By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Forty-six hours.
That’s how long it took Kevin Stewart to drive from his home in Elk Grove, Calif., to where he’s staying in central Florida this week near Lake Toho.
He made the trip the week before last. Alone. Ahh, the delightful, sometimes solitary, life of a West Coast bass pro.
Stewart came east in early January so he could get a jump on practice for the Bassmaster Southern Open at Toho, which gets under way Thursday and signals the start of the 2015 tournament season. It’ll be Stewart’s first B.A.S.S. event as he looks to get more familiar with Toho, site of the first FLW Tour stop of the season in early March.
It’ll also given him a chance to simply get more time on the water in Florida and get more used to the fishing there after posting triple-digit finishes in Tour events at Lake Okeechobee the last two seasons.
“I think experience means so much,” said Stewart, who’s entering his third year on the FLW Tour. “It’s not just fishing experience, but it’s about learning how to run these backwater lakes and all that. We have a bunch of grass out west, but Florida has different types of grass so when you get out here and catch them in Kissimmee grass or hydrilla, you can start putting things together, or maybe they don’t like pepper grass.
"In a way, it’s similar to the (California) Delta and other places back home, but it’s a different beast out here. I could spend a month here and still not see it all. It doesn’t mean I’ll win, either, but it won’t hurt me.”
Getting The Hang Of It
Like many California anglers, Stewart had very little to no prior experience on many of the lakes he fished during his first two years on Tour. He cashed three checks as a rookie in 2013 and two more a year ago, but this year’s schedule features return trips to Lewis Smith Lake, Beaver Lake, Lake Eufaula and Lake Chickamauga so he’s hopeful he can take advantage of the knowledge he’s gained and apply it this time around.
“I’ve learned a bunch,” he said. “And it’s not just the fishing part of it. My first year, I was nervous about where to stay and where to launch and things like that. Last year was easier that way, but we fished more new lakes. This year, I’m a lot more excited since we get to go back to some places.
“Overall, I can’t really look back with any regrets except for probably three events over the last two years where I seemed to get lost. If I missed a check, I just missed it. You always like to be better, but I can’t be too disappointed with what I’ve accomplished in a short period of time. Everyone has fish stories, but I’ve been around fish to do well and cash checks. I just have to do better at getting them in the boat.”
One part of the country he still hasn’t mastered is the Tennessee River, which doesn’t appear on this year’s Tour schedule. The final two events last year were on TVA lakes – Stewart was 35th at Pickwick Lake and 75th at Kentucky Lake.
“The biggest challenge I’ve faced and still need work on is ledge fishing on the Tennessee River,” he said. “We just have nothing like that in California. That’s a different character right there.”
Righting The Ship
Stewart is hoping to avoid starting the 2015 season like he did 2014, with three successively worse triple-digit results that left him questioning himself. He said his finishes didn’t in any way reflect the confidence he had going into events at Lake Hartwell or Sam Rayburn Reservoir.
“Hartwell should’ve been in my wheelhouse with those spotted bass,” he said. “Then to go to Rayburn and have my worst finish (161st), I started to get negative and down on myself at that point.”
He had conversations with his wife that seemed to reverse his downward mental spiral prior to heading to Beaver Lake. He also went to the Ozarks a week early to get more time on the water.
“I took three days before we started practice and went to Table Rock by myself just to mess around and I caught the crap out of them,” he said. “I just had a mindset change that I wasn’t going to force the issue and whether I had a good tournament or a bad tournament, I was going to stick with what I was doing.”
The fresh approached worked and it resulted in back-to-back money finishes at Beaver and Pickwick.
“I just tried to make level-headed decisions and let the chips fall where they may,” he said. “Doing that seemed to put my mind more at ease. My whole attitude got a lot better and that was a turning point for sure. I had a good practice at Beaver and finished 42nd. I had a terrible practice at Pickwick, but I was alright with it because I finished 35th with eight fish.
“I’ve just carried that on and been more diligent mentally to tell myself to carry that attitude over to this year, and to enjoy the fact that I’m getting to do what I love to do.”
Notable
> After the Toho Open, Stewart will make the long drive back out west to prepare for the Lake Havasu Western Rayovac, which starts Feb. 5. He’ll then have a little time at home before driving back to Toho for the Tour opener.
