By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Lionel Botha was a rookie on the FLW Tour in 2014, but in his own estimation, he had far too much seasoning to make as many on-the-water mistakes as he did.

"I did a lot of stupid things that you shouldn't do at that level," said the 49-year-old native of South Africa who now resides in Florida. "They were mistakes I didn't used to make – part of it might've been just nerves, being my first year and not knowing what to expect when I was fishing against the 'big boys.'

"I had chances to make Top-20s and maybe even a couple of Top 10s."

He placed no higher than 52nd in any of the six events last year and ended up 90th on the points list. This year has been a different story so far, though, as finishes of 15th at Lake Toho and 23rd at Lewis Smith Lake have him sitting at No. 5 in the Angler of the Year race a third of the way through the campaign.

"I'm not going to get ahead of myself," he replied when asked if his strong start had altered his outlook for 2015. "When I fished the Rayovacs, one year I made the Top 10 in the Angler of the Year race and the last year I was 2nd going into the last tournament and I started thinking ahead.

"This year, whatever's going to be will be and I'm just taking it tournament by tournament."

Long-Distance Move

Botha relocated to the U.S. in 2010 specifically to pursue his fishing interests. He ended up in Florida because his wife had two grown children already living there and they wanted to be nearby.

Ironically, he has a distaste for the style of fishing that's most prevalent in the Sunshine State.

"I normally struggle in Florida because I'm not used to all the shallow water and I prefer to fish deeper," he said. "I love to fish a jerkbait and I really enjoy catching them offshore – I was probably one of the best at that in South Africa. I did well at Toho purely because of a lot of pre-practice.

"Usually I just want to go deep all the time and there isn't deep water in Florida."

He operated an automotive transmission shop in his native land, but turned that over to his son when he left. He also ran the country's only televised fishing circuit, which was broadcast on South Africa's equivalent of ESPN, and served as a distributor for several U.S. tackle manufacturers, including Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits.

Now, in addition to being a tour-level competitor, he also has another hand in the industry – he's the founder of the HALO rod company and one of three owners. He began making inroads on that side of the business 3 years ago when he purchased a tournament-used boat from longtime Tour standout J.T. Kenney.

"He came and dropped off the boat and the first batch of rod samples had recently arrived," Botha said. "He saw the rods and asked a little about them and said he wanted a flipping stick. I handed him one and told him he couldn't have it, but he could use it.

"He called a few days later and said he couldn't give the me the rod back, and at first I figured he'd broken it or whatever. But then he said he'd just caught his biggest bag ever on it, 40-odd pounds, and that it was unbelievably strong and he had to use it in the Tour event."

Not long thereafter, Botha put one of his flipping sticks in the hands of Randall Tharp.

"I guess Randall had broken one of his rods and J.T. told him to come and see me. I had one more left, and he won the (2013 Lake Okeechobee FLW Tour) on that flipping stick.

"That made HALO's name. I was a nobody before that – I had a passion for fishing, and that's it."

Wanted to Do it Right

Botha came to the U.S. to fish on three occasions while still living in South Africa – twice for B.A.S.S. Federation championships and once for the B.A.S.S. International Cup. After moving here, he started fishing BFLs and enjoyed them, and eventually moved up to the Rayovacs.

"I could've paid to fish the Tour (earlier), but I wanted to qualify the right way," he said. "It was a bit of a process, I guess."

While pleased with his excellent start to the 2015 season, he said he still has plenty of room for improvement.

"I sometimes suffer from a lack of concentration," he admitted. "If you want to win or make the Top 10 at this level, you've got to be flawless and you've got to be concentrating all the time."

As an example of that fault, he pointed to an instance on day 2 at Lewis Smith in which he tossed his bait over the top of a dock cable instead of underneath, causing him to lose a 4-pounder and killing his chance to advance to day 3.

"As soon as I flipped in there, I said to myself that if I got a bite I wasn't going to be able to set the hook properly and with 8-pound line, it was going to break. You can't make those mistakes and still make Top 10s.

"I need to get those key fish to the boat and put them in the boat. I know what my problem is, and now I just have to figure out how to correct it."