By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Up until about 2 weeks ago, Dave Lefebre thought he was already qualified for next year's Forrest Wood Cup. Based on winning the Angler of the Year title in the Rayovac Series' Northern Division, the Erie, Pa., pro figured his ticket to Lake Ouachita was already punched. That's how Cup berths through the Rayovacs had been doled out in the past, so he based his assumption on previous experience.

It wasn't until a fellow pro enlightened him that his supposition was incorrect that Lefebre's outlook on this week's Rayovac Series Championship at Wheeler Lake changed completely. Now, he's vying for one of 10 berths in next year's Cup at Lake Ouachita – the Top 5 overall, then the top finisher from each of the five divisions will make it (only the Rayovac Series division AOYs in 2013 gained entry into the 2014 Cup).

"That was a sinking moment," he said last week as he made the drive south to northern Alabama. "It changes everything – the whole idea of why I'm fishing. I thought I'd get an early berth. After missing the Cup for the first time ever this year, that roller coaster got going thinking I was in. I went 2 or 3 weeks there thinking I was in.

"It was one of those things where I wasn't paying attention to the rules," he added. "I thought I'd already made the Cup. Winning the AOY, I thought that's what we’re going for. I guess I have to go down there and beat everybody again."

He wants nothing more than to do just that as it would serve to rinse the bitter taste of the 2014 season from his mouth and build some momentum heading into 2015.

"I'm excited," he said. "It feels like the old days. I haven't been down there in the fall in a long time and that's when I love it there. I have a lot of good memories. I think it'll be a transitional deal and it looks like we have a front coming for the off day (Wednesday). It looks like it will be a good practice and maybe a bit off for the tournament."

Okeechobee Ouch

Lefebre's had his share of triple-digit finishes at Lake Okeechobee in the past, but the 176th-place (out of 178 pros) showing at this season's opener was by far his worst at the sprawling Florida lake and it put him behind the 8-ball for the rest of year in terms of points.

"I wasn't used to that," he said. "In recent years, I started to feel like I have a grasp on that lake. I don't ever fish around the crowds there so I don't feel like I have a chance to win, but I usually find something weird and catch enough to get a Top-50 finish and get out of there with my life."

He likened his predicament to that of friend and fellow competitor Anthony Gagliardi, who endured a disqualification at Okeechobee, and played catch-up the rest of the year en route to his win at the Cup.

"He and I looked at the year the exact opposite way," he said. "When we were at Hartwell, we both sounded the same – we were both complaining, but ultimately his mindset was good. He had a good finish and he snapped himself out of it and I just couldn't get out of it."

No Wiggle Room

The poor start ratcheted up the pressure on Lefebre to perform well over the final five events. He bounced back with a 25th at Hartwell, but that turned out to be his best finish of the year. Despite cashing a check in the final five tournaments, he wound up 66th in points.

"Going into last year, we found out we had six tournaments, it increased the pressure again," he said. "I was excited to start the year with a clean slate and then have that happen and have only five tournaments left, it was a scary thing. We had just built a new house and when we started building it, we had 10 tournaments. When we finished it was down to six. It's an insane difference. Even going from six to eight, people don't grasp how big of a difference it is."

At Sam Rayburn Reservoir, he had located some fish still spawning, but once the tournament started they'd vanished and he had to scramble to log a 61st.

At the season finale at Kentucky Lake, where he'd won a Tour event in 2012, he wasn't able to recapture his winning mojo.

"That was a bummer," he said. "We launched 5,000 miles away from the area I fished when I won. I checked it late one evening and that place never gets pressure. I'd never seen a boat there, but there were boats everywhere. I never went back. I started over. I had never fished down by Paris, but I decided to stay close and I felt like I would do better than I did. The leaders wound up fishing a place I'd planned on fishing, but I wasn't about to nose my way in there."

Looking back, he said the Okeechobee outcome really weighed on his psyche.

"It was a lot of stupid stuff you can't control," he said. "Stuff you don't want to worry about because you can't control it. It felt like I was mad or irritated all year. I learned a lot. It's been a while since I've had a crash course like that.

"Things have gone pretty well for me, but it's good that everything happened that way. Everyone loses their temper every now and then, but it seemed like I'd get up mad and I practiced mad and fished mad. I'm looking forward to capitalizing on that."