By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor


Short of the season opener that put him in catch-up mode right off the bat, Brent Ehrler says nothing has taken him by surprise over the course of his first five Elite Series tournaments.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise to BassFans who’ve followed the career arc of the California native who spent the last 10 years tearing up the FLW Tour.

Since an uncharacteristic 87th-place showing at the Sabine River – his last finish that low was an 87th at the Potomac River FLW Tour in 2012 – Ehrler responded with a string of steady finishes that has him up to 5th in the Angler of the Year race and reminded everyone why he earned the nickname “Meter Man” during his FLW Tour days.

“It’s about what I thought it would be,” he said. “That first tournament at the Sabine is one I’d like to forget, but the rest of the year I figured it would go okay.”

Ehrler is far from a rookie in terms of experience, but he’s currently the leading point-getter among this year’s 12 Elite Series newcomers, a group that includes four established pros who made the transition from the FLW Tour.

“I really felt like I should be in the position I’m at,” he said. “This is something I’ve been doing for nine full seasons now so it’s not something I just started to do. I’m about where I feel I should be.”

With four Top-30 finishes under his belt already and with three northern fisheries remaining on the schedule before the AOY Championship at Sturgeon Bay, Ehrler appears well positioned to earn a trip to Grand Lake early next March.

“My goal was and is every season is to cash checks and qualify for the championship,” he added. “Having never been to the (Bassmaster) Classic, I want to go, so my ultimate goal this season is to get to the Classic.”

Different is Good

Ehrler has a good rapport with many of the Elite Series veterans, stemming either from their shared experiences with Major League Fishing or at the Toyota Texas Bass Classic or other industry events. Still, he’s trying to carve out a new niche for himself during his first year.

“That part has been good,” he said. “I probably have it easier than most because I’ve been around for a while now and have known a lot of the guys for a long time. It’s not like I showed up and nobody knew who I was.”

He brought an impressive résumé from his FLW days and he wants to continue adding to it.

“Being this is my first year with the Elites, I want to be consistent and make the Classic,” he said. “That’s my first and foremost goal. Having said that, I always am trying to win.

“Over the last several years with FLW, it was weird because I’d be going into tournaments and I’d be disappointed because I knew I wasn’t around what I needed to be around to win. I knew I could cash a check but it was aggravating because I knew I wasn’t going to win. I don’t like that no matter where we’re at. Now that I’m fishing B.A.S.S., I want to establish my name on this side and then worry about winning tournaments.”

He said the biggest difference between the circuits that has impacted how he fishes has been the transition to not having a co-angler in the boat on practice and tournament days.

“The no co-angler thing has been unreal amazing,” he said. “Now, you don’t have to fish defensively. I can fish as fast or as slow as I want to. Before, you’d get into an area and as much as you want to rush through it, the guy behind you will catch one or two. Sometimes, it’s something you’d do on purpose or maybe you’d get bit on a moving bait and double back with something slow.

“In the past, I’d burn through a spot and sure enough they’d catch one and I would not double back on it. Now you can fish the way you need to fish and fish what you found and there’s no outside factor affecting how you’re able to fish it.”

Texas-Sized Thrill

After the dud at the Sabine River, Ehrler bounced back to finish 9th at Lake Guntersville, then had two solid tournaments out west to set the stage for what’s proven to be the highlight of his season so far.

Ehrler had not finished better than 15th in four previous trips to the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, but he found himself in 5th place going into the final day of this year’s event at Lake Fork. He admits to not having a knack for catching jumbo-sized bass despite hailing from the big-bass hotbed of Southern California.

With time ticking away on Memorial Day, Ehrler set the hook on what turned out to be the biggest fish he’s ever caught in a tournament – a 10-11 giant – that propelled him to the victory.

“The most memorable part, by far, was that big one I caught on the final day,” he said. “It was late in the day, maybe 1 o’clock and the weigh-in was at 2-something. The whole thing is so vivid in my mind, especially after I saw it jump for the first time and seeing how big it was.

“When they’re jumping around and you know how big it is and you’re watching it jump multiple times, I started to think, ‘This is the Tundra [for biggest bass] and maybe the win, too. That feeling of being so close and knowing it could come off at any moment is unreal. Then, to catch it, it was the craziest fish catch I’ve ever had.”

He got to relive the excitement recently when the tournament recap was broadcast on NBC Sports Network.

“Watching it again was crazy,” he said. “Remembering how it felt when it was going down in real time was just crazy. I think in 9 years with FLW, I only won big bass once. It’s not something I feel like I’m good at. I just don’t feel like I catch big fish, but other guys catch them multiple times. It starts to wear on you and you start to think, ‘Every once in a while it’d be nice for it to be me.’”