Remitz Returns To Site Of His Greatest Triumph

If any angler has a right to feel confident heading into next week's FLW Series East/West Fishoff, it's Derek Remitz. BassFans recall what happened last time he showed up at Texas' Lake Amistad – he won the first Bassmaster Elite Series event he'd ever competed in.

"Yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to that one," said the 2007 BassFan Rookie of the Year (ROY). "Conditions are setting up pretty good for the way I caught them last year (throwing a jig for deep, early pre-spawn fish)."

He whipped up on guys with names like VanDam, Reese, Iaconelli and Kennedy to win the Amistad Elite Series last March. This time he needs to out-fish just one angler – California's Zack Thompson – to claim a berth in the 2008 Forrest Wood Cup.

As of a couple of days ago, he had no idea who his Fishoff opponent would be. That's not a slight to Thompson or a sign of overconfidence – his preparation would be the same whether he was matched against KVD or Grandma Moses.

"I hadn't checked (the pairings) to see. I just want to focus on going out and trying to catch whatever I can to try to make that championship."

Heads-Up Duel

The FLW Series expanded to two geographic divisions for its 2nd year in 2007, and this will be the inaugural East/West Fishoff. It will feature the Top 30 anglers from each of the Series' two divisions matched in inverse order of their points finish (No. 1 from the Eastern vs. No. 30 from the Western, and so on).

The event will run Thursday through Saturday. The 30 winners of the head-to-head, total-weight matchups will advance to the Cup, scheduled for Aug. 14-17 at Lake Murray in South Carolina.

Remitz, the 25-year-old Minnesota native who now resides in Alabama, was one of a handful of Elite Series anglers who also fished the Eastern Series. He finished 25th in the points, and thus will square off against No. 6 on the Western list (Thompson).

If he beats Thompson, he'll get to fish both of the sport's most prestigious events this year (he earned a spot in next month's Bassmaster Classic at South Carolina's Lake Hartwell with a 25th-place finish in the Elite Series points). Steve Kennedy (No. 9 on the Eastern list) and Tommy Biffle (No. 16) are the only other anglers who have a shot at that double.

"That's something I never thought much about, but it's two chances in one year at $500,000 (for first place)," he said. "I have to make it there first, but it'd be nice to have that extra opportunity at some big money."

Time to Unwind

The laid-back Remitz primarily took it easy during the offseason. He did a little bit of fishing and went home to Minnesota for the holidays, and has spent much of the past month sorting his tackle for the upcoming season.

"Last year was pretty grueling," he said. "I went pretty hard from February through October, and that couple of months off was much-needed.

"Then when I started getting into my tackle, I was finding stuff I hadn't used in 4 or 5 years. Compared to some guys I might not have that much, but I think I have too much because I always end up going back to the same things. You can spend days and days going through your tackle and never really get anywhere."

Overall, his rookie year went better than he expected. He certainly didn't anticipate winning his first Elite Series tournament (or finishing among the Top 5 in three of his first four), and ending up among the upper 25% in the points was a nice achievement, too.

"I was really just hoping to survive and hang around the Classic cut somewhere and try to get back in (he qualified for last year's Classic – and the Elite Series – through the Bassmaster Opens). Starting off so well was definitely a surprise.

"A lot of the year went rather well, and some of it went rather poorly, too. I learned a lot about things like finding fish faster. One thing about the Elites is they make you learn because everybody catches them so well. You learn really fast by finishing 104th (as he did at Champlain)."

One thing he learned is there are days when one particular bait will outshine all others. For instance, he wasn't a big believer in swimbaits until day 2 at California's Clear Lake.

He caught just 13-05 on day 1 (which was nearly the equivalent of blanking in that record-setting slugfest). Then he pulled out a swimbait on day 2 and whacked nearly twice that much (24-00).

"That was one instance where I was probably a little too stubborn – I'd never fished a swimbait before and I didn't intend to there. Then I caught all that weight on the second day in about five casts in the morning.

"It kind of made me a little more open-minded about some of the baits that are out there and made me realize that there's times when they'll work pretty good."

Small Leaps Okay

Remitz has a couple of goals for the upcoming season: He'd like to qualify for his third straight Classic, and he'd like to finish among the Top 20 in the points. He hopes to win the Elite Series Angler of the Year (AOY) at some juncture, but there's no immediacy surrounding that one.

"That's definitely something I'm shooting for," he said. "But realistically, with the caliber of fishermen out here, that will probably take a few years, even though you never know what might happen.

"With 11 tournaments and 100 guys who don't let up, if you have one stumble, you're pretty much done for AOY. But if I can stick around for 5 years or so, I'll probably have an even greater desire to win that."

He'll hang around the pro game for as long as he can. After all, it beats the alternative.

"If I wasn't doing this, I'd probably be back on the (family) sod farm in Minnesota."

Notable

> Remitz won't fish the FLW Series this year. "I had to miss the first one at Okeechobee because I had some business stuff going on, and last year (the schedule) was just a little too much," he said. "I'll fish the Southern Opens, though – they fit in pretty well with the Elite Series schedule."

> He now owns a more-than-ample supply of swimbaits. "I've got enough that I shouldn't have to buy any for 2 or 3 years."

> He likes the look of the '08 Elite Series schedule. "It's kind of exciting because it looks like we'll be hitting all of the lakes at the right times, and I've been to all of them except Murray."