By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor

Matt Herren fished so much during the 2014 tour seasons that he didn’t have much time to sit back and analyze decisions. He liked it better that way. The packed schedule of fishing both the FLW Tour and Bassmaster Elite Series – he was one of 14 pros to pull double duty – prevented him from overthinking the whens, wheres and hows before he got on the water.

“It was a successful year on the water, but also a lot of fun because I think through my career my one downfall I’ve had is I try to think or analyze too much,” he said. “I fished so much in 2014 that I couldn’t do that. I kept fishing on pure instinct. It was strictly instinct and by the seat of my pants and I just rolled with it.

“From that aspect it was a blast. It was more physical than mental because you didn’t have time to get drained. You just had to go.”

And go he did.

He pulled down Top-25 finishes in points in both circuits, finished 6th at the Forrest Wood Cup in August and earned a spot in his fifth career Bassmaster Classic at Lake Hartwell next February. He’ll also compete at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic next May, thanks to his 16th-place finish in Elite Series points (the Top 15 earn invites, but defending champion Keith Combs was a double qualifier).

“2014 was a good year in a lot of ways,” he said. “I would do (both tours) again in a heartbeat.”

Hartwell, Take 2

When the FLW Tour visited Hartwell during the first week of March, Herren admitted to being unprepared. He was in the midst of finishing a new house and moving belongings from his old home and he didn’t have time to make a scouting trip before off-limits.

He wound up finishing 86th (he cashed a $4,000 check), but expects to be fully prepared when Hartwell hosts the Classic in a little more than 2 months.

“I had never seen it before so if I could go back and redo a tourney, it would be that one,” he said. “I made some errors there. I predetermined how I needed to fish. I didn’t know what was going on and didn’t adjust. I had a deal I was hunting for and I didn’t find it.

"When that happens, you’re going to have a sub-par tournament. Typically, though, that kind of lake sets up for the way I like to fish – recognizable patterns and shallow-water power fishing. If conditions are right, I expect to have a strong Classic.”

While he overcame two other finishes of 80th or worse after Hartwell, the highlight of Herren’s year was finishing 3rd at BASSFest at Lake Chickamauga, where he’s convinced he was on the winning fish up until the final day.

“You couldn’t tell from the TV show, but on days 1 and 2, I only had one fish in each sack from around docks,” he said. “The other fish were caught deep, in like 16 feet, on a 10-inch worm. What led me to get on the shallow deal was the fact that it was a winner-take-all deal. I’d found two or three places with schools on them so I just tried to milk them for all they were worth. By 1 o’clock the first couple days I’d have my weight, but I had those key areas that I didn’t want to pound on.”

The third day is when the dock bite really picked up and so did his weight as he hauled in 23-06. He got an assist from the TVA, which didn’t generate much current and in turn both Kevin VanDam and Jacob Wheeler struggled.

“If they don’t run the water on Sunday, that ball game is over,” he said. “KVD and Wheeler can thank their lucky stars the TVA turned the water on on Sunday because I absolutely had them dialed up. I had five or six big ones I had to shake off Saturday.

“There were two distinct groups of fish there – the ones that stay shallow, including some late spawners and the offshore fish in those big schools. Without that current, those offshore fish get fickle and don’t want to feed. The only thing that frustrated me was they weren’t supposed to generate water (on the last day).”

Challenges Lie Ahead

When asked to assess the 2015 schedule and the possibility that he’d follow both circuits in the coming year, he said he would only be fishing the Elite Series. His reasoning is purely financial. Had the Elite Series not been going west next spring, he likely would’ve done both tours, but as it stands, he’s still going to need another strong year to cover expenses.

“The biggest thing that comes to mind is it’s going to be the most expensive year I’ve ever fished,” he said. “From all of the travel to the long runs, it’s going to be astronomically expensive. It’s going to be a sit-back-and-see-what-happens kind of year because anything can happen.

“We’re going coast to coast to coast, from the Sabine River to the (California) Delta to the Thousand Islands, and you’re going to be making big, long runs at all of those. You just can’t have a bad day. You have to make sure your equipment is rigged and running right because you can’t afford a hiccup.”

Notable

> At present time, Herren is on the hunt for title-sponsor support as well as a hard bait sponsor. He had been with Bandit Lures, which was recently purchased by Pradco.