Photo: Scott Rob/Auten Interactive This year Chad Morgenthaler showed tour anglers that Illinois fishermen have the right stuff.

Out Of Illinois
Morgenthaler: Good Year But Learned A Few Things

Monday, October 13, 2003

(Editor's note: This is the first part of a 2-parter on Illinois' Chad Morgenthaler.)

Illinois is one of the strongest states for bass fishing in the country, yet it has been consistently underrepresented on the tours. This year Indiana fielded five anglers (all but one on FLW), Ohio had four (all on but one on BASS) and Michigan had nine. But Illinois had just two: Tom Burns of Carbondale and rookie Chad Morgenthaler of Coulterville.

While Burns' season on the FLW Tour was unremarkable, Morgenthaler did pretty darn well for a 36-year-old rookie. He finished 36th in the BASS points, which assured him of a rookie trip to the Bassmaster Classic -- but he'd already made it by finishing 5th in the fall 2002 Central Open points.

In other words, in his rookie season Morgenthaler made both Bassmaster Tour field cuts, and double-qualified for the Classic where he finished 35th. He also finished 4th in the two-tour BassFan.com Rookie of the Year Race. Not too shabby.

In the following he talks about fishing Illinois, his first year on tour and his plans for next year.

Out of Illinois

Since Illinois is such a hotbed of bass fishing, why aren't more Illinois pros on tour? Geography is no excuse: seven 2003 tour pros were from Arizona. "I don't know," Morgenthaler said. "Your guess is as good as mine. I really don't know why more guys from Illinois haven't tried it."

Because few Illinois anglers have taken the plunge, the state isn't known by reputation as well as others. For example, BassFans know that Florida anglers understand hot and shallow water, Oklahomans know mud, western anglers know flipping and finessing, North Carolinians know how to crank, and guys from Arkansas know everything. What's it like in Illinois, and how does it prepare an angler for the tours?

"We have a lot of lakes and lot of tournaments, but it's tough because we have smaller bodies of water," Morgenthaler said. "For the most part we don't have a lot of deepwater lakes either. We have a lot of reservoirs and river systems, but they're relatively small and receive tremendous amounts of pressure.

"So you have to look for subtle keys (that tell you) where fish are a little bit better, or maybe fish a little slower, or use lighter line or lighter baits -- just do things a little differently. That kind of stuff has definitely helped me. At some of the places I've been on tour and at the Opens, guys complain how many people are in an area. But that's doesn't phase me anymore. We fish in such big crowds at home I guess I got used to it."

Fishing in Illinois "just teaches you patience more than anything," he said. "Patience and perseverance -- meaning it's not necessarily the end of the world if you don't catch fish, and at the same time you don't get discouraged if someone's behind you or ahead of you.

"It teaches you how to deal with the mental pressure of the whole thing. A lot of guys panic very easily. Fishing is one of those things where you always want to do well, but (when things go bad) you have to keep going.

"The bad part (about southern Illinois) is that we don't have a lot of different (waters) to offer," he noted. "Like Rayburn has deep hydrilla, and Okeechobee has flats and reeds, and tidal waters -- we don't get experience on that at all. That was all new to me.

"I've always said that fishing deep has been one of my weaknesses because at my home lakes I never got to do that. The fish don't go deep very often. So it takes a little longer to key on subtle features like deep grass points because I never got to practice on that (in Illinois).

"Also, crankbaits aren't a big bait of choice in my area. It's mostly jigs, worms -- slow baits. Stuff you have to work hard to put in small holes and little places."

He added: "I fished the same 10 lakes or rivers most of my life, and kind of get locked into things and didn't vary from them that often. But you get out here (on tour), and everyone is catching fish a different way."

- End of part 1 (of 2) -