When you've been around a while, as Scott Rook has, and you've experienced most of the ups and downs that are inherent in professional bass fishing, there's no need for a lot of post-season introspection – whether the most recent season was good or bad.
"The bottom line is you have years when you just don't catch them," he said. "Everybody in this sport with the exception of one guy, and that's Kevin VanDam, has had a bad year."
Rook had one of those in 2009, when he finished no better than 66th in any of the first four Bassmaster Elite Series events and ended up cashing just two checks in eight outings. He ended up a dismal 86th in the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year (AOY) race.
He bounced back nicely this year, though, with four placements of 21st or better and six checks. He concluded the campaign at No. 17 on the points list and moved up 52 places (from 116th to 64th) in the BassFan World Rankings.
Other than catch more and bigger fish, did he do anything differently that he had in '09? Not really, but circumstances might've played out more in his favor.
"Maybe one thing was I got to fish a lot of places where I could throw a football-head jig, a Carolina rig or a big worm. And I've always been kind of a bank-beater, but over the last few years I've gotten real comfortable offshore.
"The quality and the quantity can both be better out there, and they seem to replenish better. But you can get burned out there, too, if they're catching big ones on the banks."
A Real Close Look
For the last several years, Rook has gotten an up-close look at how VanDam goes about logging one high finish after another. He and Davy Hite are KVD's regular road roommates, with Terry Scroggins joining to make it a foursome now and again when they can secure a place of adequate size.
Spending so much time around the world's greatest angler has only affirmed for him that most of this game is played out between the angler's ears.
"It's all a mental deal with (VanDam) – it's all in your head," he said. "He goes out every day knowing that he's going to catch them, not thinking that he's going to. That's what sets him apart."
Rook was totally devoid of that type of confidence when he was going through his tough stretch in '09.
"It was different circumstances in every tournament, but things started going bad and they just kept going, and it got to the point where it burned me out – I didn't want to go to the next tournament. I talked to Mark Davis, he was having a bad year, too, and he said the same thing.
"Then we got to the last event at Oneida and I had a decent tournament (43rd) – I cashed a check and felt a little better. Then I decided that I needed to keep fishing, so I went to the Open (at the Atchafalaya Basin) and had enough bites to win the tournament. I ended up 5th, and that gave me a lot of my confidence back and gave me a different outlook."
A Familiar Stop
Rook naturally hopes to keep his roll going right into 2011. First up is the Bassmaster Classic in New Orleans. He fished another Classic there (albeit a summer event) 10 years prior and finished 2nd to VanDam.
"I like it down there, but I've just never fished there at that time of year," he said. "I'm optimistic, though, and I'll go and try to figure things out like I do at every tournament. I've fished there quite a bit and done fairly well. It's not one I dread – that's for sure.
"It really is a neat place and I think the people of New Orleans are the best as far as fans go."
He doesn't like next year's Elite Series schedule quite as much as this year's lineup, but said that's no big deal.
"My goals don't change – I always want to make the Classic and then win the Classic. For every tournament, I want to cash a check in that event and if I do better and get in contention, then that's great. I want to win as much as anybody, but I'm not going to gamble myself out of a check.
"Next year we've got kind of a weird schedule, like Murray will be right on the tail end of the blueback (herring) spawn, Wheeler's at a weird time (mid-June) and we're even going to Florida (March) later than we have in the past. But I'm not complaining – the schedule is what it is and I'll just deal with it."
Notable
> Rook said VanDam gave him a big boost toward cashing a check (39th) at Guntersville. "He called me the first morning of practice, and he already had them figured out big-time," he said. "I'd caught one 6-pounder, but I was on a school of 2-pounders, which is nothing at Guntersville. He'd already caught 30 pounds by 8:00. He told me what to do, and I ended up catching 30 pounds that day."
