Wellman Had Solid Year, But He's Itching For A Win

If you look back over Nate Wellman's 3-year FLW Tour career, you might be inclined to think that qualifying for his first Forrest Wood Cup was the highlight of his 2008 campaign.

Actually, no.

"It's every fisherman's dream to win the championship or the Classic, and making it there made me feel like I belonged fishing among the best in the world," said the 26-year-old Michigander, who finished 35th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. "It was kind of a welcoming feeling and reaffirmed that fishing is what my calling is.

"But at the opposite end, it really wasn't that big of a thrill. I don't know if you'd call this cocky or not, but I knew before the season started that I was going to make it and it was never really on my mind. Winning a tournament is my No. 1 goal."

Back from the Depths

Wellman had a decent rookie year on the Tour in 2006, logging a 21st- and a 32nd-place finish en route to landing at No. 76 in the points. He took a step backward in '07, however, as five of his six finishes were 94th or worse and he ended up 110th in the AOY standings.

He said his main problem that year was he paid too much heed to all the dock talk.

"I'd made a lot of friends on the Tour, both pros and co-anglers, and I started listening to everything anybody had to say," he said. "That really messed with me. Growing up, I read all the magazines and watched all the TV shows, but I didn't really have any mentors and I was basically self-taught. Other people's input messed with my mind.

"I'm a power-fisherman – I like to throw big baits, cover water and try for big sacks of fish. The FLW Tour leans more toward finesse-fishing, or that's just the way it works out, and I kind of got caught up in all the finesse stuff."

An ailing left arm that he'd overextended while pitching under docks didn't help. And psychologically, he was stung by the death of one of his best friends in an auto accident in early spring.

"It was one of those years when I just couldn't seem to get out of the hole – every time I started to climb out, something else would knock me back in. I ended up losing my confidence."

Distractions Eliminated

After his less-than-stellar showing in '07, Wellman made some changes to his routine. He kept to himself, formulated his own gameplans and fished to his strengths whenever he could, and the results were much more positive.

He finished among the Top 50 (the upper quarter of the 200-boat field) four times in six regular-season events, with a high of 13th at the season opener at Florida's Lake Toho. He also notched 17th- and 18th-place finishes on the Eastern FLW Series and was 3rd in his lone Stren appearance at Kentucky Lake.

"I came back with a vengeance," he said. "My goal was to win a tournament and I didn't do that, but I still had a great year. I made some money and I definitely improved as a fisherman.

"As much as I hate to say it, I became a loner. I stayed at out-of-the-way hotels and I didn't listen to anything. I got back to fishing the way I fish, and it paid off."

He still did some finesse-fishing, but avoided it whenever another option seemed viable.

"I tried to use my 8 hours (on the water) to get the five biggest fish I could catch. If I had three, instead of throwing a shakey-head and maybe catching two 1-pounders, I'd pick up a jig and try for one 4-pounder. That would mean more, and who knows, you might end up catching two of them.

"I had a couple of bad tournaments (112th at Norman and 164th at Beaver), so it didn't always work. But you can't win them all."

He's most proud of his performance at the Kentucky Lake Central Stren, which took place right after the Tour event at Norman. His late arrival and mechanical problems limited him to a half-day of practice, and the bed-fish he found during those few hours pulled back with the arrival of a cold front on day 1.

Instead of throwing lizards and Senkos around the beds, he ended up fishing jigs and full-size brush hogs on the adjacent deep, rocky shorelines.

"I caught 95% of my fish in that tournament from places where I'd never made a cast in my life, and I had the fish on to win it on the last day, but it jumped off. The best thing about it was it made me realize that I don't have to have a great practice or find one great spot.

"Even if everything changes, if I can find one pattern I can run that I have confidence in, I can still do well."

Notable

> Wellman is thrilled with the look of the 2009 Tour schedule, which should allow more opportunities for power-fishing than in recent years. "I have very high hopes – it's a phenomenal schedule, if you ask me," he said. "It couldn't be much better unless they got rid of Beaver or something."

> He said the trophy from his initial win would be more important to him than the money. "FLW would probably hate me because somebody would walk up and give me that check and expect me to hold it in the air, but I'll put it on the ground. I want that trophy. The money would be great and I could use it, but the thrill of knowing I was the best for that week is what would do it for me."