By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor


Casey Ashley said he's become considerably more tech-savvy since winning the Bassmaster Classic 8 days ago.

"I've learned how to text and answer emails at the same time I'm talking on my phone," he said with a chuckle. "That part's been good."

A lot of other stuff that's happened since has been good, too. He said that all the attention he's received hasn't even begun to wear on him.

"It's actually a great feeling to tell the story over and over," he said. "Sometimes when I'm telling it, I'll remember stuff that I didn't remember the first couple times I told it.

"I've been there at the Champion's Toast when other people have won the Classic and I've thought about winning that trophy one day and experiencing that feeling. Then everybody leaves, and that's it. People have no idea what actually goes along with it until they do it. I've had some good friends who've been in these shoes and they told me to call them if I needed any help with any of it, and I've done that. I knew what was coming and I've prepared myself for it."

Never Felt Burdened

There are a few prominent anglers in the game today who wouldn't be totally hog-wild about a tour-level championship event coming to their home waters. They simply don't want to deal with the expectations that accompany pre-tournament favorite status, fearing that anything less than victory will be perceived as a colossal failure.

Ashley insists that he never felt any of that. He says he never senses that type of external pressure, and his trophies and six-figure paychecks from the last two major events conducted at Lake Hartwell (he also won an FLW Tour stop there a year ago) substantiate his claim.

"I don't know what that is – I can't explain it," he said. "I remember when I used to fish with my dad a bunch, back when I was pretty young, we'd be fishing a tournament and we'd see somebody we knew and I'd say, 'Man, I bet he's got 20 pounds.' And my dad would say, 'It doesn't matter what he has, we've got to catch them, too.'

"Stuff like that has always stuck with me. I've got one job and it doesn't matter what anybody else around me is doing. I've got to put my head down and get it done."

He credited his dad, Danny, and his mother, Donna, for supporting his dream to become a pro angler, a notion that was hatched more than two decades ago when he used to stay up past his bedtime on Sunday nights to watch The Bassmasters on The Nashville Network.

"I've done a lot of fishing with my mom, too, but she prefers crappie," he said. "One time I was fishing a BFL on Lake Russell on a Saturday and I had to leave the next day for a Stren (now Rayovac) on Santee Cooper. I caught three giant crappie on a big cowbell spinnerbait from one brush pile and I knew if they were biting that thing, it was loaded.

"The next day I went over and told my mom I had 3 hours before I had to leave and we needed to go crappie fishing. We went out there and train-wrecked them – we must've caught 90 in 2 hours and every one of them was over a pound and a half."

Locals Too Tough

Ashley doesn't fish many local derbies on Hartwell these days, although he frequently helps his father practice for them when he's around. Without a hint of false modesty, he says there are lake regulars whom he often can't keep pace with.

"Hartwell is a lake you have to constantly relearn because the water level fluctuates so much," he said. "Those guys who don't fish anything but Hartwell and are out there week in and week out, you don't want anything to do with them. I'll usually help my dad out in practice, then I'll stay at the house during the tournaments."

Some of those locals played a big role in helping lay the foundation for the success he enjoys today. At age 31, he's already a five-time tour-level winner.

"There's a close group of guys I grew up fishing around – most of them a lot older than me. They taught me a lot about all the lakes around here. They're really good fishermen and they'd tell me things like, 'There's always a 5-pounder right here if you need one' and stuff like that I picked up on."

He said he hasn't had a lot of time to determine what he'll do with his $300,000 winner's share, but the bulk of it will be earmarked for the future education of his son, Troy, who'll turn 2 in April.

"Being 31, I really never thought I'd be in this position, where I could get my kid set up for college at such an early age," he said.