By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Shad Schenck has been a full-time competitor on the FLW Tour since 2000. In most of those years he's ended up right around the cutoff point for qualifying for the Forrest Wood Cup.

He's put together 3 seasons, however, that have been much stronger than the others. One of those was this past campaign, when he finished 13th in the Angler of the Year race and missed his career-best showing by just one position.

Not bad for a guy who really isn't a full-time fisherman. The Indiana resident works two gigs in the agricultural industry (one in which he supplies products and services to corn and soybean farmers and another relating to farmland management) and also spends winters guiding on a family hunting preserve in Texas.

"I feel real fortunate to have been as consistent as I have while doing all those other things," he said. "I'd like to have done a little better at times, but for the amount of time I've been able to put into it, I've been more than blessed."

Bitten by Beaver

If not for a miserable outing at Beaver Lake (a phenomenon that has become the norm for him in recent years), Schenck would've lodged a single-digit showing in the AOY race for the first time ever.

"I had five finishes that were respectable and then the one bad one at Beaver (a 134th)," he said. "If I could've gotten rid of Beaver over the last 8 years I'd have been a lot better off. Those mountain reservoirs definitely aren't my favorite.

"I consider myself a pretty good pattern fisherman and if I can put something together I can be pretty efficient, but it's hard to do there because it's so small. It can be done, but it's not as easy as it is on the Tennessee River or other large bodies of water."

He's logged strong placements there in the past – recording a Top-10 once and just missing another. But even on those occasions he felt like he was out of his element.

"The mountain reservoirs with their clear water are something that I've never enjoyed. I'd much rather be fishing a grass lake and I've done much better when the schedule has set me up to do that."

Magical Day at Pickwick

The nightmare at Beaver ended up being Schenck's only placement outside the Top 50. He ended up 16th or better three times, including a season-best 9th in the early June event at Pickwick Lake.

He had a stellar day 2 there, catching a sack that was just 3 ounces shy of 25 pounds. He said it was one of the best fishing days he's ever had – in competition or otherwise.

"I can't even guess how many keeper fish I caught that day," he said. "I caught them several different ways and it was the most keepers and the most weight I've ever had.

"I found the place in practice and it had more fish on it than anything I've ever seen in my entire life, and a lot of them were nice ones – 3-, 4- and 5-pounders. I caught them from 26 feet (deep) on a dropshot all the way up to schooling in a single 100-yard stretch. Dropshots, football jigs, swimbaits, topwaters – it all happened.

"As far as numbers and size of fish," he continued, "it was a day I'll never forget."

Slight Bump Sought

The 43-year-old Schenck's career-best finish in the AOY race was 12th in 2011, then he followed that up with a 75th in '12. His other 13th came in 2009 and he was 55th the year after that.

In 2015, he hopes to halt the trend of back-sliding following his best seasons.

"My goal is a Top-10 finish (in the points) and what that's probably going to take is a couple more Top-10s throughout the season," he said. "You have to make some gutsy moves to do that and a few of them need to work out.

"I'm just going to take it one lake at a time. Looking at the schedule, I've always preferred Okeechobee over Toho (where the campaign will open), but I really enjoy all the things fishing in Florida has to offer. I also have some experience at the Potomac River, but it's gotten a lot tougher recently and it'll fish a lot different.

"I don't like mountain lakes and I don't like sight-fishing," he added. "Other than that, from the pre-spawn to the post-spawn, I'll take my chances against anybody."

Notable

> The ranch on which he guides in Texas, the Hageman Reserve, consists of 15,000 acres in a contiguous chunk and is owned by his wife's family. It offers deer, pig, waterfowl and quail hunting along with fishing and clay shooting, and fellow FLW Tour pro Wesley Strader is also a member of the guide staff.