By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Another year, another Top-3 finish for Jacob Powroznik in a tour-level Angler of the Year (AOY) race.
The 2014 season wasn't just a run-of-the-mill campaign for the 36-year-old Virginian, though. It included his first tournament victory at the sport's highest competitive echelon and another win at the AOY Championship to conclude the year.
His transition from the FLW Tour to the Bassmaster Elite Series went exceedingly well and he enjoyed it every step of the way. It turns out that fishing without a co-angler was as good as he'd imagined.
"Like I've said before, the competition is really tough on both (tours) and everybody can catch them on both sides, so either way you're competing against the best," he said. "The Elite Series, though, is a different atmosphere. Not having a (competitor) in the back of the boat, you can do as you please.
"If I've got five good ones, I can lay down and take a nap if I want to," he continued, adding that he's never actually sprawled out on his deck and dozed off. "I'd be the only one losing out and I don't have to worry about anybody else. I can have all my compartments filled up the way I want them and I don't have to clean things out to make room for somebody else. And if I'm coming to a dock or something, I can approach it the way I think I need to without having to defend against the guy in the back casting up there."
Fooled Only Once
Powroznik finished no lower than 32nd place in seven of the eight regular-season Elite Series events. After winning the 50-angler postseason derby in Michigan, he ended up just 18 points behind AOY Greg Hackney and 4 in back of runner-up Todd Faircloth.
His full-field victory came at Toledo Bend in early May, putting an end to a long run of single-digit placements without a trophy (and the accompanying six-figure paycheck).
"The way I look at it is that monkey's off my back," he said. "It's so hard to win pro bass tournaments these days and to be able to win one is a blessing – I really need to thank the Good Lord upstairs.
"Everything has to go right and it's all about making the right decisions. You have to get into a groove that week and have everything fall into place if you're going to win. There's no way to describe to people how hard it is."
The lone bomb he registered came at Lake Dardanelle to begin the season's second half. Despite his 77th-place finish, he felt like he fished pretty well.
"If I had that one to do all over again I don't think I'd do anything differently. I was catching a bunch of fish and I was right around 16 pounds the first day. I was catching so many that I thought that anytime a 3-pounder was going to bite, and one 3-pounder would've put me in the Top 50. Then I could've gone out the next day and tried to move up from there.
"I try not to think about things like that until the end of the year, but it's always in the back of your mind that there went your shot at Angler of the Year. I can't complain, but I wish just one 3-pounder had bitten my bait. It just wasn't meant to be."
Can He Close the Deal?
Despite racking up hefty AOY point totals over the past 3 seasons, Powroznik is not an angler who begins events with points or paychecks as his primary focus.
"It still irritates me to this day when somebody goes on stage and says, 'I didn't catch them today because I swung for the fence,''' he said. "Well, I was swinging for the fence from the time the whistle blew on the first day. I don't fish for checks, I fish to win. Then after the first day, when you know you can't win, you can play your cards and try to get a check.
"But if you're not swinging for the fence from the start, I think you're already behind the 8-ball."
After coming so close recently, he badly wants to conclude a season atop the points list. It's far more important to him than winning for the first time was.
"There's a big difference between having one great tournament and being the No. 1 guy for the whole year. Winning a tournament could be all about luck – you could have the worst practice ever and then stop on one point and find the mother lode there waiting for you.
"With the Angler of the Year, there's no luck involved. It means you've done it over nine tournaments. That's why it's so much more important to me than anything else."
He's looking forward to his initial trip to the western part of the country when the Elite Series visits the California Delta and Lake Havasu next year. To this point, he's never competed farther west than Grand Lake in Oklahoma.
"A bass is a bass whether it's in the East or the West," he said. "I think I do better going to new places because I can't fish past memories.
"The Delta's got some tide and tules and grass, and me being from the James River, that's right up my alley, and Havasu is deep and clear and should have smallmouths in all stages of the spawn. What more could I ask for?"
