Even a full-time tour pro can learn a thing or two fishing out of the back of the boat. Steve "Bub" Tosh, a Bass Cat and Mercury pro from California who fished the FLW Tour the past 2 seasons, gained a lot of valuable experience as a non-boater in the final four Bassmaster Elite Series events of 2006.
"I learned a lot," he said. "It was a chance to watch other guys have meltdowns and make mistakes and just mentally lose it.
"I saw how losing fish can make you do stupid things, and I learned how important time management and staying relaxed are. Hopefully from now on, I won't let one mishap blow my whole day."
He finished in the Top 25 in all four outings as a back-seater. His best showings were an 8th at Oneida and a 10th at Table Rock.
"I had a chance to win all but one of those tournaments," he said. "But as a non-boater, it's luck of the draw, and I always seemed to get the 50th-place guy who wasn't on anything for the last day. I usually blanked on those days, but I still ended up with two Top 10s."
He finished 88th in this year's FLW Tour points. His top finish was a 19th at the Wal-Mart Open (Beaver FLW).
He won't fish the FLW Tour in 2007, but instead will focus on the FLW Series Western Division. He hopes to also fish both the Bassmaster Central and Southern Opens in an attempt to qualify for the Elite Series.
"I decided quite awhile ago that I wanted to be on the Elite Series, and after Mercury got me into those four tournaments as a co-angler, that confirmed it. BASS looks after their anglers a little better, and they seem to be a little more concerned with angler relations and promotions.
"I mean, fans want to be as close to the dream of being a pro fisherman as they can get, and when it's 5 a.m. and you can stand 3 feet from Mike Iaconelli's boat and watch him tie on the jig he's going to fish that day, that's amazing. FLW doesn't give fans the same kind of opportunity to relate to the anglers."
He'll continue to run a Bass Cat Puma in '07.
"I've had two Pumas so far and they've been great," he said. "I think the best feature is the gas tank under the seat – it weights the boat different. The hole shot and the roughwater ride are both unbelievable and it turns on a dime."
