So much for momentum.
Recent Forrest Wood Cup champ Kevin Hawk followed up his career-changing win with a 2-day bagel at the Detroit River Bassmaster Northern Open.
Hawk, who was originally registered as a co-angler for the event, listened to compadre Brent Ehrler and moved into the pro division.
Hawk essentially donated his entry fee and got a taste of how versatile a pro must be to compete from coast to coast.
No Targets
Ehrler, who like Hawk hails from California, finished 36th at Detroit, which was six spots out of the cut and the money. Like they did all year, the duo roomed together, but obviously, their results occupy extreme ends of the standings spectrum.
And again, it was Ehrler's insistence that persuaded Hawk to jump to the pro side at Detroit.
"You can't go fish as a co-angler after winning the Forrest Wood Cup," Ehrler told BassFan. "I was about to call Kevin before the event, because I knew there was a waiting list for boaters. But then he called me and said, 'Hey, I'm going as a boater now.' I thought that was awesome."
About Hawk's failure to catch a fish, Ehrler said: "We fished St. Clair and it's a different breed of lake. It's not something you can really understand unless you go and fish there, but most of the lakes we grew up fishing in California, or anywhere else we fish around the country, you're always casting at a target. Whether it's the bank or structure-related, you're fishing to something. St. Clair is probably one of the most forgiving lakes, in that you could go out there, never having bass fished in your life, set the boat in the wind and drift across the right spot and catch a 20-pound stringer.
"But you can be the best angler out there, drift in the wrong spot and never get a single bite. They were on these flats in deeper water. Obviously, if you found them you could catch them, but if you weren't around them it's not like you could just pull up to a new spot and start casting. It's weird. It was different than anything he's ever done."
Hawk largely corroborated Ehrler's description of the double-zero and noted: "I just didn't catch them. I'd been up there once as a co-angler, last year, so I knew what to expect. And my practice went decent – not great, but not horrible and I had some confidence. But once the tournament started, I had trouble getting bit. It was a rough one, but it was a good learning experience. I spent all my time on St. Clair. It's hard to pinpoint what went wrong, but it just comes down to not getting bit. But that's all right. Fishing there for a week, you can't help but learn. I think I'll be better prepared for when we go back next time."
Learning to Continue
BassFans may remember that the Cup was nearly Hawk's last tour-level event. He was largely unsponsored, out of money, and took a huge gamble to live at Lanier for half a year to learn the lake.
Brent Ehrler will partner with Hawk next year on the Tour.
But with his $600,000 prize in hand, he'll fish the 2011 FLW Tour as a pro. He and Ehrler have agreed to run together again, but this time, the two will form a team and share information during events – something that didn't happen this year, because Hawk fished the Tour as a co-angler.
"We had the opportunity to talk a little bit at Detroit, and (Brent) told me how important it is to have a confidant out there – someone to trust and work with," Hawk said. "We came to an agreement and happily we'll be working with each other. I'm definitely looking forward to that, especially since it'll be my first year in the front of the boat. Brent has a lot of experience and I couldn't ask for a better partner to work with in that regard."
Both Hawk and Ehrler will skip the final Bassmaster Open at the Chesapeake. Ehrler's back west now, where he'll fish the Roosevelt Western FLW Series in a few weeks. Then he'll run back east to fish the Toyota Texas Bass Classic.
Hawk, on the other hand, is done for the year. He's moving from Lanier to Guntersville this week, where he'll spend the off-season learning that oft-visited fishery.
There's a chance, Hawk said, that he'll fish the Chickamauga Eastern FLW Series in mid-September. There's a Tour stop at Chick next year, and a tournament would be a good way to learn his way around the lake. He's also going to spend several days at Okeechobee to help learn that lake prior to the Tour kickoff in February.
Additional Hawk Notes
What else has the 2010 Cup champion been up to? Here's a status update from Hawk on numerous subjects.
Notable
> Hawk was born on Christmas Day, 1978. "It was rough growing up," he joked. "Everybody would say. 'Oh, we forgot about your birthday, so this present if for your birthday and Christmas.'"
> Ehrler said he's never fished Roosevelt before. The water was low for years, so western circuits tended to fish Pleasant, to the west side of Phoenix, which had more water and could handle the boats. But Roosevelt, by all accounts, is fishing well now. But with a big-money event rolling through town, he knows the local Phoenix cherry-pickers will be out in force, and unlike him, they've all logged significant time on Roosevelt through its rebound.
