Biffle's Livelihood Depends On A Full Livewell

From a sponsorship perspective, times are tough even for anglers who are experts at self-promotion. So what about a guy like Tommy Biffle, who's hesitant to ask anybody for anything?

A guy like that had better catch them real good at times like this if he wants to continue paying his bills, and the veteran Oklahoman did just that last year. With a victory at Wheeler, two other finishes of 8th or better and seven checks cashed in eight Bassmaster Elite Series events, he made out just fine from a financial standpoint.

The 51-year-old will take some serious momentum into next month's Bassmaster Classic at Alabama's Lay Lake. He concluded the 2009 regular season with finishes of 4th and 8th, and then logged a 3rd and a 2nd in the two postseason events that determined the Angler of the Year (AOY) to end up 3rd on the final points list.

He's been that hot before, but not often.

"You just get to where you're making the right moves and doing the right things," he said. "When you get an opportunity to figure out what the key is, like you get a bite and the fish tells you what it is, you pick up on it and go from there.

"You can be running down a lake wide-open and look over and see something on the bank that makes you think you could catch one there, and you pull over and do it, where most times you would've kept on going. You're paying a little more attention to things and whatever your gut feeling is, you go with it."

Not A Patch Pirate

Biffle has always relied primarily on tournament winnings to make a living in this game, and he's been at it for a quarter of a century now. It's not that he doesn't enjoy working for sponsors – he actually does. His issue is with securing the deal in the first place.

"I like to be out there doing seminars and store promotions and that kind of thing," he said. "But as far as asking somebody for something, I guess I'm not what you'd call a real go-getter in that regard. I don't chase them down like I ought to.

"It's just kind of the way I am. Even the sponsors I have, I'll nearly run out of (their product) before I order any more, whereas a lot of guys will stockpile stuff. I've just always hated to ask somebody for something, whether it was money or baits or whatever. I probably buy more baits than most people."

His victory last year, which was his second in the 4-year history of the Elite Series, came in the season's third event, and it relieved a lot of the financial pressure he'd been feeling. He fished to win every time out after that, and only once (the very next event at Virginia's Smith Mountain Lake) did it fail to pay off with a trip to the bank.

"I was mad that I didn't get that one check, but that's one of my least-favorite lakes and I got caught up in trying to catch bed-fish. But my theory is if you fish to win, even if you don't make it, then you might end up 10th.

"If you fish for checks, then you end up changing the way you fish, and that can get you in trouble."

Some Unfinished Business

Biffle's 3rd-place finish in the 2009 AOY race equaled his career standard. He badly wants to win the title before he's finished, and he wants a Bassmaster Classic trophy as well (he's competed in 15 of those and has come in 2nd twice).

"I think it's a bigger deal to win the Angler of the Year because that means you've beaten everybody all year long," he said. "But the deal is to win both of them at sometime during your career. If I don't win one or both, I'll feel like I didn't get everything accomplished that I wanted to in my fishing career.

"If I were to win one now, it'd be like, 'Yeah, it's about time.' It'd be that type of feeling because I feel like I'm past due."

How does he assess his chances for a Classic win next month at Lay? He has a fair amount of confidence.

"I think it'll be a good Classic and a lot of it will depend on the weather – if it warms up there'll be some largemouth caught and if it's cold and nasty the spots will be the big factor. I like my chances and I think I can catch them either way.

"I just need to figure out in practice which way I need to go."

Notable

> Biffle opted not to pre-practice at Lay before it went off-limits last month. "I've been there several times and I know my way around and what I'm looking for. It'll be won on something that's found during the 3 days (of official practice) or during the Classic itself."

> He thinks his new Biffle Bug (made by Gene Larew Lures) that came out late last year could be a factor at the Classic. "It'll be something new to those fish and I'm hoping it'll play into my hands a little bit."