Brandon Card thinks he'll have at least one thing in his favor when he makes his Bassmaster Elite Series debut in 2012: He won't have to do a lot of offshore structure-fishing, which at this point is the weakest part of his game.

"During the last few years I've learned how to ledge-fish, and this year I did it at Douglas – I fished in 25 feet of water the whole time," said the 25-year-old Tennessean, who was the runner-up to Gerald Swindle in this year's Southern Opens points chase. "I can do it, but my comfort zone is shallow.



"Looking at (next year's Elite) schedule, there should be only one ledge deal, and that's at Toledo Bend, so I'm looking forward to that. I think if they were going back to Guntersville, Kentucky and Wheeler and places like that, the guys with 10 years or more experience fishing deep would definitely have the upper hand. This seems like it should be more of a level playing field."

Steady Progression

Thus far, Card has more than held his own on every level at which he's competed. While still a teenager in 2005, he logged 7th-place finishes in two of the four Bassmaster Weekend Series events he entered before going on to a strong collegiate career at the University of Kentucky. He's also qualified for the Federation Nation National Championship on two occasions.

This year marked his first go-around in the Opens and he was more than up to the challenge of triple-A competition. He opened with a 9th-place finish at the Kissimmee Chain in January, then notched a 4th at Norman in March and a 13th at Douglas in June.

Now he's set to become the first product of the burgeoning collegiate programs to compete on the Elite Series.

"I think I'm ready," he said. "I've been on the stair-step process over the last 6 years and this is the next step.

"I think the biggest challenge for me is going to be the limited practice time – it's going to take some time to get used to only having 2 1/2 days after practicing for 4 or 5 days for the Opens. This off-season I've been doing some 2- and 3-day trips to different places, just trying to imitate a practice session. You have to put together patterns in a quicker timeframe."

Already in Business

Card earned a bachelor's degree in landscape architecture from Kentucky and launched a business in that field upon graduation in 2009. He said it's doing well despite the sluggish economy – instead of moving into bigger and fancier homes like they did when the real-estate market was booming, a lot of people are now choosing to spruce up the places they already own.

"One of the main reasons I'll be able to fish next year is because of the money I've made through the business," he said. "If I'm successful enough in fishing, I'll probably put all my efforts into that. But as far as this next year, I'm definitely going to keep the business going. When I get back from tournaments I'll have projects to do and my dad kind of helps me out when I'm on the road. He's a contractor, so he knows what he's doing.

"This off-season will be good for me because I can save up a lot more money and hopefully I won't be in a situation next year where I'm trying to fish from paycheck to paycheck. So from a financial standpoint, the time off is good, but I'm definitely itching to get it started as far as fishing goes."

And once he gets out there, he doesn't plan to fish conservatively.

"For the most part, my style is to swing for the fences every time. Sometimes that leads to a really bad finish, but sometimes it leads to a good one.

"I'm a real big gambler and I'll totally abandon patterns I've used on previous days and just go out and do something random. Some of the best tournaments I've had were when I did something totally random on tournament day and it worked out."

Notable

> Card recently inked a sponsorship deal with Empire Covers, an online retailer that produces covers for boats, autos and other general uses. Said Empire search engine marketing manager Robert Brous: “We are very excited about Brandon’s story of fishing his way through college and moving up to the Elite Series. By getting to know him we have learned a great deal about the sport of fishing."

> Other than a trip to Toledo Bend to just idle around, he said he won't pre-fish any of the Elite venues. "Fall fishing is totally different than what it's going to be like during the tournaments," he said. "And financially, I think it would be best to work and save money until the season gets under way."

> Jordan Card, Brandon's older brother by 2 years, also fished the Southern Opens this year and turned in two Top 25s, but was hindered in the points by a 190th-place showing at the Kissimmee Chain. He hopes to compete on the FLW Tour in 2012.