Photo: Pflueger From day 1 of Tim Horton's pro career, he has been one of the hottest anglers on the BASSMASTER circuit.

Horton Continues To Pile Up The Stats

Thursday, December 20, 2001

(Note: This is the first part of a 2-part profile on Alabama's Tim Horton.)

After Tim Horton walked off the weigh-in stage on the final day of last week's BASSMASTER event on Lake Toho, some members of the press asked him how it felt to be "back." Horton, nice guy that he is, fielded the question gracefully. But the truth is, he's never been far from the top.

How good is he? Check out this career summary:

> The first year he fished the BASSMASTER Eastern Invitationals he finished 20th and qualified for the Top 150s.

> The next year he did what no other BASSMASTER Top 150 rookie had done before (or since): he won Angler of the Year by being at the top of the Top 150 point standings. That year (1999-2000) he also had one win and three other Top 10s -- none lower than 6th -- and qualified for the BASS Masters Classic.

> Not only that, B.A.S.S. throws out the lowest finish in calculating Angler of the Year. Horton's lowest finish was only 38th.

> Last season (2000-01), Horton had three more Top 10s, finished 25th in the B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year standings and qualified for his second straight Classic.

> When the statistical BassFan.com World Rankings debuted in August of this year, Horton was No. 8. As of this writing he's No. 7.

> This year he won his second major event and now is 10th in the B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year standings.

Here's another, more awesome way to look at those stats:

> Horton has fished 17 BASSMASTER Top 150 (Tour) tournaments. He's finished in the money in 13 of those (76 percent) and has finished in the Top 10 eight times (47 percent), including two wins.

Got that? Almost half the time Horton has gotten on the water fishing against the best in the world, he's finished in the Top 10.

So why do some people think his win at Toho means he's "back?"

High Expectations

Even though Horton's second year was one almost any angler would love to have, his amazing rookie season overshadowed it.

He says his rookie season on the Top 150 trail was "a good thing and a bad thing. It was a phenomenal year and one that I never may have again, though I will shoot for it. But it might have made people expect people too much."

Coverage

Another reason is how the sport has been covered up until BassFan.com. Winners get the lion's share of media coverage, as they should, but few reporters look deeper than five places in the standings so a good year can go unnoticed.

"There's some truth to that," Horton says. "It seems like we have so many more tournaments now that the people that win are the ones who get noticed. You can go through a stretch and have a couple of Top 10s and no one really notices.

"So it's important if you're fortunate to win every few years. It really helps to keep your name up there."

Bad Luck and Pressure

Horton also no doubt was toiling last year under the pressure all great competitors put on themselves. Two cases of bad luck didn't help.

"Last year was a frustrating year," he says. "I was in contention to win at Okeechobee, but I had mechanical problems. Then there was the Old Hickory tournament where I had that accident" (his boat got stuck in shallow water). I also had bad tournaments where I didn't find fish."

- End of part 1 (of 2) -