By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor


Ask Todd Faircloth during a normal offseason whether he'd rather win the Bassmaster Classic or the Angler of the Year title the following year, and he'll opt for the latter. But 2017 is a little bit different.

The slow-talking, mild-mannered veteran from Texas will compete in a Classic in his home state for the first time. There's not a whole lot that visibly excites him, but looking ahead to that event at Lake Conroe in March certainly jacks up his heart rate by a beat or two per minute.

"I'm just so happy to finally see the Classic come to the state of Texas," he said recently during a gathering of Strike King pros and media members at Kentucky Lake. "It's the first time (since Lake Texoma hosted the derby in 1979) long overdue, in my opinion. There's such a huge following of bass fishing in the state and there's already a lot of buzz about it.

"I think the fan attendance will be huge – it's hard to speculate about something like that, but it could be the biggest one we've ever had. Houston is a big city and in the whole radius around it, there's just a huge amount of people who are ate up with the sport."

Barring adverse conditions of some sort, those big crowds will be in for a treat from a fishing perspective.

"I'd say there's about a 75-percent chance that somebody catches a 10-pounder, and I wouldn't be surprised if you saw more than one. And it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see a 30-pound bag – that lake has that kind of fish in it."

A Stellar Opportunity

The 41-year old Faircloth finished 28 in this year's points race to qualify for his 15th Classic. He's logged seven Top-10 finishes in the sport's premier event, including a 6th at Oklahoma's Grand Lake last March.

He's also performed well in his state of residence, as two of his five career Elite Series victories occurred in Texas (Lake Amistad in 2006 and the Sabine River in 2013). Winning the first Lonestar State Classic in nearly four decades would naturally carry extra signficance for him.

"I keep trying to visualize that, and it's something I'd like to turn into reality," he said. "I'd have a lot of friends and family there and that'd definitely make it that much more special."

Having achieved so many high finishes in the event without a victory, he admits he's often wondered if the coveted title will forever elude him. He chooses to keep his focus on the variables he can control.

"I feel like if I just keep putting myself in position to win, it'll all come together eventually. That's what I keep hoping for, anyway.

"It's so hard to win any event nowadays – you have to have everything go right. You have to fish clean and catch a few breaks, and every once in awhile you need a fish to just fall out of the sky, it seems like."

No Perceived Advantage

It's about a 2-hour drive from Faircloth's home in Jasper, Texas to Conroe. He plans to make that trek about half a dozen times before the lake goes off-limits to Classic competitors in January.

"I don't have any set amount of days I'm going to put in," he said. "I'd venture to say I'll probably spend 6 days riding and looking around. I'm not so much interested in fishing – I want to make my loops and see what everything looks like and I don't want to leave anything uncovered.

"When we go back, I don't want to wonder what might be around the next bend. I want to know what's there. Then when (official practice begins) and I start getting a few bites, I'll know where stuff similar to that is."

He said it's likely there'll be fish in all three stages of the reproduction process (pre-spawn, actively spawning and post-spawn) at that time, and that will probably eliminate any edge that he and other Texans might have.

"If it was an offshore deal during summer there'd be more of an advantage for Texas guys. But at that time of year, most of the fish are going to be shallow and it'll be all visual stuff.

"That lake's got a ton of docks in it. There's some rocks and some wood that'll come into play, but I'd say it's primarily going to happen around the docks."