By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Not a great deal has changed for Tracy Adams since he turned down an invitation to fish the Bassmaster Elite Series 3 years ago. He's still a married man with two young children and he still helps his father operate a convenience store in his hometown of Wilkesboro, N.C. when he's not away competing in tournaments.
B.A.S.S. came calling again this year after he finished 5th in the Northern Open points. This time, however, he gave a different answer.
"I'm going to be 40 (this weekend), so I figured if I'm going to do this, I'd better get started," he said. "When I didn't do it the last time, I've kind of been sick about it ever since. I'm just glad I was able to qualify again."
Long on Experience
Adams will be another in a long line of Elite Series "rookies" to arrive with a ton of professional experience. He has 13 full seasons of FLW Tour competition on his résumé and has participated in eight championship events (six Forrest Wood Cups, plus two Classics he's made via the Opens).
He last fished a full tour-level campaign in 2009, but has tossed his hat into at least one Open division every year since. With seven Top-10 finishes in 23 outings, he's tasted a considerable amount of success at that level.
Now he's ready to move up.
"In my mind, (the Elite Series) is the top level," he said. "I want one of those blue trophies (for winning an Elite event). I know they're real hard to get, but that's what I want."
He'd determined that he'd make the jump if he qualified long before he got a look at the 2014 Elite schedule. Once he saw the lineup of venues, his anticipation grew.
"I'd already made up my mind to try it regardless, and I was actually hoping the schedule wouldn't come out until I'd found out whether I'd made it or not. If there'd been a lot of lakes I wanted to go to, that would've added some pressure, for sure.
"It should be a pretty good schedule for me. I don't know the Delaware River at all, but there's nothing else that I'm totally unfamiliar with."
His forte is power-fishing, and he figures to have a lot of opportunities to ply his preferred style.
"I'm hoping the fish will be spawning at those first two (Lake Seminole in Georgia and the St. Johns River in Florida), and then after that there should be some pretty decent flipping and topwater action. I love to fish at Table Rock and I've had a reasonable amount of success there, and I've been to Dardanelle a couple of times.
"The only time I've been to Seminole for a tournament, they'd had a big flood," he continued. "But that was probably 20 years ago. I imagine it's good now. From what I hear, it's pretty decent."
Solid Situation
Since he's employed in a family business, Adams doesn't have to completely walk away from his "day job" in order to fish a tour campaign.
"It's a good deal – I can be off when I need to be off," he said. "I can come and go as I need to."
The situation at home isn't quite so simple, but it's something that every pro angler who doesn't take his family on the road with him for each event must endure.
"That'll be harder, especially those times with back-to-back tournaments where I'll be gone for 2 weeks instead of 1. My wife and kids (he has a 7-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son) will try to come along as much as they can.
"They'll be able to go to a few of them and that'll help a little bit. But I'm sure that first trip to Florida when I'm gone for 2 1/2 weeks will be pretty tough on all of us."
He'd naturally like to win an event next year. If that doesn't come to fruition, he hopes to at least make his third Classic via the Angler of the Year race.
"That's a big goal, for sure. I'll just get in there and do the best I can at every tournament and we'll see how it works out.
"Fishing the Opens, I've always put the same kind of pressure on myself as I ever did fishing the FLW Tour, and I'm going to approach the Elites the same way. However it works out – good or bad – I don't think pressure will be a factor."
