By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Kelley Jaye has determined that competing on both major professional circuits is more than he can handle, so he'll cut back to one in 2014. Ironically, he's opted for the tour on which he had the least success this year.
"I'm just going to fish the Elites and the Southern Opens," said the Alabamian, who finished 94th in the Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year race and cashed just one paycheck during his initial season on the Elite Series. "It's kind of weird the way it works out. You can make more (prize) money in FLW, but you can make more money through sponsors with the Elites. The way I look at it is I need to get that (sponsor) money, and then whatever I make in the tournaments is kind of a bonus.
"And with the Elites, it's not like if I drop out I can just try again next year. It took me 2 years to qualify (via the Opens), and it might take me 10 if I had to try it again."
Doomed by Chicken Strips
The 41-year-old Jaye fared considerably better on the FLW Tour than he did on the Elite Series, banking four checks and finishing 57th in the points. That was a 28-place improvement over his rookie campaign the previous year.
He's certain he would've ended up much higher than that – and qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup – had he not contracted a case of food poisoning on the evening of the second day of practice at Grand Lake. The cause was a box of ready-to-eat chicken strips he'd picked up at a convenience store.
He spent the majority of the next 48 hours in bed, arising only for frequent and urgent trips to the bathroom.
"By Thursday (day 1 of the tournament) I was feeling better, but I was really weak from 2 days of throwing up," he said. "All I needed to do was finish 80th and I would've made the Cup."
His FLW Tour ledger, which inlcluded a 6th-place showing at Eufaula, was otherwise fairly strong. It was a different story on the Elite Series, though, where a 59th was his second-best finish behind his lone payday (a 25th at Falcon).
"Even in some of the tournaments where I had my worst finishes, I learned a ton. At places like the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence (rivers), where you had to fish the current, I couldn't figure out how guys were catching them. Then with 2 hours left on the second day at the Mississippi, I figured out how I needed to be drifting and I caught four of my five fish in the time I had left.
"The way the schedule lined up, I wasn't familiar with any of the (venues) on the Elites except for West Point and the Alabama River. If I concentrate on the Elites and put in the pre-practice time, I think I can do a lot better, and I'll be out to prove it."
No Time to Regroup
There are a handful of anglers who've shown they can handle the week-in, week-out grind of a two-tour existence, but Jaye discovered this year that he's not among that group.
"I'd tell anybody who's thinking about trying it for the first time that they'd better think long and hard, because you can get burned out," he said. "Instead of being fired up and ready to go for a tournament, you're worn down because you just got done fishing 7 days straight. You can lose some of the fire.
"I took some time off when the season ended and reflected on the whole thing – what I did wrong and what I learned. I haven't lost confidence in myself, but I know I can't do both (tours). I'm 41 years old, so I'm not a young buck, and I can't go from daylight to dark for 30 days out of a month. I've got to pace myself and I'm anxious to try doing it that way next year."
His primary goal for 2014 is firm, but not extremely lofty.
"Everybody wants to make the Classic and I'd like to do that, too, but I definitely want to make the Top 50 and fish in the (season-ending) AOY Championship. I'm going to spend the winter pre-fishing all of the lakes instead of trying to do it all in 2 1/2 days like I did this year, so we'll see what happens.
"I think I can do it if I can just be more consistent."
