McDonald land
Bill and Brandon plan on super sizing their careers and pocket books at the EverStart Championship
The road to becoming a full-time professional bass angler is paved with many difficulties that can create chasms within the family structure. For the McDonald family of Indianapolis, however, these roadblocks do not exist. The McDonald family grows stronger by fishing together.
Forty-two-year-old Bill McDonald and his 20-year-old son Brandon both qualified for the 2002 EverStart Series Championship through the Central Division. For the elder McDonald, this second championship appearance in two years is another step closer to the Wal-Mart FLW Tour. For the younger McDonald, who is enjoying his first full season as an EverStart co-angler, qualifying for the championship starts his journey toward a professional bass-fishing career.
Family Before Fishing
“I know a lot of anglers who let their fishing interfere with family,” said Bill, a familiar face at FLW Outdoors events for years. “They lost focus on what is really most important in life. You have to keep your priorities right. For me, that’s God first, then the family and then my fishing. Everything else will follow suit. The times I struggle the most on the tournament trail occur when I get my priorities mixed up and start thinking fishing is more important than my family.”
No matter how hectic their schedule, the McDonalds always make time to support their church even when weekend travel interferes with regular Sunday attendance. That support takes several forms, including extensive involvement in an annual Easter pageant as well as forming a bass club through their church to encourage fellowship. Bill also leads Fellowship of Christian Angler meetings prior to BFL tournaments in the Hoosier Division.
“It is this fellowship that keeps me focused,” said the elder McDonald.
Bill admits that a full-time job and an aggressive fishing schedule can be very trying.
“It’s all about time management,” he said. “When I’m home, I do things to help my wife. It’s not easy to give her quality time, provide adequate time for all my kids’ activities, work a 40-hour week and still find time both to practice and participate in tournaments. I would like to be in a situation where I just fish and spend time with my family. At this point in time, however, I have to work to afford to fish.”
A construction superintendent on commercial buildings, Bill has been employed in the field for 22 years – the same number of years he has been married to his wife, Candy. In addition to Brandon, Bill and Candy have a 16-year-old daughter, Brittany. But unlike her brother, Brittany has little interest in fishing.
When Brandon graduated from high school in 2000, he found employment in a local sporting goods store and immediately began looking at tournament fishing seriously. Participating in the BFL’s Hoosier Division, he made the regional his first season. He followed that up with the full EverStart schedule in 2002, making the championship on the co-angler side.
“It’s nice to see Brandon put his focus where his dad’s interest is,” Candy said. “Rather than follow a separate path as some sons do after high school, Brandon and Bill are going down the same road. They have always been very close. I’m glad they are able to share competitive fishing, which draws them even closer.
“I think it’s very cool they ended up making the championship together. Becoming a professional bass fisherman is a dream my husband has had for a long time. Now my son has adopted that same goal. I’ll stand behind them, as long as I’m not required to start fishing myself!”
Angling Heritage
Make no mistake about it – the McDonald men have a long history of fishing. Bill’s father immensely enjoyed fishing, as did his grandfather. It was a tradition that was passed down to Bill and his older brother Mike at an early age. In turn, Bill passed it on to Brandon.
“Dad put a rod in my hands as soon as I could walk,” Bill said. “As a teenager, I spent summers fishing for bluegills and bass at a strip pit leased by my parents. As soon as Brandon was old enough to hold a rod, I had him out fishing ponds. With my brother Mike and I both participating in tournaments, Brandon always had the opportunity to fish with one of us during practice periods – any time he didn’t have a ball game.”
At an early age, Brandon was competing in the occasional team tournament with his father. When Brandon was 11, they finished in the money for the first time, and Bill gave his son 50 percent of the winnings. That helped to spur his interest in competitive fishing.
During his high school years, Brandon was committed to sports, including football, wrestling and baseball. He had little spare time, and what time he did have he spent on hunting. It wasn’t until Brandon graduated that he turned his competitive intensity toward fishing.
“My goal is to become a professional fisherman,” Brandon said. “I know a lot of young guys say that, but I have a plan to make it a reality.” His plan involves fishing the BFL as a boater and the EverStart Series as co-angler next season as well as fishing the EverStart Series as a pro the following season.
“This will build my confidence and experience on different waters,” he said. “Hopefully, in three or four years, with the right breaks, I’ll be fishing full time.”
Competitive Cooperation
While the competitive spirit drives father and son during tournaments, their strategies are based on shared information acquired in practice. “I help Brandon, and he helps me,” Bill said. “Plus, Brandon is always eager to try something different.”
This collaboration was clearly demonstrated in 2001 on Mississippi’s Lake Ferguson during Brandon’s first EverStart Series tournament. While pre-fishing, the McDonalds and several cooperating anglers found a small lake off the main river that had good fish in it, but they could not get boats into it due to a logjam. The group cut trees for two days to gain access.
Brandon, along with pro angler Wesley Strader of Spring City, Tenn., volunteered to swim under the tree limbs to trace the water flow. Other anglers cut trees and brush with handsaws as they worked their way up the flooded channel. During the first two days of competition, several of the boats made it up the creek, but by the third day, the water level had dropped too far.
“Unfortunately, Brandon never got a draw that allowed him to fish the hidden lake on competition days,” Bill said. “He quickly learned a lesson that extra effort in practice may not always pay off.”
Favored Techniques
Bill’s tournament-fishing success is based on flipping and pitching plus shallow-water cranking. These techniques play well on the waters fished in the EverStart Central Division.
Bill said he doesn’t consider himself a solid finesse fisherman who’s good with a spinning rod, but he does admit to downsizing baits this season in order to remain competitive through the entire four-tournament circuit.
“In the past, I always went for the win, which usually meant I stuck with big baits – especially my go-to Zoom Brush Hog,” Bill said. “However, this past season I downsized to the Baby Brush Hog, and it helped maintain my points standing.”
Bill credits his older brother Mike for getting him started in competitive fishing. Initially the brothers fished team events, sharing several wins.
“Mike taught me a lot about flipping and pitching,” Bill said. “Later I learned skinny-water cranking from Gary Dees, an individual I consider one of the country’s best shallow-water crankbait fishermen. What I know about deep water, I learned from Mel Belt, who was a great worm fisherman. I always tell the young guys starting out that one key is to fish with an individual who is good at what you want to learn. Ask questions, but most of all, simply observe what they do.”
Brandon has taken his dad’s advice to heart. “I had the opportunity to fish with Jim Tutt of Texas, one of my heroes in bass fishing,” Brandon said. “I certainly learned from him, particularly how to fish a Senko around buck brush – that’s a bait I had never used before.
“During practice for the Ferguson Lake tournament, I fished with another angler I admire a lot, Wesley Strader. Wesley taught me more about the details of sight-fishing in one afternoon than I could have learned in several years on my own. There are definitely advantages to being a co-angler in these events.”
“That’s what I like about the co-angler format,” Bill said. “If someone is just getting started in tournament fishing, you can learn a lot by paying attention to the more experienced angler. But that works both ways. Even a boat owner can learn from a co-angler if they keep an open mind. There are a lot of awfully good fishermen on the co-angler side in these events.”
Brandon credits his father and uncle for teaching him how to flip a Brush Hog – referring to it as “the family tradition.” It was a handmade crankbait called a Rootin’ Ron, however, that weighed in more pounds for Brandon in 2002 EverStart events than any other lure.
“What I’m working on right now are techniques for break fishing,” Brandon said. “I’m tired of getting beat in some events by those guys fishing deeper offshore structure.”
In keeping with his plan to fish the BFL as a boater next season, Brandon recently bought his first boat – a used rig that will see him though a few seasons. Which make, you ask? Well, with his dad sponsored by Ranger Boats and his uncle Mike being a Ranger factory sales representative, Brandon would not have been allowed back in the house if he had purchased anything else.
With his son out of high school and his daughter almost there, Bill looks forward to more practice time for tournaments. “If things go right, I would like to be fishing full time in a couple of years,” Bill said. “But I couldn’t do tournaments without the full support of my family and the support of my sponsors.”
If Bill advances to the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Candy will be there with him. “With the children grown, I’ll be ready to travel with him,” she said. “But don’t expect to see me holding a fishing rod. On practice days, I’m content to sit in the back of the boat and read a good book.”
But what do mother and daughter do on tournament day? “We go shopping,” Candy said. “That’s an area of expertise we share.”
“Yes, they like to shop,” Bill said. “But I tell them they can only pre-shop until after the tournament to see if there are any winnings to actually spend!”