If a tour pro can't handle some ups and downs, then he'd better look for another way to earn a living. Nobody, but nobody can make fish cooperate all the time.
Gerald Swindle, an emotional guy to begin with, stayed at one end of that spectrum or the other for the majority of the 2007 season. And shortly after it ended, he had a bomb dropped on him that was far more devastating than an entire year full of last-place finishes.
The 2004 Bassmaster Angler of the Year (AOY) can't wait for the '08 campaign to start, though. After all, his previous presidential election-year season turned out pretty well.
"I'm looking to make five Top 12s and to win two events, and I really think I can achieve that," the 38-year-old Alabamian said. "I'm not trying to sound conceited, but when you set goals, I don't think you should ever be bashful about what you want.
"And as for those two wins, I'll take one of them at the (Bassmaster) Classic."
The Vertical String
Swindle's '07 season took on its yo-yoish form right from the beginning. It started with the exciting prospect of trying to win a Classic in his home state, only to have that dream dashed by a day's-weight penalty for running his boat on plane in proximity to spectator boats.
A little more than a month later, he turned in an 89th-place stink job at the California Delta and said he never wanted to fish there again. The next week at Clear Lake, just a 3-hour drive to the east, he caught a 10 1/2-pounder on the final day to finish 4th. He called boating that brute "maybe the highest high I've ever had in my tournament career."
A couple of Top 30s in Tour events and a 10th in the season's first major ensued, but then his season turned south. He failed to crack the Top 40 in five straight Elite tournaments, with two of those finishes in the 80s and another in the 70s.
He stood 49th in the AOY race with just the finale at Florida's Lake Toho to go, and he needed to move up at least 12 spots to qualify for his ninth Classic. He ended up 13th in the tournament and jumped 13 places in the standings to punch his ticket for Lake Hartwell.
"This one's kind of like a mulligan or something because I really didn't think I'd be there," he said. "It's like getting an extra strike when you're batting.
"Now it's up to me to go up there and take advantage of it."
Bad News Hits Home
Swindle didn't get much time to savor his clutch performance at Toho and resulting Classic qualification. During the fall, he learned that older brother Tony has a terminal illness.
"It came as a real shock because it was something nobody knew anything about," he said. "He went to the doctor because he hadn't been feeling good, and the next thing we know he's got stage 4 pancreatic cancer."
He's spent as much time as possible this offseason with the 42-year-old Tony. The highlight was a deer hunt on his lease in southern Alabama.
Swindle's 2007 season was a roller-coaster affair, but it didn't rob him of his sense of humor.
"He never hunted as much as I did because he was working all the time, but I got to take him down there and he killed two. That was pretty special because it was probably the last hunt he'll ever go on."
His brother's plight has affected everything he's done over the past few months.
"It's a tough part of life. Whether it's preparing for the Classic or just going to the grocery store, I'm always thinking about him."
Burning Desire to Win
Swindle has stated his desire to win two events this year, but what he really wants is that first one. He's cashed nearly $800,000 worth of BASS checks since 1995, but doesn't have a victory with that organization in 129 outings.
"I've been trying not to worry about it, but I think (the self-imposed pressure to win) messed me up a little bit last year," he said. "I won on the FLW Tour in my 2nd year out there (at Beaver Lake in 1998), but this one has taken so long and there's been so many near-misses.
"When it starts weighing on me, that's when I get a little too risky. What I need to do is go out and fish the moment every day and if it happens, it happens. And when it does, I think there'll be more to follow quickly."
One of the reasons his goals for '08 are so lofty is because he thinks the schedule suits his helter-skelter style.
"I like it all the way across the board, from top to bottom. There are going to be some tournaments won by junk-fishing, I can tell you that right now. I've never been to the Mississippi River in Iowa, but I can almost guarantee that'll be a junk deal.
"I think it's going to be a great year."
Notable
> Swindle recently signed a 3-year sponsorship agreement with Team Toyota – his third major team deal with a BASS sponsor (he was a member of the Advance Auto Parts team last year and before that was part of Team Citgo). His new pact reunites him with former Citgo manager of outdoor sponsorships Lance Peck, the VP of Dynamic Sponsorships (which brokered the Toyota deal). "I don't think I've ever been as excited about a corporate deal," he said. "I trust Lance and I trust the brand, and I'm real proud to be with them."
> He spent a few days at Hartwell in December before the lake went off-limits. "I mostly just idled around looking at the trees on the bottom, and there's a bunch of them. I was just trying to anticipate what the fish will be doing when we get back there. If it's warm and a lot of them are shallow, they might not be biting well. But if it's cold, that might make the deep-structure stuff pretty good."
> He said his wife, LeAnn, out-hunted him this fall. "She killed a giant 10-pointer that scored 152 (Boone & Crockett points) and an 8-pointer that scored 130. She had a great year and mine was just mediocre."
