By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Gary Klein is well aware of his place in Bassmaster Classic lore.
In the record book, his name appears at or near the top of the following categories:
> Classic appearances (29, 2nd all time).
> Most appearances without a win (29, 1st all time).
> Top-5 finishes (6, tied for 3rd all time).
After a 2-year absence from the sport's signature event, the Weatherford, Texas resident is anxious to take a swing at mighty Lake Guntersville in February. When he does, he'll join Rick Clunn as the only anglers to compete in 30 Classics (Clunn has fished 32 of them).
"The one thing I really like is having the Classic at this time of year," he said. "To me, if I was to ever have the opportunity to win one, now's the time. I love fishing that time of year. I'm not very good in crowds so I like it when I don't have water skiers and jet skiers buzzing around or people swimming off the docks you're trying to fish."
His road to Guntersville was a little bumpier than he'd hoped, especially during the second half of the Elite Series season when he missed cuts in the final four events to put himself on the qualification bubble. He salvaged a 57th-place result at Lake St. Clair to finish the season 35th in points and received a Classic berth by virtue of the 10 double qualifiers. He made it by 8 points.
"The decisions I made to get in weren't pretty, but I got it done," he added. "It just goes to show what type of competitor I am. I'm creating history every time I qualify for the Classic. Eventually, I'm going to win the sucker and I'll make history again. You can't win it if you're not in the game. I made it to the game and now I get to go focus on one of the finest fisheries in the country and go see how much my 15 fish are going to weigh."
No Luck Up North
By his own admission, Klein is pretty keen on northern fisheries despite his California and Texas roots, and he was jazzed up about finishing the season at the St. Lawrence River and St. Clair, venues he's had success at in the past.
"I really feel good about fishing up north," he said. "I did my homework and spent a lot of time up there. It just didn't work out."
He arrived at Waddington, N.Y., on the shores of the St. Lawrence tied for 17th place in points. He had designs on moving up the standings and possibly qualifying for the postseason (Top 8) and earning spots in two Toyota Texas Bass Classics (Top 15).
A 75th-place finish dashed those hopes and put him in scramble mode as he slid to 31st in points with the St. Clair finale remaining.
"Now I was starting to be bubble boy for the Classic, which is no big deal," he said. "I thought I'd do really good at Lake St. Clair. I had a great practice and felt like I'd be among the Top 3 contenders. I stayed in Lake St. Clair. I didn't go outside, but when you're catching 20-pound bags inside St. Clair, why go anywhere else?"
He caught nearly 18 pounds on day 1 and was comfortably in the Top 20, but day 2 turned into a mad scramble after the bite didn't pick up as he anticipated it would with an increase in winds.
"I really anticipated busting them big time and I was excited to have some wind blowing for the second day of competition because that's when I was catching my bigger bags," he said.
The wind, however, triggered nothing but struggles for Klein. At noon on day 2, he found himself with just two keepers in his livewell that he says wouldn't have weighed 3 pounds together.
"I was due in at 3:15 and I started thinking, 'I'll just fish because that's what I need to do to be successful,'" he added. "Then I started to think it was slipping away from me."
He made a 10-mile run to a place he felt confident he could finish his limit and possibly cull out the squeakers he had.
"I never got a bite there," he said. "So now, I'm looking at 1:30 and I still have those two fish. I made another change and ran another 3 miles and shut down on a stretch of water I hadn't fished in practice or during the tournament. I had fished it before it went off limits. It was just a big, old long stretch of grass. I pulled out my crankbait and started winding and caught three keepers right away."
Ultimately, he boxed a limit and got rid of the two dinks he'd been carting around.
"All I knew is that I caught five fish that weighed whatever it was and those five fish made the Classic for me," he said. "I salvaged the day. That's the good point. The season didn't turn out how I had anticipated it, but one thing I'm very proud of is that I stayed focused, I fished until the end, I never gave up and I worked my rear off and it worked out. I made a last-minute adjustment on the final day that got me in the Classic. That was the bright side."
Preoccupied with MLF
Klein's Elite Series results over the past few seasons haven't been up to his lofty standards and he attributes that in part to his involvement with the creation of Major League Fishing. He presently serves as the president of the organization
"I don't want to say it's taken a toll on me, but I have to be engaged in that to move it in the direction we're moving and it's been very successful," he said. "I've been very satisfied with it. Did I sacrifice the last couple years? Maybe, maybe not. I really don't know. This year, I fished like I always do. I go out and enjoy it and push hard and things worked out.
"The most important thing is being able to survive your lows. Anybody can live the high of catching them all the time and we know that all of the anglers cycle. Let's just say I've been more involved than most over the last couple years with the Major League Fishing project."
Notable
Klein recently spent some time at Berkley's facility in Spirit Lake, Ia., to continue work on products he's helping develop for launch at ICAST in 2014. He continues to be impressed with the efficiency of the R&D team there. "It's amazing to be able to take a concept, computer program it, cut it and be fishing with it that afternoon," he said. "It's just a good time to get things done to go up there when I've got everybody there. You can sit around and think outside the box and that afternoon you've got something that we're fishing."
