In February, 21-year-old Stetson Blaylock of Benton, Ark., will be shedding his status as a co-angler and stepping to the front of the boat as a pro in the 2009 Walmart FLW Tour. But before he makes that quantum leap and begins forging a career from the front deck, FLWOutdoors.com wanted to review Blaylock’s blistering back-deck career to glean some insight on what it takes to be the best from the back.
Quiet and modest, Blaylock is not one to boast about his co-angling accomplishments. And no bragging is necessary because his back deck stats stand out on their own. In just four years on the FLW Tour (2005-2008) and two seasons in the BP Eastern Division of the Walmart FLW Series (2006-2007), Blaylock has amassed winnings of nearly $150,000 as a co-angler.
In the last three seasons, he has scored 10 top-10 finishes, including two wins in the FLW Series. In 2008, he claimed victory at the Walmart Open on Beaver Lake and then finished runner-up at the next FLW Tour event on Fort Loudoun-Tellico. Those top finishes helped push him to the top of the Co-angler of the Year points race for 2008.
That’s a spectacular resume for a 21-year-old. But Blaylock is quick to point out that his bass-fishing education started long before he began reeling in big bucks from back decks on the FLW Tour.
As a teenager, Blaylock spent three nights a week fishing night tournaments on lakes around central Arkansas.
Although normally reserved in conversation, Blaylock is a bit more vocal when it comes to rendering an opinion of the fishing talent found in his home state.
“Arkansas has the best bass anglers in the country,” he said. “And I’m not just talking about the big names we all know either; I’m talking about names most people have never heard of. I can name at least 20 guys in central Arkansas who could compete against the best pros in the country, but most of them will never have that opportunity. I have fished alongside these great locals in night tournaments since I was 10 years old, and that’s a fishing education you can’t get anywhere else at that age.”
By the time Blaylock hit the FLW Tour as a co-angler at the age of 16, he was well-versed in even the most advanced techniques of bass fishing. As a result, he is a proponent of being versatile with a multitude of lures and techniques. And although dragging a big football-head jig in deep water has figured heavily into half of his wins, shallow-water techniques like flipping, ChatterBaits and finesse jigs have been responsible for the other half.
Interestingly, Blaylock is not a big fan of the shaky head – which has become the bread-and-butter technique of back-deckers.
“I don’t really like spinning rods to begin with,” he reasoned. “That’s a product of my upbringing. You don’t win many tournaments in central Arkansas with a spinning rod in your hand.
“Don’t get me wrong,” he then countered. “As a co-angler, I carry a spinning rod with me almost every tournament day; every now and then a spinning rod produces a clutch fish. But during 2008, I did most of my damage with casting tackle.”
When the floor opens for discussion on being a better co-angler, Blaylock points to a proper attitude, controlling emotions and staying focused as more critical components to winning than what is tied to the end of the line.
“A lot of times I think co-anglers are looking to one lure they can tie on and catch fish after fish, no matter where the pro goes – and it simply does not work that way,” he said. “The best lure in the world is worthless if your pro does not go to the right kind of water to use it. And that’s the hardest lesson to learn as a co-angler: Don’t get locked onto one lure or technique before the tournament starts. Because as soon as you get your heart set on something like dragging a Carolina rig out deep, you’ll draw a guy fishing in 2 feet of water, and your mind will be toast before the tournament even begins.”
With that said, Blaylock does not see practice as a prerequisite to winning a tournament, either. Sure, it’s good to see the lake and get a feel for what’s going on, but he cautions the real danger lies in getting attached to preconceived notions, which can be disastrous in the tournament.
“I’ve probably won more money as a co-angler not practicing than practicing,” Blaylock said. “My first co-angler win at the FLW Series on Pickwick came from hardly any practice. As a result, I was never sold on any one technique going into the first day. I truly started that tournament with an open mind.
“Winning it taught me that entering a tournament day with set expectations about lures and techniques can be detrimental. That doesn’t mean practice is bad; it just means you have to be guarded about getting set on a certain technique when you have no idea where you are going or what you will be doing in the tournament.”
On the topic of practice, Blaylock says he never takes his own boat for practice and recommends, if time allows, practicing with a pro or two.
“The idea of practice for a co-angler is not to find a specific pattern, but to see as much of the lake as possible – all the cover, water colors and different fishing options that you may encounter. That way, at least mentally, you can be ready for anything.”
If you are going to practice for several days, Blaylock suggests going with a couple of different practice partners to see more of the lake.
“Some pros favor certain styles or areas of lakes and will stay in that kind of water for an entire practice period,” Blaylock explained. “For instance, a guy who likes to pitch and flip will probably stay in the upper arms of rivers or creeks. That’s a great education for a day, but you don’t want to spend three practice days with a pro doing the same thing. You’re better off to knock on a few doors around the motel to see if you can hitch a ride with someone else who might be going to the lower end of the lake to see something different.”
When it comes to finding a pro to practice with, Blaylock suggests selling yourself with common decency and hard work.
“It boils down to simple ethics,” the reigning Co-angler of Year opined. “If a pro lets you in his boat for a day of practice, don’t tell other anglers about where he went or what he caught. Not only is that now a violation of the rules, it’s just not right to tell other anglers that kind of information. Also, always throw something different than what your pro is throwing and help him cover water with different lures. Work hard to help that pro any way you can.
“If you get a reputation as a guy who gets in the boat, mimics everything a pros does and then goes back blabbing to the whole motel about what you caught, you probably won’t get too many offers to practice with pros; however, if word gets around that you work hard and keep quiet, you’ll find more invitations available to you.”
Deviating from what lure a pro is fishing is a convention that Blaylock follows both during practice and the tournament.
“I almost always fish something different for practice and the tournament,” he said. “I know other guys who will throw what the pro is throwing in the tournament, and it works great for them, but not for me. I have no confidence in fishing the same exact thing as the pro. I might throw something similar, but I’ll guarantee something is different – color, weight size, line size – something about my bait will be different.”
Whether he realizes it or not, perhaps Blaylock’s greatest asset as a co-angler is his ability to stay calm and focused under the most challenging of times.
I had the privilege of covering Blaylock several times when he fell short of his first win with second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place finishes in Tour and Series competition, and not once did he offer up the usual co-angler alibis of lost fish, being front-ended or not being able to fish the way he wanted.
Each time, he just shrugged it off and said, “It was not my time to win.”
Blaylock prefers not to complain about the injustices that plague other co-anglers.
“Challenging things are going to happen, and I’ve experienced them all,” he said. “Yeah, I’ve lost fish. Yeah, my pro has caught a limit in his first five casts, and I never got a bite. Yeah, I’ve had a great day of practice down by the dam, and my day-one partner hauled me up the river. Yeah, I’ve lost tournaments by ounces. Yeah, my pro has weighed in an awesome sack, and I’ve zeroed … and the list goes on.
“But if you’re going to fish as a co-angler, all that and more is going to happen, and you can either get upset and dwell on it, or you can put it behind you, get over it and stay focused on the task at hand.”
In dealing with tough breaks, Blaylock offers wisdom beyond his years.
“There is so much about fishing that is out of our control; getting upset is pointless,” he said. “We’re dealing with an animal in its natural world. Now, if it was golf, and I sliced one off into the woods, I’d probably get mad because I physically did something to make that ball fly off track. But in fishing, there’s only so much you can control – especially when you are in the back of the boat. And when you’ve done all you can do to control those things and something still goes wrong, why get upset?
“I did not fully understand this until I finally won at Pickwick. Then I realized that I did absolutely nothing different than the other times when I finished 100th – things just went my way. In fact, I zeroed the first day of that tournament and came back to win over the next two days.”
In 2009, Blaylock plans on taking this same focus to the front of the boat, where things will be much different.
“I realize that higher entry fees and more boat control provides more temptation to get mad at myself when things do not go right,” he said looking ahead to next year. “But I’m up for the challenge. One thing that being in the back of the boat has taught me is to deal with the tough breaks, move on and get refocused as quickly as possible.”
Before heading to the bow in February, Blaylock offers up a few more solid tips for new co-anglers:
Find a travel partner: “Traveling the Tour or Series with another co-angler or pro is a great way to alleviate costs. I got hooked up with pro John Tanner from Texas, and we got along great. We traveled, roomed and practiced together for many of the tournaments. It’s a tremendous help mentally and financially to have a reliable, trustworthy person to travel and split costs with.”
Don’t tell others about your practice with a pro: “The key to practicing with pros is showing respect and gaining their trust. Nothing ruins that faster than telling other anglers in the tournament what your pro practice partner was doing.”
Get over losing fish immediately: “You are going to lose fish, period; it happens to everybody. No one has boated every single bass in their tournament career. Things are going to happen, fish are going to come off, it’s that simple. How you deal with lost fish is the trick. You can either let one lost fish cause you to lose more fish because of your attitude – or not. I know it’s way easier said than done, but don’t dwell on lost fish. I’d love to tell you about the fish I’ve lost in tournaments, but I can’t because I’ve forgotten about them. Seriously, when I lose a fish, the first thing I do is forget about it; that’s a memory I don’t want to keep. One way I do that is to recall a fish or two that I never should have landed during a tournament but did. We always seem to forget about the catches that were barely hooked or that come off in the net. When these miracle catches happen, imprint them on your brain and recall them when a fish comes off – it’s a great way to cope with lost fish.”
Don’t let your pro’s sudden limit get you down: “Trying to keep pace with your pro partner during a tournament day is self-defeating. He paid way more money to compete, practiced longer, found the fish and has dialed in on a particular lure, area or maybe even a specific cast. There’s a good chance that when the day begins, he’s going to start catching fish before you do. Sometimes he might even catch a limit on his first spot and pull off it before you get a bite. Remember: He’s the pro; you’re not competing against him; he paid for that right to have total boat control and make the first casts to that exact place with that exact lure. Being upset by this only makes things worse for you. Just because your pro catches 15 pounds in the first 15 minutes does not mean your day is over with – you still have seven hours and 45 minutes to fish your heart out.”
Don’t be afraid to change: “This kind of goes back to not getting too locked in on what you’re throwing from day to day or hour to hour. As co-anglers, we are constantly being exposed to change. Things are 180 degrees different from day to day, from partner to partner, from practice to the tournament, from the upper end of the lake to the lower end of the lake, from out deep to the shallows. Seldom does one single lure stand up to all of these different variables. If you caught a good limit on a certain lure one day, be prepared to throw something different the next day to adapt to a new area or conditions. Above all, don’t die with one technique just because it produced a few good fish the day before.”
Sell yourself on the fact that you are around fish all of the time: “No matter what happens, you must sell yourself on the fact that you are around fish; no matter how tough your pro partner says practice has been; no matter how many days of practice he said he went without a bite; no matter if the boat breaks down and you have to pull over and start fishing some place neither one of you have ever fished in your life; no matter if your pro takes you the only place on your home lake where you have never caught a bass – you have got to believe in your heart that you are around fish and that you can catch them.”