By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor
Jordan Lee had a superb debut season on the Bassmaster Elite Series. Perhaps it was even a bit better than it should've been.
"It definitely went really good for me – I couldn't have imagined doing that (well)," said the 24-year-old Alabamian who ended up 9th in the Angler of the Year race. "A lot of stuff went my way that probably shouldn't have. Several of the tournaments I ended up doing okay in, they could've gone either way."
He said a few good breaks and a couple of decisions that proved fortuitous were the primary reasons he finished 56 places on the points list ahead of older brother and fellow rookie Matt Lee.
"I never felt like I was really on the fish at any of the tournaments this year. In my mind, there's no doubt that I got more breaks than anybody fishing (the circuit). It was one of those deals where things just worked out."
Stymied Just Once
Lee had only one hiccup (a 99th-place showing at Lake Havasu) during his initial campaign. His other regular-season finishes all ranged from 19th to 48th, which resulted in eight $10,000 deposits to his bank account.
He also garnered his second invitation to the Bassmaster Classic – he was the 6th-place finisher in the 2014 event at Lake Guntersville (his home water) after qualifying via the college ranks.
He said he had his best practice of the year for the regular-season opener at the Sabine River, where he ended up 22nd. He landed in the money at several other derbies despite struggling badly during the days leading up to them.
He cited the Sacramento River/California Delta (19th) and the St. Lawrence River (33rd) as examples of events in which day-2 rallies occurred seemingly out of the blue for him.
"I'd only caught 12 or 13 pounds the first day at the California Delta and I didn't really know where to go on the second day," he said. "I really wasn't on anything, so I just went looking for spawning fish and I ran across a bed that had two big ones – a (6-pounder) and a 4 – and I caught both of them.
"Then I caught another 4 about 2 feet away from those, and I ran around some more and found another one over 6 and caught it. It was just one of those things that I couldn't explain."
At the St. Lawrence, he had only three fish in his livewell with 45 minutes remaining in the second day.
"I went to a little high spot I hadn't been to since pre-fishing – the fish were bedding then – and I caught a 4. Then as I was running back in, I decided to make one more stop at a place where I'd caught a 2-pounder in practice. I caught a 3 1/2 and barely made the cut.
"Honestly, I had a lot of really tough practices, then I ran around in the tournaments and covered enough water and ended up running into a couple good ones here and there. Stuff like that went my way all year."
Still Plenty to Learn
Despite his single-digit placement in this year's final points standings, Lee doesn't feel he's ready to contend for an AOY title.
"Making the Classic will be my goal again next year – I don't think I'm anywhere near good enough to win the Angler of the Year," he said. "I feel like I need to improve everywhere, with maybe dialing in stuff quicker being one of the most important areas, and having a better understanding of the lakes would let me feel a little more comfortable.
"The guys who do good year in and year out just find the fish so quick. If I could get on 'the juice' a little bit earlier in practice, that would help."
He said he likes the makeup of next year's schedule because it seems to favor a shallow-water power-fisherman a bit more than this year's slate did (although he acquitted himself just fine on each of the northern smallmouth venues).
He's been to the 2016 Classic site (Oklahoma's Grand Lake) just once, and that was as a co-angler for an FLW Tour event in 2013. He put in no practice time for that derby and finished 104th.
"I don't really have any experience there, but Matt fished the Classic the last time it was there, so maybe he can give me a few pointers that'll help. I don't know anything about the place.
"I'll go (and pre-practice) for 3 or 4 days and at least get a little familiar with it, but I want to let it get pretty cold before I go. I don't know if it'll do me any good, but I might be able to find something that'll help."
