Photo: Bassmaster.com This is the second big title Jay Yelas has won fishing just below a dam.

Yelas Grabs AOY Title In Dramatic Fashion

Friday, May 23, 2003

"It's easily the biggest gamble I've ever made in my fishing career."
- Jay Yelas

Last July, Jay Yelas fished 500 yards below the Logan Martin Dam on the Coosa River to win the 2002 Classic. Fast forward to this week and it was deja vu, except this time he fished 500 yards below the Jordan Lake Dam – on the same river – and won the 2003 B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) title.

Today he weighed in 18-02 to move into 2nd place in the tournament and seal the title. Mark Davis was the only other AOY candidate to make the Top 12 cut at the Alabama River BASSMASTER, but can't make up the necessary ground on Yelas.

Another Big Gamble

When he won the Classic, Yelas took several gambles. He gambled that one spot would produce all the fish he needed, and he gambled that the dam gates would open long enough every day to turn on his fish and flood the areas he wanted to fish. It worked out.

This time he also gambled. "I was 1 point out of the lead, and instead of playing it conservatively and fishing safe water, I went running up in the rocks in my Skeeter," he said. "If Jordan Dam had shut their gates off for any reason, it would have been over for me. I would have been stuck in the rocks."

Before he got to the Alabama River event, he knew he was going to run up into the treacherous 2-mile section of rocky whitewater below Jordan Dam. "After winning the Classic that way, fishing below the Jordan dam for those big Coosa River spotted bass appealed to me," he said.

He arrived prepared for the whitewater. "In normal water levels, it looks like a trout steam up there, with big rocks and little chutes to jump over. The only way it can be run is with a jet boat. So I called Skeeter and Yamaha to see if I could get a jet sled, and they set me up with a G3 aluminum with a Yamaha jet foot. I also had my Skeeter here. One way or another, I was determined to get up there."

He used the G3 jet sled to climb the whitewater chutes in practice. On the first day he and a practice partner had 30 bites. "I spent the rest of the practice learning how to run those rapids," he said.

But then the Alabama River rose to flood stage. "That put about 4 or 5 feet of water over those rocks," he said. "So I had to decide whether to use the jet sled or my full-sized Skeeter glass boat to make the run." The aluminum jet boat would take Yelas an hour and 45 minutes riding time to reach his primary spot, whereas his Skeeter could get there in 45 minutes.

"With so much water up there I decided to use the Skeeter and gamble on the dam not shutting the gates," he said. "But even with the Skeeter, it was treacherous. Nobody else in practice or the tournament went up to where I was. I mean it was a tremendous risk with AOY on the line.

"It's easily the biggest gamble I've ever made in my fishing career. But in life I have learned there is no reward without risk."

Fishing Was Easy

Once he got to his place below the dam, the fishing was incredible, he said. His primary lure was a Berkley Power Tube (black neon) with a 1/2-ounce bullet weight to get it down in the current, fished on 20-pound Trilene XT.

"There were two rock faces up there – bluff walls – that were 50 yards long each. I would hold my boat right up against them, bumping the walls in the current and pitching my tube. My partners and I caught a bunch of fish."

Shocked By AOY Title

Yelas readily admits that with all the appearances that come with a Classic win, a 2003 AOY title was farthest from his mind.

"This is the first year in my career where winning the AOY title wasn't a goal of mine at the beginning of the season," he said. "Because of the Classic win, I had so many more commitments. I put in only two-thirds of the effort that I usually put into my fishing this year.

"I haven't fished any different or discovered some new formula for success, so it's hard to take credit for this. I've got to give God the glory for this because it's nothing that I did. I worked way less for AOY this year than I normally do."

However hard he worked, Yelas now holds – and is the first person to hold – 3 of professional bass fishing's major titles at the same time: FLW AOY, the Classic champ and now B.A.S.S. AOY.

"I think I'm a good fisherman, but not good enough to win all this stuff, especially in a row like this. I really believe this is all God's perfect timing. He has a purpose for this. I think the book I wrote has a lot to do with it all, and God is giving me a bigger and bigger platform all the time." (Yelas recently completed an autobiography about his life, his fishing, and his faith.)

The Money Question

The million-dollar (or $100,000) question is what Yelas will do with the AOY money. Because of his outspoken faith, many have wondered what he'd do if he won AOY and got the $100,000 from Busch beer, a B.A.S.S. sponsor.

"I've prayed hard about what to do with the Busch AOY money – the $100,000 – and I've decided to use it all to buy some of my books back," he said. "I'm going to give them away. I've already worked it out with the publisher. We're going to set up a 1-800 number for people to call, and I'm going to give away about 20,000 copies.

"The book is not only about my faith, but about wisdom, family, work ethic and all of the elements it takes to get to the top of your profession – not just bass fishing, but any profession."

Yelas said he's already talked to B.A.S.S. about it, and "they said it was a great plan. They said Busch wasn't going to force me to do anything – which is a huge change from 10 months ago, when they were saying that the AOY was going to have to do (things like) point of purchase promotions in liquor stores. They've backed off and said I don't have to do a thing.

"So giving away my book is a way to put this money to good use. I hope there's something in my story that people can apply to their own lives. I just think I'll have a much more positive impact on folks this way."