By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
To Chad Pipkens, the best thing about the 2016 Elite Series season is that it’s now over.
The Holt, Mich., native, who fished four FLW Tour events in 2011-12 before qualifying for the Elite Series in 2013, had made steady improvements in his first three seasons on the circuit.
After finishing 87th in the points as a rookie, he jumped to 58th in 2014, and made another significant move up to 27th in 2015, earning his second career Classic berth (his first came via his Lake St. Clair Northern Open win in 2014). He was on an upward trend many young anglers (he’s still just 33) never achieve, which makes what happened this past season so hard to figure.
After posting a 50th-place finish at the Classic, he registered six finishes of 90th or worse, including three triple-digit bombs, that put him near the bottom of the points standings by season’s end. His best finish was a 44th at Cayuga Lake in June. By comparison, he had five results of 90th or lower in the previous three seasons combined.
“I’m an oddly positive person to begin with and I know I belong, but I know I can do better,” Pipkens said during a recent media gathering in La Crosse, Wis. “I know there are times when guys get in a groove where for two or three years they can pick up any rod and catch fish anywhere. I look at Randall Tharp. He had his worst season last year and bounced back this year. You just have to stick with it.”
Snowballed From The Start
Pipkens was so enthused by the way he wrapped up the 2015 season that he was banking on the momentum carrying over to this year.
“The way last year ended, I was ready to light the world on fire, especially after having a decent tournament in Florida,” he said.
Indeed, a top-50 at the St. Johns River for a guy from Michigan was probably seen as a little victory, but the positive vibes didn’t carry over to the rest of the schedule. He finished 100th at Winyah Bay, where he had a good practice but got derailed by the fog delay on day 1.
“That’s where it started to snowball,” he said. “I found fish near the ramp and far away. I thought 9 pounds would be easy, but I missed the tide window and never caught a fish (on day 1).”
He bounced back with an 8 1/2-pound limit on day 2, but it wasn’t much consolation.
“I could never catch up all year from there,” he said. “I found what I needed to in all the tournaments to finish probably between 20th to 40th, but it always went away.”
Learned a Lot
On top of several new fisheries for Pipkens on the schedule, the conditions at several venues took him out of his comfort zone. At other stops, a good practice was followed by a sudden change that he didn’t adjust to in time.
“At Wheeler, I caught 20 pounds in practice one day on a finesse jig,” he said. “They got off that and I didn’t adjust right. I just missed all the clues. At Bull Shoals, I caught good ones on the shad spawn, but we had a fog delay and then post-front blue bird skies and that went away. Something always happened and I didn’t adjust well.
“Sometimes a little adjustment can lead to a 30th. For me, my adjustments led to 100s.”
The season was also a learning experience, due in large part to flooded cover being prevalent at several events.
“We had a lot of high, flooded water,” he added. “I’m not a go-to-the-bank-and-flip-and-punch-guy. We all have our strengths. I know when to leave places offshore. I’d fish the right stretches and go back to it and the same guys would be there and they’d make the top 12.
“I feel like I learned a lot about flooded cover. When it’s up in the bushes, you need to slow down. It was a big learning thing for me. I haven’t fished high, flooded stuff a lot. The only way to learn is to get beat. I do know that if we fish that schedule again, I’d do well.”
Opens a Bright Spot
Amidst his Elite Series struggles, Pipkens managed to win the Northern Open Angler of the Year, which will come in handy since he is on the bubble for Elite Series requalification based on his average career AOY finish. The top 5 finishers in each Open division earn an invitation to the following year’s Elite Series so at worst, Pipkens has an insurance policy.
“You can’t win money at them, but you see guys get on rolls,” he said. “We started at Oneida and I got on a roll and built some confidence, but I couldn’t cross it over.”
He took 14th at Oneida, 10th at the James River and finished 17th at Lake Champlain to collect the AOY title.
“At the James, I fished how I wanted to fish – specific shallow targets and I fished them quick,” he said. “Practice at each Open was better than each tournament. I felt like I was on fish to win one or all of them.”
Even with the momentum he built over the first three years of his career, he still considers himself one bad year away from being pushed out of the Elite Series. That’s why he still maintains a painting business at home.
“The scary thing about it is it’s still not a career, especially with the new guys coming in,” he said. “I was on the chopping block. When I don’t control my destiny or get paid to do it, that’s not a career. That’s why I continue to work to do other things.
"I don’t want my family to suffer from things I can’t control. I’m two good seasons from locking up a career thing. I need to have those two seasons coming up.”
