Whether he was in the back of the boat or the front, catching quality fish on tournament days had come pretty easily for Stetson Blaylock over the past few years. He hit his first rough patch on the 2010 FLW Tour, but he views the experience as something that will make him even better in the future.
"Fishing's a funny thing because you can't control what a fish does," said the 23-year-old Arkansan. "Even though I've been doing this for quite a while, I still feel like I'm in the beginning stages and there's still a lot I need to learn – guys who've been out here for 20 years will tell you the same thing.
"I still know how to catch a bass, but this year was just a lot different. I learned a lot of valuable lessons about what not to do."
Big Reality Check
Blaylock was the Tour's Co-Angler of the Year in 2008 before moving to the pro side last year. He won the third event of his rookie campaign at Norman (which made him the youngest-ever winner in Tour history) and went on to qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup.
If you look at his ledger from this year, it doesn't look dramatically different – except for the absence of a "1" (or any other single digit denoting a finish at a particular event). He had a couple of solid outings and a couple of bombs during the abbreviated season, but his game was off just enough that he cashed only two checks and missed the championship.
He never could find a rhythm.
"It started when the tournament got canceled at the Red River (due to dangerous conditions created by floodwaters)," he said. "I was one of the people who didn't really want to fish that event, but it still throws things off.
"Then we go to Table Rock and I finish 30th, which was just about the same as the year before, and I say, 'Hey, I'm right on track.' Norman was the next tournament after that, so I started thinking everything was great."
He didn't put up much of a defense of his crown there, though, as he slunk down to 94th place.
"Nothing would click and I couldn't figure out why, and I just kept fishing like I had the year before. It was a couple weeks earlier (on the calendar), but it seemed like the lake was fishing at least a month earlier. I could not make myself back out and slow down.
"I talked to guys who were getting 20 to 30 keepers a day, and I was really struggling to get a limit each day."
No Relief Forthcoming
Blaylock also has good memories of his previous visit to Ft. Loudoun-Tellico – he placed 2nd there as a co-angler in '08. But he missed 2 days of practice for that event while competing in an American Fishing Series derby at Ouachita and never got untracked.
Next up was the Tour event at Ouachita – his home lake. He turned in his best finish of the campaign (19th), but even that was a disappointment.
"I had a lot of fish found and I thought I could win, and then the water came up at least 5 feet in the week of the tournament," he said. "When the water comes up in May, I expect the fish to be out deep and I thought I was going to have an advantage.
"They weren't out there where I wanted them to be, and that really dampened my spirits."
In the finale at Guntersville, he had a good practice and went into day 1 with high hopes, but then could hardly get bit on day 1 while his co-angler boxed 21 pounds behind him.
"When a bunch of negative things happen in a row like that, you start wondering what's going to happen next. Anybody who's been doing this for any amount of time will tell you it's always up and down, like a roller-coaster.
"It isn't like golf, where it's just you and the ball and it's all about how straight you hit it. There are so many things that can change – your equipment needs to work properly and everything has to be right. One fish came be the difference between a good showing and one that's not good at all."
Time to Look Forward
Blaylock said he'll fish a considerable amount this off-season in an effort to be as sharp as possible when the 2011 campaign rolls around. He's also thinking about doing some guiding at Texas' Lake Fork (about a 4-hour drive from his home) in order to spend time on a body of water that fishes differently than his more-local options.
When the new season starts, he'll be determined to not let the inevitable bad days carry over into the next day. And if he has a tough tournament, he'll try to put it out of his mind and move on to the next one.
"I have to be able to get those things out of my mind and just go out and make it happen," he said. "A lot of it is the mental side – making the right decisions and not losing your cool.
"There are a lot of little things I still need to learn, and it'll get good again. I will win again and I'll have another good year."
Notable
> Blaylock said he likes the look of next year's 10-event Tour schedule, but he's learned to not get overly excited about the prospects of catching big bags. "My best finishes are almost always in the toughest tournaments," he said. "If I see one on the schedule where everybody's going to catch 18 to 20 pounds, that's not what I feel strong at. But then again, you've got to catch them when it's good – you need to be able to raise the bar and catch a little more than anybody else."
