By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Longtime Western ace Roy Hawk won the points title in the Central Division of the Bassmaster Opens this year and qualified for the 2018 Elite Series. Those were certainly nice achievements, but neither was the reason he traveled so many miles from his Arizona home to compete on the circuit.

For Hawk, who celebrated his 47th birthday on Monday, the Bassmaster Classic berth that comes with winning an Open was the big carrot.

"It's always been a dream of mine to fish in the Classic," said the 2015 WON Bass U.S. Open champion. "It's the centerpiece of our sport ... it's 'the deal.'

"I never really had the opportunity to qualify for it before and when I looked at the (Central Open) schedule, it looked good and I could make all three of them. I wanted to at least have a shot at winning one."

That didn't quite happen, although he did post single-digit finishes in two of the events (4th at Table Rock Lake and 7th at Grand Lake). With his 58th at the Sabine River thrown into the mix, he narrowly edged out runner-up Harvey Horne on the final points list.

He hasn't made his ultimate decision about whether to accept his Elite invitation, but he's leaning hard toward it.

"I've got my family behind me and I need to get with my sponsors and see what we can do. The money (for entry fees and travel expenses) ... it's a big chunk."

Lots of Casts Still to Come

Hawk's biggest issue in regard to the Elite situation is he doesn't have a lot of time to ponder it or work the phones in a quest for additional sponsorship dollars. His decision is due in about a month, but he's still got a lot of fishing to do between now and then.

He was scheduled to leave this morning for Nevada, where he'll compete in this year's U.S. Open at Lake Mead. Two weeks after that, he'll be at Kentucky Lake for the FLW Series Championship (he was 6th in the Western Division points this year after topping the list in 2016).

For Hawk, there's seemingly always another tournament to enter. Before the year's out, he'll have competed in well over 40 events all around the country. He'd originally scheduled himself for 52, but had to scratch a few due to logistical issues.

"I live off my winnings, basically," he said. "I quit the last real job I had in August 2007. I was working for a construction company in Utah where my son works now – it's owned by a guy named Frank Young, who's a friend of ours.

"He paid me too much and gave me way too much time off to fish. It was really hard to walk away (to pursue tournament fishing full-time)."

Stability is Key

Competing on the 2018 FLW Tour is also an option for Hawk due to his performance in the Western Series. He went that route once before for 2 years (2010-11) and had a decent rookie season (49th on the points list), but a lackluster sophomore campaign (118th).

He says he's a lot better-equipped to deal with the rigors of tour-level competition than he was back then.

"There's more stability in my life and I'm a little smarter with money and things like that," he said. "As a fisherman, as I've aged, I've gotten a little more savvy, I guess you'd say."

He really likes the look of next year's Elite Series schedule. It includes stops at the Sabine and Grand, which are still fresh in his memory from the Opens, and one at Kentucky Lake, where he's competed more than half a dozen times. Also, he heard that Aaron Martens said that South Dakota's Lake Oahe could fish a lot like Mead, which is just dandy with Hawk.

Speaking of Mead, he's greatly looking forward to pursuing his second U.S. Open title next week.

"The cool thing is how big it is this year – 200 boats. It's great anytime you have growth in the sport and I'm stoked to be a part of it. Hopefully it'll gain some more national press.

"The timing of it has allowed a lot of the Elite anglers to come, and when other people see those guys are coming, they want in, too. That's a really big factor."

Notable

> Hawk's primary sponsor is Anderson Toyota, a dealership in Lake Havasu City. His portfolio also includes Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits, Costa, Taipan rods and Duo Realis.