Matt Herren has never finished a season outside the Top 11 in the FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) race. That's a 3-year mini-streak to be proud of, but also one that he's not overly interested in keeping intact.
He's 3rd in the points going into the final event at Lake Champlain, but whether he maintains that position or falls a couple dozen places is of little consequence to him. He's in the FLW Tour Championship either way.
The only points he'll be concerned with in upstate New York next month are the 36 that separate him
from AOY leader Anthony Gagliardi and the one between him and 2nd-place Jim Moynagh.
"My prediction is I'll either finish 40th in the points or I'll win the (AOY)," the straight-talking Alabaman said. "Being that close, I'm going for broke, and I'll just have to accept the fact that I might bomb there.
"I wish I were about 10 points closer, but the way I look at it, I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain."
Big Move Needed
Herren has been cognizant of his AOY chances since his 9th-place finish at Kentucky Lake 2 weeks ago, but they don't dominate his thoughts. He still has considerable ground to make up on Gagliardi and will have to hope the frontrunner doesn't post a Top 35 at Champlain.
Still, he prefers the role of the hunter to that of the hunted.
"I haven't thought about it a lot because there's nothing I can do about it right now," he said. "This thing is Anthony's to lose. But the biggest thing I do like is where I'm at.
"If we were going into a tournament with a really tough bite, then I'd say my odds are slim to none. But at Champlain, if he doesn't catch them and catch them good, then either myself or Moynagh or Gabe Bolivar (in 4th, five points behind Herren) will get him. Out of the Top 4, a couple of us or all of us are going to catch them.
"Some guys might want to be on top or leading the whole way through," he added. "I'd rather be the guy coming from behind to get him. It's a lot easier for me to try to win it than to try not to lose it."
Solid as a Rock
The 43-year-old Herren has been the epitome of consistency since he joined the Tour in 2003. He's suffered just one triple-digit finish (100th at Wheeler last year) and has ended up 11th ('03), 9th ('04) and 4th ('05) in the points.
He's achieved that level of steadiness by fishing to his strengths – he prefers shallow water, and tries to locate fish at depths of 5 feet or less wherever he goes. That should be no problem at Champlain.
"I will find shallow fish there – being able to is not part of the equation," he said. "The only thing is you can get on the wrong side of the ounces. You could have 27 pounds and be in 1st place and have 25 and be in 50th. You'll hear horror stories from guys who are in the Championship (Top 48) right now, and they'll catch fish and fall out.
"But anytime I get to go into an event that suits my style, I like my chances. The fish there will be revolving around the spawn, and I'm really looking forward to it."
Matt Herren notched his second Top 10 of the year recently at Kentucky Lake.
Series Struggles
There have only been two events in the new FLW Series, and they've resulted in the two worst finishes of Herren's career. He was 110th at Lanier (Georgia) and 167th at Cumberland (Kentucky).
He said there are two reasons for that: 1) neither lake offered him many opportunities for a big stringer from the shallows; 2) he went into them with an all-or-nothing approach and wound up on the wrong end both times.
"I kind of looked at them as five free potshots to win one," he said. "Lanier is a spotted bass lake and Cumberland is mostly smallmouths, so I thought the pressure would be off the largemouths and I might sneak in the back door. What I found out was the kind of largemouths I needed didn't exist."
What he realized recently is that his care-free attitude toward points in the Series has cost him dearly in the BassFan World Rankings. He's fallen from 9th to 26th this year, and only the Top 25 will qualify for the 2006 Cabela's Top Gun Championship.
"That swing-for-the-fences mentality got me into a little bit of trouble, and I'm way down in the points on that side," he said. "I could get back into the Top 30 over the last three events, but it's going to take three really good licks to do it."
Notable
> Herren had high praise for Gagliardi's ability to catch fish from deep structure. "Anthony's one of the premier offshore guys in the country. Every time we've had an offshore tournament, that guy's done well, and then he's survived the shallow ones. This (Champlain) is going to be a sight-fishing, shallow-water deal. I'm sure he can catch them that way too, and he's going to have to if he wants to win this thing."
> He's comforted by the fact that he could zero at Champlain and still make the Championship. "Last time up there (2004), I was pretty sure I was locked in, but I still didn't sleep well." He finished 28th.
