By Todd Ceisner
BassFan Editor
Go ahead and scan the results of the Lake Martin Elite Series from last month.
You’ll find Hunter Shryock’s name in the 71st slot out of 110 competitors. Not great. Not terrible. Making his Elite Series debut on a deep, clear southern impoundment – his admitted weakness – Shryock managed to beat, among others, reigning Angler of the Year Brandon Palaniuk (on a tiebreaker), seven-time AOY Kevin VanDam (76th) and four-time Classic winner Rick Clunn (103rd).
Shryock’s Elite Series bid was secured through the Southern Opens last year, thanks to a pair of 3rd-place finishes and a 58th-place showing. He hadn’t competed in a tournament since the Grand Lake Central Open early last October so he knew the butterflies would be there on day 1 at Martin.
“You get those ‘Can I compete with these guys’ thoughts in your minds,” he said. “I wanted to be able to go out there and put fish in the boat. The goal was to get a check. That body of water at this time of year – everything about it doesn’t fit my fishing abilities so far. I didn’t want to hurt myself points wise in the first tournament.”
While he fell short of his goal of cashing a paycheck, Shryock came away feeling upbeat about how he navigated his first Elite Series derby.
“Being such a close tournament, I was one bite away from looking like I knew what I was doing,” he joked. “On paper, it doesn’t look good, but in my mind, knowing what I did and what happened in the event, I know I was capable of a higher finish. For my confidence, I came out feeling like it was a win. I have to pull the positives out of it. It was not the result I wanted, but I feel like I can do this. I can compete with these guys.”
At 29, he’s three years younger than his brother, Fletcher, another Elite Series angler. They’re the third set of brothers competing on the Elite Series this season and he found it beneficial having someone he trusts heading into this first tournament.
“We talk quite a bit,” Hunter said. “Probably more so than what most do. We trust each other. We’ll share what end of the lake each is at. He turned me on to some things and I helped him with some things. Putting two heads together is better than one.”
It’ll be a work in progress, though, to guard against not getting too distracted by what the other is doing.
“It about finding those fine lines of not getting sucked into each other’s deal completely,” he said. “We’ll continue to grow in the future and learn from each other.”
Small, but Memorable
Shryock’s first keeper in Elite Series competition came roughly 30 minutes into the first day. He was targeting brush with a 3/16-oz. shaky-head jig rigged with a Berkley PowerBait Maxscent stickbait called The General.
He wasn’t far from fellow competitor Hank Cherry when the first bite came.
“I set the hook and was reeling it in,” Shryock said. “It was a dink and figured there’s no way it’ll measure. I unhooked it and measured it. It was 13 inches and weighed 8 ounces.”
He chuckled to himself as he put it in the livewell.
“This is my first Elite Series bass,” he recalled thinking. “I guess they can only get bigger. It looked like a cigar.”
He was 92nd after day 1 after bagging an 8-01 limit.
“After day 1, I realized these guys bleed like me because there were big names who didn’t do well,” he said. “I minimized the damage and got out of it alive.”
He rallied with 11-04 on day 2 after picking up where he left off on day 1. He target spots early, then went flipping for largemouth “because that’s what I like to do,” he said.
He caught a couple 3-pounders, but lost a couple that might’ve helped him a pound.
“Knowing I had those bites, I did what I had to do, but I just didn’t execute,” he said. “I put more pieces of the puzzle together. One of the toughest things to do is ‘go over here.’ I’ve had mixed experiences with it before.”
With the first Elite Series under his belt, Shryock is ready to take what he learned and apply to the next one at the Sabine River in two weeks. He finished 34th there in the Central Open last year.
“I’m really anxious because I feel like the next three really set up in my wheel house,” he said, referring to the Sabine, Grand Lake and Kentucky Lake. “I’m more comfortable not having to look at my depth finder all the time. I can just put my trolling motor down and go fishing.”
At each event, he’ll get more chances to settle into the Elite Series routine of 2 1/2 days of practice to figure out pathways to success. That’s been an adjustment coming from the Opens, where practice is open ended.
“It’s a lot different going to the 2 1/2-day format,” he said. “I’m really getting used to being able to look at things and fish different places in a day and get little bites from a place and come back in the tournament with an open mind to fish new stuff.”
Double Duty
In addition to taking his fishing career to the next level, Shryock will still need to find time to film and edit footage for his online video series that has developed quite a following in the fishing industry. Shryock operates 486 Films and last year produced a series called “27,” a reference to the nine Bassmaster Open tournaments and the three potential competition days at each event.
He’s continuing to film this season while competing on the Elite Series, but the video series will be called “24/7”.
“Fishing professionally and with all the time demands, it’s a fine line of balancing it all,” he said. “It’s been a huge part of my career so far and the fans enjoy it, so it’s hard to stop. It should continue to grow and evolve.”
He was able to secure sponsor support last year to aid with production. As much as fishing is a passion of his, filmmaking and storytelling ranks up there as well.
“We started off and it was like, ‘This is what we’re going to do,’” he said. “There was no telling how the tournaments would go. It made it captivating because it was real. The biggest thing is being able to tell the story through my own words.”
