Up One Side, Down The Other
Jordon's Two-Tour Season Was The Reverse of 2005

Photo: ESPN Outdoors Kelly Jordon had a lot to smile about at Bassmaster Elite Series events this year. His mood at FLW Tour events, however, was usually a little less chipper.

Kelly Jordon had his worst season ever on the Bassmaster Tour in 2005 – he finished 66th in the points and failed to qualify for two Bassmaster Classics as the championship event transitioned from a late-summer to a wintertime event.

He bounced back nicely this year though, with a 10th-place showing in the Elite Series Angler of the Year (AOY) race and a big upward move in the BassFan World Rankings (from 39th to 16th). He has no trouble pinpointing what was different in 2006.

"I didn't have to wear a snowsuit in any of the tournaments," he said. "I'm not an ice fisherman – I'm from Texas.

"If you look back at the six events we had (on the '05 Bassmaster Tour), at three of them the water was 50 degrees or below. It's not my forte and I didn't adjust.

"I can fish in the wintertime, but I don't like it," he added. "I just didn't jive very well with it."

With a less-compacted season this year, the water and air temperatures were much more to his liking. He capitalized with seven Top 25s in 11 events and his fifth tour-level victory in the last 6 years at the Potomac River.

A Tale of Two Tours

Jordon fished both the Bassmaster and FLW Tours the past 6 seasons, but he'll stick to the Elite Series in 2007, with some FLW Series events possibly mixed in. His '06 campaign was the opposite of the previous year, when he had his best-ever finish in the FLW points (30th) while he labored through his worst Bassmaster season.

This year, his bombs were all on the FLW side. After his annual great opener at Okeechobee (4th), his next four finishes were in triple digits. He didn't fish the finale at Champlain and ended up 151st in the points.

His two worst FLW finishes (177th at Beaver and 172nd at Kentucky Lake) both came just days after he'd made the Top 25 at an Elite Series event.

"For a while there, it seemed like every time I made a cut in BASS, I'd have an FLW right on the tail end and I'd get little or zero practice," he said. "Other guys were in the same situation and some of them did better with it than I did, but it seemed like I was fighting a battle within my own mind.

"You have to try to make yourself believe you can do something despite all the driving and the lack of practice, and when you know most of the other (competitors) have been there about a week. I didn't do a very good job of that."

His absence at the Champlain FLW wasn't due to his meager point total. He never registered for that event because it came the week after the Kentucky Lake Elite Series.

"I had Kentucky Lake on the front end, and I was pretty sure I'd make the cut because it was going to be a deep-structure event. I was sure I'd make the Top 50 and fish 3 days, and there was probably a 50-50 chance I'd make the Top 12 and fish all 4.

"It's a day-and-a-half drive from there to Champlain and I wouldn't have gotten there until mid-day Tuesday (for the Wednesday start). And besides, that's just pushing too hard. I've been around a lot longer than some of the other younger pros, and I know that's asking for trouble. You can fall asleep behind the wheel and kill yourself or somebody else.

"It's not safe for anybody."

Photo: ESPN Outdoors The warmer weather anglers encountered on the Bassmaster Elite Series this year suited Kelly Jordon just fine.

The 36-year-old Jordon is still single, and some might think that's an advantage for somebody who spends so much time away from home. Not really.

"It'd make it easier if you had a wife you didn't get along with," he said. "But if you get along and she travels with you, you can get a pretty good operation going."

In many ways, he feels he's at a disadvantage to anglers like Steve Kennedy, Alton Jones and Todd Faircloth, whose wives hit the road with them and take care of a lot of business while they're on the water.

"Those are some pretty good teams, and there are a lot of things a two-person team can accomplish that one person by himself can't. They can take turns driving, and when they're out practicing, those guys just make a call and they've got their truck and trailer waiting for them at the ramp when they're done.

"Then there's all the things like food and laundry and all of that. A lot of times I have to spend an entire afternoon at a laundromat just to have something clean to wear the next day."

His situation could change sometime in the future.

"I've got a pretty good lead right now. We've been dating a little over a year, and I told her she'd have to give it a year to see all the things I had to go through.

"I think she still likes me, so that's a positive."

Notable

> In part 2, Jordon talks about the strategy that's made him a frequent winner, his impending return to the Classic and his goal to someday win the Elite Series AOY.

> He regrets that he won't get to fish the Wal-Mart Open (Beaver FLW) next year. The tournament will take place in mid-May instead of in its traditional early-April slot. "I hate Beaver Lake, but I'd love to fish that one. Those fish are going to be caught sight-fishing and on topwaters and there'll probably be a lot of them schooling. I'd like to get revenge on all of them that didn't bite my shakey-head in 90 feet of water. It'd be nice to make them taste the pain of my treble hook."

> He's done a lot more hunting than fishing since the Elite Series ended at Table Rock. "I've been out for deer and elk several times, but I haven't taken anything yet. I did shoot a red stag, which is like a European elk we have down here. I've got some nice backstraps in the freezer."

– End of part 1 (of 2) –