By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Lucy’s in Rogers, Ark., has become a special place for Mike Boyles and his dad, Lyle. They frequently meet there for a bite, usually breakfast or a hunk of meat loaf, and to catch up on life.
At their chat-and-chew gathering back in November, Mike slid a fully executed six-page contract across the table for his dad to look over. The contract represented Mike’s quantum leap to the ranks of professional bass angling, a dream of his since childhood. Neither could believe it. Mike’s still having trouble comprehending his new reality: He’ll be fishing the FLW Tour as a pro this year.
Lyle Boyles is a former school superintendent in Kansas who now lives in a retirement community in Bella Vista, Ark. He’s 81 and has battled prostate cancer the last 11 years, and likely won’t see the inside of a bass boat again. Mike says he’s a steadying influence and a sensible guy who’s always supported his passion for fishing.
“For him to sit down and read that contract, he was speechless,” Mike recalled. “I remember after I signed it, I called him first.”
The contract, which covers the next three years, is between Mike and a company based in Branson, Mo., called TimeShareRefuge.com, which helps relieve timeshare owners of their liability. The deal covers Boyles fishing the Tour, the Central Division of the Rayovac Series as well as the B.A.S.S. Central Opens. A fully-wrapped Ranger and Chevy Silverado were also included. For all involved, it’s a win-win – the website will get plenty of exposure to an audience of thousands, if not millions, while Boyles gets to live out his dream.
In an age when even established pros are struggling to secure title sponsorships, Boyles seems genuinely astonished and grateful that he landed such a deal.
“Even if I would’ve won the lottery, I don’t think I’d appreciate it as much,” Boyles said. “I did not have the means at my age to go out and fish professionally. The last couple of months have been unbelievable.”
Floating and Fate
So how did a 44-year-old from central Kansas, a man who’s been waiting tables at an Outback Steakhouse in Branson to make ends meet and pay the rent on the $300-a-month trailer he calls home, find himself in such a scenario?
The genesis of the deal traces back to an acquaintance Boyles made a couple years ago. After going through a divorce, he stayed with a friend, who worked as a bartender in Kimberling City. She introduced him to a bunch of people, and among them was a local businessman who ran a couple of successful firms in the travel industry.
Boyles, who has kicked around various FLW circuits as a co-angler since the 1990s, was working as a contractor helping to upgrade computer-networking infrastructure at a string of nursing homes in Kansas. Over time he struck up a friendship with the man, who wasn’t a serious fisherman, but wasn’t averse to it. Boyles’ passion for the sport and tournament angling became a constant topic in their conversations.
“Last July, he asked me about what it would take (financially) to be a title sponsor,” Boyles said. “Later that month, he put on a big company float trip and campout and I went with my girlfriend. I took rods and some tackle. I fished while everyone else was floating. At one point, we stopped and I started casting pretty close to him. I caught four little smallmouth on four straight casts right by him. He noticed that.”
The two got together in September and the title-sponsor topic came up again.
“He said to me, ‘Here’s the thing: My attorney and accountant don’t know how to pay a fisherman,’” Boyles said.
Subsequent discussions took place last fall and on the morning of Nov. 11, the first day to register for the Rayovac Series and B.A.S.S. Opens, Boyles found himself in the main offices of TimeShareRefuge.com with Ray Hinkle, the website’s business director, Hinkle’s boss and an attorney. They went over the terms of the contract and after a few strokes of a pen, Boyles went from a happy-go-lucky guy from the midwest with a serious passion for fishing to a tour pro.
“To get a chance at this,” Boyles says before his voice trails off as the gravity starts to set in. “I have so many friends who are working 9-to-5 jobs and have two kids and a mortgage. It’s hard for them to fish a team tournament on a weekend even with splitting expenses.
“For somebody to get involved and get a boat and truck and wrap it all and show this kind of commitment, it’s incredible.”
Playing Catch-Up
Boyles is admittedly green when it comes to tournament fishing as a boater or pro.
“The last 10 years, other than being a co-angler, I haven’t fished anything substantial from the front of the boat,” he said.
That’s going to change in a hurry as he’s slated to fish at least 12 events from the driver’s seat this year. He’s been to some of the lakes on the schedules, but he’s leaving Missouri well in advance of the Lake Toho FLW Tour opener so he can stop and get a feel for other venues he’ll be at.
“I’ll hit Ross Barnett Reservoir first since I haven’t been there in 10 years,” he said. “I’m planning to go to Smith Lake since I’ve never been there, but from what I know about it, it could be my kind of place. Then I’ll go to Eufaula where I hope to get on a shallow-water pattern. The ledge fishing will be a little rough on me.
“I’m just going to fish my strengths. If I can find a shallow bite, that’d be great. Anything pre-spawn through post-spawn I’m comfortable with.”
As for prepping for Toho, he’s going to hit up some lakes north of the Kissimee Chain in an effort to reacclimate himself to the flipping and punching and general Florida tactics that he doesn’t get much practice at in the Ozarks.
“It’s been two years since I fished a Florida lake,” he said. “I have a four-drawer file cabinet at home with a folder on just about every lake I’ve been to. Each folder has notes and other information that I’ve compiled over the years.”
He knows he could be in for some struggles as a rookie pro on Tour and the triple-A level, but he’s being realistic about his goals at this point.
“What I’ve done is gone back and looked at what it took to get 30th place at a lot of these tournaments,” he said. “I’m not looking to knock it out of the ball park. If I can shoot for 30th, that will be a good start.”
