By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor


A year ago, Brad Knight was in a quandary about whether he should continue to compete on the FLW Tour. He'd just come off a season in which he didn't make a single cent and was weary of spending so much time away from his daughter Tinsley, who wasn't quite 2 years old.

"I don't have any excuses because I fished terrible," he said. "But leaving my little girl and being gone for 2 to 3 weeks at a time was really hard and it started to make me wonder whether I was doing the right thing. With the amount of money you have to spend to do this, if you have two bad tournaments in a row you can really get spun out about that. Then when I'd finally get home, it seemed like my little girl had changed so much and I knew there was no way to get that time back.

"I was really 50/50 about whether I was going to continue on that path or stay home and work and just fish BFLs. My wife and I decided that if I was going to keep going, she'd quit her job and we'd go all-in and go on the road as a family. It was a calculated risk and I feel very fortunate that it worked out like it did."

The 32-year-old Tennessean had by far his best year ever, finishing 19th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race and making his initial appearance in the Forrest Wood Cup. He logged no placement worse than 75th across six events after previously never going an entire season without at least one below 100th.

More Stable Situation

Knight said his 2013 campaign, which he didn't even complete after posting finishes of 91st, 125th, 72nd and 108th in the first four events, was extremely taxing on his psyche.

"It was the worst year I'd ever had and mentally it was very hard," he said. "I had a couple of crazy things happen that kept me from some better finishes, but every time I'd take one step forward it felt like I'd take 10 more back. I just never got over the mental hump."

He's worked for the same hometown pharmacy since he was 15 years old and is still employed there, managing the business when the owners go out of town. His bosses have always given him all the time off he needs to compete, but he began to wonder whether it was all worth it.

His wife, Becky, had a stable job as a nurse, and it wasn't an easy call for her to walk away from it so the family could travel the FLW circuit while living in a fifth-wheel trailer. The move had a big impact on her husband's mindset, though.

"Things were a lot more routine," he said. "She took care of things like cooking dinner and making sure all the bills had been paid and all I had to worry about was the fishing stuff."

Consistency the Goal

Knight, who cashed some sort of paycheck from each 2014 Tour event, now must try to maintain the consistency he established this year.

"When I started out (in 2008) I was pretty young and pretty green and I had some things happen along the way that cost me (some better finishes)," he said. "There's really a razor's edge between having a good or a bad tournament – just one thing can hold you back, like one fish coming off – but I felt like I always had opportunities."

He capitalized on those chances this year as he finished among the top half of the field at each stop and posted his second career Top-20 finish (a 19th at Sam Rayburn Reservoir in March).

"I feel like maybe I've gotten over the hump. I've got good confidence in my abilities and I've seen how it can work out when the ball bounces your way a few times. But every year's a new year, so we'll see how it works out."

He won't get too greedy in terms of his objectives.

"Like everybody else, I want to win tournaments, be the Angler of the Year and win the (Forrest Wood Cup). But at the same time, I have to worry about having diapers for my little girl and buying food and making the house payment every month.

"My main goal is really making a living for my family."

Notable

> Knight has an undergraduate degree in chemistry and had originally planned to attend pharmacy school, but fishing got in the way of that. "At this point I doubt I'll ever go back," he said. "It was hard enough to go to school every day back then and at 32, I don't think I could get back in that groove of studying all the time."