By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

There was no inkling that Scott Wiley's third season on the FLW Tour would be any better than his previous two in the immediate aftermath of the 2015 opener at Lake Toho. However, his 95th-place showing in that derby ended up being his worst of the year – by far.

The 44-year-old from Bay Minette, Ala. – who still operates a heating, ventilation and air conditioning firm when he's not out of town for a tournament – posted four Top-40 finishes in the five other events and ended up 27th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. He'll compete in his first Forrest Wood Cup next month at Lake Ouachita in Arkansas.

"This year gave me the confidence that maybe I can fish with these guys a little bit," he said. "The difference between me and some other guys is I don't get the time off to go and pre-fish – I've got a business to run. I feed my family off that business, not fishing."

Tough Time at Toho

Wiley, whose home water is the Mobile-Tensaw Delta, finished 62nd on the points list as a rookie in 2013, then backslid to 91st last year. After Toho, it appeared as if his momentum was still heading in the wrong direction.

"I was so disappointed when I left that place," he said. "I was so mad that I drove all the way home – 7 hours – on that Friday night.

"The frustrating thing was I could catch 30 keepers a day, but I never could get a big bite. You needed a 7- or 8-pounder to give you 15 or 16 pounds and I just couldn't make that happen."

His best finish during his first two seasons on Tour was a 33rd at Lake Okeechobee in his maiden event. He exceeded that in the second event this year when he made his first Top-20 cut (eventually finishing 19th) at Lewis Smith Lake.

"I was a little bit disappointed there, too. Don't get me wrong, it was great to make my first 20-cut at the Tour level, but on the second day I felt like I burned up my fish too much.

"Then again, you have to get to the third day before you can worry about catching them on the third day."

Solid showings of 40th at Beaver Lake and 26th at Lake Eufaula followed, then came a bit of a stinker (75th) at Lake Chickamauga in June.



"The problem at Chickamauga was I ran my water backwards the first day. I'd found a little place where I could catch them pretty good, but I didn't think the right (quality) was there and I wanted a little better.

"At 11 o'clock I only had two fish and the water had come up, and I ran up there and finished my limit and eventually culled the two I had. I kicked myself because I needed 15 pounds that first day and I only had 12. One or two bites make such a big difference."

Saved Best for Last

The Chickamauga finish dropped Wiley to 36th in the AOY race – very near where the Cup cutoff would eventually fall – with just one event remaining. That final tournament was at the Potomac River, a venue he'd never seen before.

He ended up with a 12th-place finish, surpassing his career best for the second time in 3 months. He missed making his first Top 10 by less than a pound and a half.

"I was worried about that one, but then I saw how it laid out and it kind of suited me," he said. "The first day I figured something out and just rolled with it, and understanding what fish do at certain stages of the tide played a big part in my success.

"The last hour of the low tide and the first hour of the incoming were the best times for me and the peak of the high tide, when it was first going out, was pretty good."

He stayed in a ditch off Mattawoman Creek and used a Texas-rigged Zoom Magnum Speed Worm to average a little better than 12 1/2 pounds a day on a fishery that's in a bit of a down cycle. Most of the fish were set up at the juncture where the water depth dropped from less than a foot to 3 feet.

"The low tide positions the fish and I was just making long casts and paralleling the grass. I could've caught 40 fish a day if I'd wanted to.

"The 15-hour ride home on that Sunday was really good. It was long, but knowing I'd made the Forrest Wood Cup for the first time, I was excited."

He travels with Casey Martin and shares practice information with him, but at times those exchanges are moot because their styles or so different. Martin prefers to fish away from the bank, whereas Wiley is more of a shallow-water power-fisherman.

"He understands that offshore stuff and I don't," Wiley said. "There were times, like at Chickamauga, that he told me stuff that I probably should've done, but I just don't have the confidence to do it. I need to go off and do my own thing.

"All year I didn't really listen to what anybody else was doing and I just went out and did what I know how to do. I just blocked all that out and fished what I know, and it worked."