Now that we’re two-thirds of the way through the Bassmaster Elite Series season, I’m super happy with where I’m sitting. I’m currently 19th in Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year and third in Dakota Lithium Bassmaster Rookie of the Year. I’m in a good spot, but when I think about how my year started, it’s even more incredible.
Placing 101st at the St. Johns River Elite and 93rd at Lake Okeechobee Elite was very frustrating. But following that with a Bassmaster Classic win, three Elite Top 10s and one top 20 — I’ve had almost the best comeback possible. I’m back in the Rookie of the Year race, and that’s super cool because that title is a big goal of mine.
It feels good to turn the season around and find myself sitting in a really good spot as we head into the final three Elite events.
Winning the Classic was definitely the turning point for me. After the first two Elite events, I went home to Alabama and just fished as much as I could and kind of got out of that slump.
After those first two events I was having second thoughts for a while, but winning the Classic was definitely the confidence boost I needed to reaffirm that I do belong at this level.
Honestly, coming into the Elites, I was completely starstruck. I was competing against the people I’ve looked up to my whole life. But with the mental side of this sport, it doesn’t take much to have one bad event and let it snowball into the next event and the next. Before you know it, you’ve lost all your confidence.
One of the biggest things I’ve learned about this sport is you can’t let yourself get too high, and you can’t let yourself get too low. You have to stay in the middle ground as best you can.
A big part of that has been managing the incredible experience of winning a Classic. It was pretty easy for me to stay in the zone. Everyone reached out and wanted to talk about the win, and I was able to talk about my mental mindset a lot after the Classic.
I did my best to space out the interviews over a period of time and that really helped. I definitely got good at managing time.
Obviously, you’ve got to celebrate that life-changing win, but I realized I still had most of the season ahead of me. I had to tell myself, winning the Classic was great, but to see myself at the bottom of the AOY points really made me mad.
That was the biggest motivator for me — I had to find a way to turn this around and ride this Classic momentum. Thankfully, I was able to do that.
I can say during the last four Elite events, every decision I made felt right. I didn’t second guess anything.
We’ve gone to very different fisheries — we had a herring lake (Hartwell); we had Lake Fork, which is one of a kind; and we had two tidal fisheries (the Pasquotank River and Sabine River). We covered the spectrum, and it took a lot of confidence to be able to adapt on all those different bodies of water and come out with good finishes.
That shows how much confidence I have from the momentum train I’m riding right now. That’s very important now that ROY is within reach.
I’ve gone from seeing my name at the bottom of the Angler of the Year standings to knowing that I can win the Rookie of the Year title. I don’t want to let that slip through my fingers.
