Ken Wick's 2008 FLW Tour season was easily the worst out of the 4 he's fished. Good thing he had the Western FLW Series to fall back on.
The 42-year-old Idahoan had three finishes of 156th or worse on the Tour and none better than 50th. He ended up 137th in the points.
His Western Series ledger was much brighter, though. He finished 4th, 5th, 8th and 18th in the four events en route to winning Angler of the Year (AOY) honors.
"I can't really pinpoint the reason for it, but I just had a terrible year on the Tour," said Wick, who was the top rookie on that circuit in 2005. "My confidence level got lower as the year went on and I think I got burned out a bit.
"I'd already qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup (via the Series East/West Fish-Off), so I was going (for big bags) every single day. There were a few times I caught fish but I didn't weigh in because I knew I wasn't going to cash a check."
That bad mojo didn't carry over to the Series, though. He logged two of those finishes in the spring, before the burnout factor had begun to take hold, and the other two in the fall after he'd had time to purge his Tour struggles from his psyche.
On top of that, he's just more comfortable fishing in his home region, and he didn't have to rely on spinning tackle and a shakey-head worm to be competitive.
"On the Western Series you can throw reaction baits all day and catch a lot of fish. I think it's better fishing out here – at least it suits my style way better.
"It can be tough to get five bites back there. Locating fish with plastics can take a long time."
A Long Way from Home
Wick acknowledges the disadvantage in fishing the eastern-oriented FLW Tour from his remote home base in southwestern Idaho (Star, the town in which he resides, has a population under 2,000). But that's just something he'll have to continue to deal with because he doesn't plan to move.
"No, I'm never going back East," he said. "Whenever I'm coming home and I hit Wyoming and I can see the mountains again, I know I'm right where I belong."
His off-seasons are dominated by bird-hunting trips with his two German wirehaired pointers. Chukar partridge are their favorite quarry, and most of their excursions take place across the state line in the rugged hills of eastern Oregon.
Until 2007, he derived the bulk of his income building cabin-style houses on the shores of a local lake. He did everything himself, from start to finish, and usually completed two per year.
He's all-in with fishing now, though, and '08 would've been a rough year financially if not for the Western Series. Not only did he cash in off his strong finishes, but he earned enough points to take the top slot in the final Ranger Cup standings – a feat that was worth an additional $75,000.
An enticing schedule has Wick eager to get the 2009 Tour under way.
Schedule Looks Good
Wick expects to have a much better year on the Tour in '09 than he did last year. His outlook is rosy because, like most of his fellow FLW pros, he loves the makeup of the schedule.
"If you look at the lakes we're going to, we've got a good tour," he said. "They're all power-fishing lakes except Beaver, but even that should be better because it's a month earlier than last year. There'll be chances to throw jerkbaits and swimbaits and it should be a good tournament.
"In the past there's always been two or three lakes where I've looked at them and thought, Oh, no, why are we going there when the fishing's so much better 100 miles down the road. But I'm actually looking forward to every event this year. I'm not dreading any one of them."
He won't set any specific goals this year – concerning AOY points or anything else. He did some of that last year and it didn't work out too well.
"I wanted to make at least three Top 10s and try to win one event. I don't know if those goals were part of what hurt me or not, but this year I'm just going fishing.
"Winning the Forrest Wood Cup would be my ultimate goal – that's a good payday there ($1 million for a Ranger owner). The Angler of the Year would be nice, but we all like money."
Notable
> Wick is also pleased that the tour field size has been reduced by approximately 25% this year (from 200 boats to about 150). "That's only 50 boats, but five of them could be in your best area. It'll make it a little bit better."
> His Cup berth is already cinched for this year, too – he defeated David Dudley 75-03 to 58-11 in the Fish-Off at Texas' Falcon Lake in November.
> He's made the Top 10 in exactly half of the Western Series events that have been contested thus far (four out of eight).
