Brett Hite's tournament record for 2008 shows a considerable amount of inconsistency. Nonetheless, it was a highly profitable year.
"I've got to give it an 'A,''' said the 30-year-old Arizonan, who won an FLW Tour event and an FLW Series Western Division tournament before the calendar officially turned to spring. "It was the best year I've ever had in terms of making money.
"For a lot of guys, winning one of those in a lifetime would be doing pretty good, because there's a lot of great anglers who still haven't done it. To win two in the same year is something that not too many people have done."
He did nothing remarkable the rest of the year on either circuit – he ended up 93rd in the Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) race and 24th on the points list for the four-tournament Western Series. But he'd locked up his Forrest Wood Cup slot even prior to that via the Series East/West Fish-Off, and with that and $250,000 in the bank, it was a relatively stress-free campaign.
"I wasn't really fishing for points, so I got to fish the way I wanted to fish all year. When it went my way, it was glorious, and other times it backfired.
"When I look back at it, I probably took things a little bit too easy, but that's a case of live and learn. You're not as stressed if you don't get into the Top 50 because it's not like you're worried about not making the Forrest Wood Cup."
A Magical Stretch
Hite's victories came just 2 weeks apart at venues that are separated by nearly 3,000 miles. Fortunately for him, the pattern he employed in the Tour event at Florida's Lake Toho (swimming a jig through vegetation) transferred almost seamlessly to the California Delta Western Series.
"Florida had been one of my nemesis states," said Hite, who was previously known as primarily a dropshot wizard. "The last 3 or 4 years I've really tried to learn to fish that grass down there a lot better, and all my hard work kind of paid off.
"Then to go from there to the Delta, which is one of my three favorite places in the country, was a really good transition. The fish were pretty much doing the same thing and I used the identical rod, reel, bait – everything."
Psychologically, the first win hadn't totally sunk in when he hoisted the trophy for the second one.
"I went from winning by a record margin (20-04) in Florida to catching 107 pounds (over 4 days) at the Delta. I've been doing this for 8 or 9 years and I'd won a Stren event (in 2003), but I'd been striving to win one at this level, and the whole week driving to the Delta, there wasn't really time to relax before it spun into the exact same thing again.
"The best way I can describe it is I was emotionally drained, but physically I was pretty ecstatic."
Hite's pattern from his victory at Toho transitioned almost seamlessly to the California Delta Western FLW Series.
No Free Pass this Year
After his win at Toho, Hite finished no better than 118th at the next four Tour events. Only a 35th in the regular-season finale at the Detroit River kept his AOY finish out of triple digits.
He expects to achieve more consistency this year, though. He'll have to fish his way into the Cup via the Tour, and he's unlikely to have the same type of early-season financial nest egg he enjoyed in 2008.
He'll fish both the Tour and Western Series again this year, and is especially excited about the Tour schedule. The only venues he's unfamiliar with are Kentucky Lake and Champlain, and even a first-timer can often have a lot of fun at those places.
"I think it's the best Tour schedule FLW's ever had," he said. "I'm looking forward to Guntersville, Table Rock and Norman. Beaver's probably the toughest one this year, but that one's always on the schedule."
With the victory goal crossed off his list, his next objective is to make a run at an AOY.
"Everything has to go your way, and a lot of it comes with experience," he said. "I'm going to be fishing for points this year to make the championship, so that should help.
"I just want to be as consistent as possible. Of course, I'd like to win another tournament, but the Forrest Wood Cup is going to be the biggest thing on my mind. My goal will be to make the Top 50 in every tournament, and if you do that, you'll be right there in the Top 10 for the Angler of the Year."
Notable
> Hite said he had opportunities to achieve a considerably better AOY finish than the one he ended up with. "There were a few tournaments where I really wasn't on anything, but there were also a few where I didn't capitalize on what I was on."
> He made the East/West Fish-Off again last year (an event that's been discontinued for 2009) and averaged better than 23 pounds a day at Texas' Lake Falcon, but was defeated by David Walker.
