Back Story: Practically Bulletproof

On the evening of November 17, 2007, Spencer Shuffield was stretched flat-out on the ground in a woods near Bismarck Ark., looking up at the dimming sky. As he lay there, he recalls, the first thought that came into his mind was whether he would ever be able to fish again. And then, oh yeah, come to think of it, he also wondered whether he would even live.

Another deer hunter armed with a .30-06 loaded with 180-grain bullets had shot what he thought was a buck moving through the undergrowth, but what he hit instead was Shuffield’s upper left leg. The impact blew out chunks of Spencer’s quadriceps femoris muscle and turned his thigh into a hunk of bloodshot meat. Shuffield had three pieces of luck going for him that day, however. The expanding bullet passed by his femoral artery with less than an inch to spare and missed his femur by a couple of centimeters. Perhaps best of all, Shuffield’s friend, Samuel Holt, was there to help stop the bleeding and get him out of the woods and to medical treatment as quickly as possible.

After surgeons removed a couple of segments of Shuffield’s quadriceps, a doctor told the 18-year-old that he would never run again, and that he would walk with a pronounced limp for the rest of his life. To the contrary – a few months later Shuffield was running again, typically from where he had parked a boat trailer to back down the ramp where a boat was waiting to take him fishing.

That the 22-year-old Shuffield prioritizes fishing at least slightly above living in the order of things might help explain his quick recovery and why he’s the 2011 FLW Outdoors Co-Angler of the Year. The Arkansas fisherman won that distinction at the Walmart FLW Tour event on Pickwick Lake July 21-24. Now it’s on to the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita, which fishes like nearby Lake DeGray where Spencer cut his fishing teeth. If he wins the co-angler title on Ouachita, he’ll collect at least $50,000. That will run the fully rigged Ranger 198 he took home for winning the 2011 Co-Angler of the Year title for a while, plus pay some entry fees.

In placing fifth in the Pickwick tournament, Shuffield beat fellow Arkansas fisherman Keeton Blaylock by one point in the Co-Angler of the Year Race. The competition had been close all season among Blaylock, Patrick Bone of Georgia, Mike Helton of Indiana and Richard Peek of Alabama, but Shuffield’s 11th hour victory somehow seemed destined, though deferred. Since joining the Walmart FLW Tour in 2007, Shuffield has finished 2nd, 9th, 2nd, 6th and now 1st, respectively, in the annual co-angler standings. In the 2008 season kickoff tournament, at Lake Tohopakaliga in late February, Shuffield was still recovering from his devastating wound, but managed to claim sixth place in the co-angler standings. Granted, he went on to have his worst season – finishing 9th overall – but getting shot does slow a body down.

In that same Toho tournament, Shuffield’s dad placed third in the pro standings. Dad is Ron Shuffield, who’s been at the top of the sport for many years. Though the pair always practice for Walmart FLW Tour events together, father and son have never drawn each other as partners in a competition. Figuratively speaking, however, Ron and mom, Debbie, are always in Spencer’s boat as his career advisers, business managers and head cheerleaders.

At one point in 2010, Spencer got down on himself so badly that he was almost ready to call it quits. His father is also self-critical and like most successful pros, he uses the anger he directs at himself for his fishing shortcomings as a motivational tool. Perhaps Ron recognized that same trait in Spencer. Whatever the reason, he encouraged his son to stick with it.

“I was ready to at least take a break from fishing after finishing 49th at Table Rock and 24th at Lake Norman,” notes Spencer. “But dad pushed me on. He paid my entry fee for the Ft. Loudoun/Tellico tournament [in April 2010] and said I should go at least one more. I ended winning that son of a gun [Ron finished 13th on the pro side] and came away with a different attitude.”

Considering Spencer’s track record and pedigree, you’d think he’d be a pro already. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about it,” he says of the notion, but the distance between the back of a boat and the bow in Walmart FLW Tour Majors and Opens can be expansive, and expensive.

“I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the back and now I’m focused on getting to the front,” says Shuffield. “I feel like I’m ready as a fisherman, but the other thing is the cost. It’s really expensive to go to the front. You’ve either got to have enough money of your own if you don’t have sponsors, or you have to have sponsors to pay your entry fees and help you out with expenses. I’m not there yet; I’m waiting my turn.”

Spencer’s dad became a touring pro when he was in his early 30s; Spencer is on the launching pad and he’s only 22. Ron looks like the guy who modeled for the original Marlborough Man ad, and Spencer is a younger Ron with a beard. He looks like a pro, talks like a pro, and wins like a pro. As soon as the right sponsors come along, he’ll be one in the Walmart FLW Tour ranks.