After a brief period away from my duties here, I’m excited to get back to business. The world of bass fishing leaps into the New Year with an optimistic direction, and I’m ready to follow. But today’s chosen topic is one that leaves me a bit disappointed, forever sporting a sour look of discontent.
Rick Clunn’s giving in.
When I first heard the announcement, I assumed the worst. In the back of my mind, I’ve often contemplated when each member of the old guard will retire. Inevitably, the day will come when all of my favorites will step down, leaving the sport in the hands of a new wave of bass pros and their no-holds-barred approaches.
But Clunn’s announcement wasn’t one of retirement; in a recent interview on Bassmaster.com, he simply stated that he will no longer compete on many fisheries without first getting information, often in the form of waypoints, from prominent local anglers. The interview summarized that nearly all the top competitors are already taking part in this practice, and it’s vital to be able to compete in national events.
To back up a bit, it’s important to understand the principle of “getting help”, why Clunn fought it for so long, and how things have changed.
In the early days, the top bass professionals were, quite simply, the best in the world at catching bass. Whether that be in a muddy backwater, swampy lake or a neighborhood pond, if you threw your money in the hat against guys like Clunn or Nixon, you’d be hurting. Much of the dominance of this group was due to a general lack of bass fishing skill from most “ordinary” anglers.
As times have changed, and the sport evolved, the average bass angler has greatly increased his skill set. Expansion of media sources has increased his knowledge, tackle manufacturers have given him the best gear, and new boats and electronics can make him a lake expert in no time.
In order to stay on top, the best professional anglers have continued to push further, often still mastering unknown techniques, or nearly sacrificing life and limb in the pursuit of a tournament-winning string. In addition, many of the nation’s best gather volumes of information prior to each individual event, and often begin their practice period with a GPS loaded with the coordinates of the most productive spots on the lake. These are often shared by anglers, like in our example, using today’s best technology on a lake they are intimately familiar with.
For years, Clunn preached against such practices. Personally, I’ve spent decades learning more about his approach, and feel qualified to better outline what I believe is the basis for this type of tournament angling strategy. It’s one we’ve seen duplicated by others, and has been responsible for some of pro bass fishing’s greatest accomplishments, according to those who’ve set the records.
Like many athletes before and after, Clunn’s system lies in the belief of unlimited human potential. Whether you call it intuition, "black magic" or an underlying trust in God, the basic principle is that we, as human beings with our intellectual thinking, utilize only a small fraction of all of the available “knowledge” in the universe. By erasing distraction from our practice/sport and becoming truly “aware.” we can tap into far greater potential than we ever thought possible. Such potential can then produce results measured by overwhelming success or talent in certain activities. “Child prodigy” composers, basketball players “in the zone" or “fishing in the moment” all fall on this plane.
Further investigation into such an approach often finds that our current measures of accomplishment fall far below our potential. On occasion, we witness a break-through that pushes the envelope for years to come. Tiger Woods first comes to mind. In our sport, recent performances by Andy Morgan, Aaron Martens and Edwin Evers may realistically enter the same conversation.
So, by understanding this underlying principle, it’s easy to understand why, prior to now, such an approach as it applies to fishing would scoff at the idea of “getting help.” Potential exceeds the current standards of greatness. Even the best performances can often be viewed as sub-par by nearly any fisherman who’s experienced those surreal situations where a fish seems to bite on every cast.
In other words, even the best we do is usually fair, at best.
Again, we’ve seen the exception. Clunn’s own performance at the 1990 Classic on the James River represents the ultimate example. Tommy Biffle took a nearly insurmountable lead into the final day, but Clunn came from behind to win with a stringer that, at that time, was considered mammoth for the James, especially in the summer. In all the Classics held at that venue, no limit of bass ever approached Clunn’s championship string. I was reminded of the performance again recently, when Aaron Martens seemed to create his own standards on Chesapeake Bay.
So, by looking deeper into this mysterious approach to tournament bass fishing, it’s easy to see why believers in the method would be broken-hearted by Clunn’s change in direction. You see, fans of the surreal aspects of tournament fishing view it as an example of throwing in the towel, undercutting everything we’ve ever believed in.
Coming back down to earth, it’s easy to justify such a change. A good spot is a good spot and, to be successful, you have to fish where the fish are.
Or do you?
Perhaps these are just more excuses. Perhaps we have the potential to create our own destiny. Perhaps we can do so in fishing, like others claim to do in many other sports.
Perhaps we’ll never know.
(Joe Balog is the often-outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)
