By Lynn Burkhead
OSG Senior Digital Editor


It didn’t take long after I first met Brent Ehrler to know that he’s one of the brightest and best bass anglers on the planet.

That much seemed apparent several years ago when the California pro took the first ever Major League Fishing Summit Cup over the likes of Kevin VanDam, Mike McClelland and Kelly Jordon on Texas’ Lake Amistad.

And it seemed so once again on Friday at the first round of the 48th Bassmaster Classic on South Carolina’s Lake Hartwell, where Ehrler weighed in five bass tipping the scales at 17-08 – good enough for 4th place behind Jason Christie, Edwin Evers and Jordan Lee.

That Ehrler is in such heady company is no surprise, especially considering the amount of pre-tournament prep work that he did leading up to this week’s Classic. While he couldn’t get on the water and fish, he did the next best thin g… he got on his smartphone and clicked on his FishSmart app.

“There’s only so much that you can do with Google Earth, only so much that you can do on the Internet looking up fishing reports, maps, tournament results, (things like that),” said the 2006 Forrest Wood Cup winner. “Humminbird has an app that has Google Earth on it as well as mapping.”

Downloading the map for Hartwell, Ehrler was able to spend plenty of time searching for every bass-holding nook and cranny on the 56,000-acre water body on the Georgia/South Carolina border.

“I showed up to the lake with probably 50 waypoints on my phone that looked good on the map, (places that) I wanted to remind myself of when I got there,” said the seven-time winner on the FLW Tour who has now been fishing the Elite Series for the past two seasons. “You can study a map all you want, but when you drop the trolling motor or launch the boat in the morning, you forget half of the stuff you looked at on the map. So, I’m able to put a waypoint on my phone, exactly where I want to look at (on the map out on the water).”

Able to work in real-time concert with his onboard electronics, Ehrler was able to fine-tune his Smartphone app approach through his on-the-water practice.

“I ended up deleting a lot (of waypoints) because it was the wrong stuff,” he said. “I had preconceived notions about where I thought the fish were going to be. Then I went through and deleted a lot of it after a couple of days on the water, (when) I could fine-tune where I thought they were.”

Did that come into play for the three-time Classic qualifier on day 1 of the 2018 derby?

“One hundred percent,” said Ehrler. “I ran to a spot (today) that I saw on my mapping, not only just on my app, but also on my LakeMaster chip on my Humminbird unit as well. I was driving by (on Friday) and said I need to go fish that, it looks right. I pull up and on my second cast, I catch a 3 1/2-pounder at a spot I had dropped a waypoint on my phone (weeks prior to the tournament).”

Ehrler noted that while he didn’t go there on Friday because of the waypoint – he was driving to another spot, saw the location, and pulled in – he had already marked the spot on his phone prior to arriving at Hartwell.

“(But) I had not fished it yet, I had not fished it in practice,” he said. “It looked good on the (sonar) map today as I was driving by, so I kind of button-hooked and pulled over and caught a big one.”

Ehrler smiled big when I asked if the Smartphone app would get a little more attention before Saturday’s second roun.

“I’m going to definitely be looking at that thing tonight,” he chuckled. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to duplicate (Friday’s result) some more on the water.”

Especially since Ehrler likes the pattern that he is running.

“It’s crazy how specific it is,” he said. “It’s so obvious, and that’s the funny thing too, I don’t know if anybody else is running it or not.”

Will that pattern hold up over the weekend?

“It will still hold up,” he predicted. “You know, it worked on Sunday, and here we are six days later and it worked today, so it’s not going to change.”

And that’s fine with Ehrler as he continues to aim for the top of the podium after Sunday’s third and final round where a $300,000 top prize awaits the winner.

“I’m right where I want to be,” he said. “I’ve got a great pattern going where I can catch a lot of fish and that makes it easier to run around. It’s hard to catch a big one, but I can catch a lot of fish, and that alone helps keep your day going.”

“This place is kind of finicky to me right now and it has been in the past. I won here (previously in March 2012 on the FLW Tour) and it actually was pretty easy because I had a couple of good spots where I could catch a lot of fish. But those were single spots and right now, I’m running a lot of water and you don’t really know what’s going to happen next. It’s hard to get that big bite. I say it’s finicky, so I could go out and catch 12 pounds tomorrow or I could go out and catch 20. I don’t really know what to expect.”

Fair enough, since none of the other anglers do either in advance of day 2 of the 48th Classic derby.

But while he may not know what to expect on the water, it seems pretty obvious that Ehrler certainly knows where to look on the water.

“I’ve eliminated some stuff, I need to do some more fine-tuning, and hopefully I can keep it rolling,” he said.

Rolling all the way to a Bassmaster Classic win, perhaps.

“This is my ultimate goal, (to win) the Classic,” said Ehrler. “My career would be complete if I could win the Bassmaster Classic. Until then, it won’t be complete and it’s something I want really bad.”

His near miss a year ago at Lake Conroe in the 2017 Classic, an event that he led going into the final day, is certainly at the back of his mind.

“It was a tough pill to swallow, it still is,” said Ehrler. “It doesn’t drive me anymore though, because I feel like my drive is about as strong as it can be.”

Especially when he’s got his Smartphone and FishSmart app handy.