Rayovac Redemption
To begin my ridiculously long off-season, I’ll reflect on my 2014 tournament season. The Walmart FLW Tour was hard on me. Of course, it started with that mechanical disaster en route to the first-day weigh-in at Okeechobee (the season-opener) and concluded with my first whiff on the Forrest Wood Cup in 13 years. I’ve erased it completely already, so I can’t reflect on any of it. It was atrocious!
I decided to jump into the Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division tournaments this year, not only to supplement my income, but also to try to get back a little swagger of some kind. Looking for confidence in this way can most certainly backfire on you big time, as it did a few years back. That season, I had a rough event at Beaver Lake and decided to rebound by entering into a local team derby with a buddy. We finished fourth, which usually isn’t a bad place to finish, but not when there are only nine boats in the field.
The Rayovac anglers are no slouches. Mainly they’re either very good local sticks or pros like me who have been around for a while. Going in, I realized that the dates of the Northern Division schedule bumped up against my Tour campaign a bit and that my practice time would be limited, but I decided at the last minute to go for it.
Here’s a brief breakdown of my Rayovac season:
It was supposed to kick off on the James River, but Mother Nature, combined with a freak oil spill upstream from takeoff, foiled that plan. After a couple of unbelievable practice days, as good as I’ve ever experienced, the season-opener was first postponed and finally rescheduled for later in the summer.
The next event – or should I say the first – took place on the Potomac River. I had another good practice, though only a day and a half, and I found something way up north that revolved around high tide. As my luck would have it, the wind blew the tide way out on day one, and there was literally no water in my golden area. I went into scramble mode and late that day found out where they went. I was so excited for day two. However, the loss of two big fish in the opening round and two more on day two ruined my chance to lead the field, but I still managed to make the top-10 final-day cut. In grand fashion, I lost a fish at the end of day three that would have culled my weight up a couple more pounds, but as they say … that’s fishin’. I ended up in fourth place and frittered away a rare chance to win.
In my second Rayovac tournament, I blew another walk-into-the-end-zone victory. After leading on Lake Champlain for the first two days and building nearly a 5-pound margin, I choked on the final cut day. I came up a pound and a half short. All I needed was just one more of those 4-pound-plus largemouth like I had in my limits the first two days. I had 10 and just needed one more on day three – ONE! It was like a slow-motion nightmare: It was the weekend, guys were following me, guys were fishing the spots I had all to myself previously. To top it off, I broke off seven fish … what? That doesn’t happen, right? The day made no sense at all, and I quickly realized that it simply wasn’t meant to be again for some reason. I fell to third place in the tournament but took over the lead for the division’s Angler of the Year race with only the rescheduled event remaining.
It was back to the James River to wrap up the season. I hate fishing when it’s hot, and I wasn’t really looking forward to this one, but as I rolled into the Richmond area I found that the weather was actually cooler than expected. Here again, I had a limited practice due to another obligation, but the time I spent on the river was valuable. I found a pattern that was definitely going to produce some really big bites. It was also a situation where I would be prone to losing fish. Still, I settled on one small creek and focused on wood on the deeper channel swings.
Going into this one, my goal was to make the top-10 cut. The guys who were close behind in the AOY points are good. In particular, I thought that Chris Johnston from Ontario would force that issue. I struggled a little on the opening day, but, fortunately, Chris stumbled too. I weighed 9 pounds and sat in 28th place, leaving the door ajar for others to advance.
It was still possible for me to make the cut, but now I had to consider the charge of William Shelton III, who was within a couple of points of passing me in the AOY. Doing the math, I knew I needed to move up in the standings on day two, and if I could just get to 20th, I would control my own destiny even if Shelton won the tournament.
With my co-angler, Tom Yi, as my witness, I once again was hindered by the loss of three huge fish on day two. Still, the blow was softened by the fact that my 11-pound, 5-ounce limit was just enough for me to reach my goal of the day – 20th place. I won the Angler of the Year title in the Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division by six points.
Blowing the chance to win back-to-back events obviously stings in many ways; opportunities like that just don’t happen very often. But this AOY, especially considering the caliber of fishermen who make up the Northern Rayovacs, certainly helped rejuvenate my dwindling confidence. It’s made a positive change in my attitude going into next year’s Walmart FLW Tour season. The slate has been wiped clean.
The Rayovac FLW Series Championship is up next. Set for Oct. 30-Nov. 1, it pits the best of the Series’ five divisions against each other on Wheeler Lake in Alabama. Berths into the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita are at stake, so there is still more work to do. After my first Cup miss this year, I can’t even begin to explain how great it would feel to lock up a ticket to Hot Springs sooner rather than later.