Tuesday Tour Update: Coulter changes it up
Professional bass fishing brings out a wide range of emotions for an angler, often changing by the minute. When you look past the fancy boats, wrapped trucks and jerseys plastered with logos, all anglers share a common feeling – fishing is fun. That doesn’t always hold true as the years roll by, but for the most part these guys wouldn’t be out there if they weren’t enjoying themselves.
On the flip side, you have a group of anglers that lose sight of where they once came from and view tournaments simply as a job. Sure, it’s smart to take tournaments as serious as you would a normal 9 to 5 gig, but it can hurt the way you fish by limiting what you are willing to do. Brandon Coulter of Knoxville, Tenn., has fished this way for years and now is turning a new leaf and going back to what feels right.
“In this sport you get in a rhythm,” explained Coulter. “But it’s not always a good rhythm. Fishing to me became less about the competitive aspect and having fun and more about making money. For the past few years it has been a methodical business thing to me.”
Things started to take shape for Coulter after day one of the season opener on Okeechobee.
“I went to Okeechobee with the mindset to just catch what I needed to in order to cash a check,” said Coulter. “I had a decent bag after day one and I was feeling pretty good. I talked to my family that night and my son – who is the most competitive person I know – told me to just go out and catch 14 pounds, get a check and come home. For whatever reason that really bothered me to where I didn’t sleep well that night.
“I’m real conscious about what I present to my children and then it hit me. I had taught my son to be average. That really lit a fire in me that I was teaching my children to just sustain. So I decided that I was going to go out and fish to win and compete from then on.”
Coulter headed out on day two and whacked a 20-pound, 13-ounce bag to vault him into the top 20. He would finish the tournament in 16th place but more importantly found the spark that got his competitive nature going again.
“I have carried the notion of fishing to win and make cuts through the whole season. The only bad thing is that when you fall, you fall hard.”
Both Lewis Smith Lake and Grand provided Coulter with his two lowest finishes of the season – 81st and 107th.
“I had the bites to do really well on Grand Lake but I just didn’t execute like I needed to. I was proud of myself because I could have panicked and ran around trying to catch 12 pounds to play it safe, but I didn’t. I stayed with what I wanted to do from the start of the tournament and let the chips fall where they may.”
Surprisingly, the one tournament that Coulter did the best this year is also the tournament that he has the only regret with.
“I know it may sound crazy, but if I was truly trying to win Beaver I would have come in with no fish on the final day. The area I was fishing had very small windows of opportunities to catch fish. They either bit in morning or afternoon but when they started going you could catch 17 pounds quick. I should have stayed in there during the last 45 minutes on the final day, but instead I ran to the bridge to catch a small limit of spots just to have something to weigh in. That was the only time this year that I stopped trying to win.”
His confident, relaxed fishing style shined through at Lake Eufaula as well. After a terrible practice Coulter decided to throw a bait that he was comfortable with and thought could win the tournament – a Pop-R. He caught nearly 20 pounds on day one on the Pop-R and ended the derby in 35th place.
Coulter currently sits 26th in the Angler of the Year points standings with one tournament to go. With the final tournament being held on Lake Chickamauga – roughly an hour from his house – Coulter is on pace to have his best finish in the points race to date.
“Family is everything to me. I talk to them about everything and get advice from both my kids and my wife. My wife has always supported me but has never really been involved in my fishing until this year. She helps run a Tuesday tournament thing we do back home and has basically become a part of the fishing community. She even drove all night from Knoxville to Clewiston (Lake Okeechobee) to get there right before takeoff when I made the top-20 cut. So to be able to end the season close to home will be special.
“As for Chick, I feel a little bit of pressure right now. I am going to go out and try to win this one but at the same time I want to play a little defense to make the Forrest Wood Cup. It’s fun to compete again and not treat fishing like a job. Not settling has worked for me this year and it is a lot more fun than trying to grind out checks.”