you stop comparing yourself to other people, you compare yourself to who you were the day before, and you work hard, you can make your own path and get there. That’s what I had to do.”
Dream on.
Dream on.
Dream on.
Dream until your dreams come true.
The 31-year-old Welcher wasn’t even born when Aerosmith released that song. Nevertheless, his message is remarkably similar.
“Every time I thought about this speech during the offseason, or leading up to this week, I would think about me looking through those pictures and not thinking there was a direction to get here,” Welcher said. “But then you just work hard and it happens.
“So, any of the kids that are out there; you gotta make your own path, you gotta make it happen and you have to work every single day to be better than you were the day before.”
Notables
Along with Welcher’s words of wisdom, the night brought several moments of recognition, inspiration and humor.
The 100: B.A.S.S. CEO Chase Anderson handed out the four Century Club belts earned during the 2023 season. The anglers honored for four-day totals of 100 pounds or more (all during the season finale at the St. Lawrence River) were Patrick Walters, Chris Johnston, Kyoya Fujita and Takumi Ito.
Hall of Fame: Mercer recognized 2024 Bass Fishing Hall of Fame inductees, Bassmaster LIVE host and 1999 Classic champion Mark Zona and J.M. Associates President Mike McKinnis.
Candles on the Cake: Classic week finds three special people celebrating birthdays: Elite pro and Classic qualifier Justin Hamner, Bassmaster Publications Assistant Editor Natalie Landers and Davy Hite’s wife Natalie.
Grins and giggles: The Progressive Insurance Sea Shanties entertained the crowd with their “dad joke” comedy routine that cleverly worked in fishing references along with their boat insurance tune.
Random observations: Recognizing defending Classic champ, Jeff Gustafson, Mercer said: “Hating Gussie is like hating the Easter Bunny.” (He’d later extended a similar compliment to Ito by calling him “the Japanese Jeff Gustafson.”)
But wait, there’s more.
Celebrating 19-year-old Elite Rookie Trey McKinney as the youngest angler to win an Elite event, Mercer offered this gem: “He was the first person to weigh more weight than he actually weighs. He weighed 130 pounds, 15 ounces, but he weighs 122 pounds.
“It’s frustrating for me because losing Trey McKinney is now my goal.”
Credit where it’s due: Appropriately, Welcher wrapped up the night with a heartfelt round of thanks to his family, especially his wife, Hunter Brooke, who delivered their son Lincoln last fall. He also gave a closing nod of respect to the ones who created the platform upon which he has excelled.
“Thanks to B.A.S.S. and Chase for staying true to the sport and giving people like me, that are too stubborn to quit, a place where we can rise to the top.”
So, whose Classic dream will come true this week?
