You could hardly blame Brennan Bosley if he thought he'd ascended a big career hump last year. The 4th-year pro from Arkansas logged two Top 10s during the FLW Tour regular season, finished 19th in the FLW Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) race and qualified for his first championship event, at which he placed 9th.
It's a good thing the 33-year-old understands that professional fishing is an up-and-down game, because there've been no big checks or TV appearances this year. There's been nothing but frustration.
"It's been a year of bad decisions," he said. "What this sport's all about is doing the right thing at the right time, and things just haven't clicked for me.
"It seems like whenever I've made a decision, I ended up doing the exact opposite of what I needed to be doing."
Wrong Places, Wrong Times
Bosley is an avowed shallow-water power-fisherman, and that's a style that hasn't played well on Tour this year. He's been forced to fish away from his strengths, and the results have been unsightly.
He's finished no higher than 122nd in the four events thus far and is 162nd on the points list.
"Every tournament so far this year has been a deep-water or a finesse deal," he said. "The only one where I felt like I was in my element was Travis, and it gotten beat up fast because of the low water.
"From there, it's been all downhill."
Other anglers who've had success in the past who also dislike finesse tactics have had a tough time as well. For example, Dan Morehead is 101st in the points, Andre Moore is 123rd and Bobby Lane is 129th.
But none have struggled to the extent that Bosley has.
"I feel like I'm good at fishing shallow and covering a lot of water, but that just hasn't worked out this year. The venues we've been to, that hasn't been the right type of deal, and I've just had to make do.
"It definitely starts to wear on you after awhile because you start to second-guess yourself. I think my biggest enemy all year has been inside my own head – I've struggled to maintain the right attitude and keep focused and stay positive. I've hung onto my bad finishes for too long instead of putting them behind me and moving on."
The Mind Games Continue
Bosley hasn't had a finish this year that he'd deem even acceptable, but the best among them was the 122nd he turned in last month at Beaver. He said he had a chance to do much better, but couldn't trust himself enough to fish the way he knew he should.
"I had a little bit of a pattern with a shakey-head on rockpiles during practice, but then that didn't work in the tournament," he said. "What I should've done after that was gone out and cranked the ledges, which is something I would have been comfortable with.
"The fish were out there – I talked to some guys who caught them there – and I've had success at Beaver in the past in the immediate post-spawn on the first ledges out from the spawning bays. But from my experiences this year with making wrong decisions, I just knew it was going to be a finesse, jighead-worm-type bite, and I made myself do that. I let my other bad finishes talk me out of sticking to my guns."
Bosley will pull out all the stops in a quest for victory at the Potomac River next week.
Instinctual decisions are often the keys to high finishes, and he's made a lot of good ones in the past. A string of bad ones, though, will naturally cause an angler to question himself. When that happens, he's in trouble.
"You can't fish that way – when you get a gut feeling, you've got to to go with it. If it works, that's great. If it doesn't, then you learn from your mistake.
"I'm a big believer in fate, and I think (another good year) just wasn't in the cards for me. I just have to learn to take what I've been given and go on to the next one."
Two More Chances
Bosley has no chance to qualify for the Forrest Wood Cup, which will be held at Lake Ouachita in his home state on the first weekend of August. Therefore, he can pull out all the stops at the last two events (the Potomac River and the Detroit River) in pursuit of a glorious end to a forgettable season.
He's excited about the Potomac event, which gets under way next week.
"I've only been there once, but I had a pretty good finish (39th in 2005)," he said. "I'm in a position where I have nothing to lose, so I'll go up there and shoot for the stars. I might as well fish wide-open and go for the win."
No matter what happens in the final two tournaments, this year has been a learning experience.
"I think the biggest thing I've learned is not to take for granted the things I have and the blessings I've been given, because things can change at any moment. You can go from the top of the world to the bottom of the barrel in the course of a couple of months.
"But I'll try not to worry too much or lose too much sleep. I'll keep chunking and winding, and eventually things will come around."
Notable
> Bosley started the year at No. 94 in the BassFan World Rankings presented by Tru-Tungsten, but has dropped 80 spots down to No. 174.
> He's never been to the Detroit River (site of the final regular-season event next month). "I'm not a big smallmouth guy, but I enjoy catching them. I'll be out of my element again, but I'm looking forward to it."
