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Wagoner, Okla. – There are names in the sport of professional bass angling that viewers can equate with excellence. There are names that evoke thoughts of victories, big paydays and the history of the sport; Tommy Biffle is a name that is on that list.
The 47-year-old pro from Wagoner, Okla. has experienced the highs and lows of the sport. His level of overall consistency throughout his career is more than impressive; but as a true competitor, Biffle continues to strive for more. The BASS ZONE caught up with him at Tommy Biffle’s Lakeside Polaris, a business that he and his wife Sharron own and operate.
His resume includes some of the more dramatic moments in the history of the sport, and he shared his feelings and recollections with The BASS ZONE on a myriad of topics. Including his desire to win the big titles, what he sees as a successful season, his favorite lures, both new and old, the Classic at Lake Hartwell, and the legacy of Tommy Biffle.
A Hall of Fame Career
Biffle has the type of credentials that any angler working to establish a career in the sport would crave. In a BASS career that is entering it 23 year; Biffle has finished in the money 142 times, including 42 top 10 finishes and three BASS victories, earning $1,243,278.80 along the way.
But Biffle‘s career excellence is not limited to Bassmaster events; he has also done his fair share of damage in FLW competition as well. Since 1995, he has won an FLW Tour event and grabbed $513.415 in earnings.
“If I look at my career in perspective, I suppose I would have to say it’s pretty impressive,” Biffle told The BASS ZONE. “But, I still see myself as a competitor who’s capable of accomplishing a lot; I have goals to start the season, and goals to define my career.”
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With a resume full of impressive accomplishments in hand, he knows that his legacy mirrors that of professional athletes who performed at the top of their game; yet, never earned the highest honors in their sports. “I know that I am basically the Dan Marino of professional bass fishing,” he said. “I certainly want to win a Classic, and an Angler of the Year title, and feel that I can still perform at a level to accomplish those goals.”
It has been said that for an angler to be successful in tournaments, he has to have an old mind, and a young body, and Biffle feels that he has that combination. “I’m not too old to do the things in this sport that I want to,” the Bassmaster millionaire said. “I can still do anything a 20-year-old can do in this sport, I feel that young.”
On 2007
Biffle’s 2007 campaign was a solid season, consistent, cashing paychecks, and always being around to have a good finish at the end of the event. Including the Bassmaster Classic and the Majors, he finished in the money in 12 of the 15 Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments this year. The combination of tournament winnings and Angler of the Year bonus payout brought his season earnings to $154,750 for the year.
“I know I had a good season in 2007,” Biffle said. “If someone would have told me at the beginning of the year that I would finish 9th in the points, I would have agreed that it was good. I qualified for my 15th trip to the Classic, and earned some decent money, but to make it the kind of year I want it to be, I have to win one of these events.”
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Like any professional, Biffle looks back at the season and sees the high points, but he also analyzes the low points in order to avoid making some of the same mistakes; Lake Erie was a learning experience for him. “I lost more than 20-pounds of smallmouth on the 2nd day there, and it cost me,” he said. “I was dropshotting with 10 and 12 pound test Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon during practice,” Biffle said. “My daughter was using one of my Quantum Signature Series rods spooled with 17-pound Shooter, and getting just as many bites as I was.”
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The practice experience told him that the smallmouth were not line shy, so he upgraded his line for the tournament. “I tried to swing four fish in the four to five pound class into the boat on the final day; and lost them all,” he said. “After I lost the last one, I figured out that no matter how big your line, or how stout the rod, you can’t swing fish into the boat with those little dropshot hooks; they come off too easily.”
“But, it still was a good year overall,” he agreed.
Lures, New and Old
Biffle does not have an official soft plastics sponsor, but he said he has a great relationship with two companies whose products have become mainstays in his arsenal; Gene Larew and Reaction Innovations. “I love the Sweet Beaver,” he said. “And there’s no better jig trailer than A Gene Larew Craw.”
“I won the Oneida tournament last year mainly on the Beaver,” Biffle reported. “I couldn’t get the number of bites on a jig that I wanted, so I turned to my backup lures; which are Texas Rigged Sweet Beaver, or a Gene Larew Craw on a Tru-Tungsten sinker.”
Gene Larew introduced two new lures designed by Biffle at ICAST in July of this year; the Biffle-O and the Super Salt Biffle Craw. A friend of mine from Gene Larew asked if I had any ideas for new lures, so I showed him the Biffle-O,” he said. “It is designed to be very versatile, on a shaky head, Carolina Rig, or as a soft jerkbait, and we’re thinking about a smaller version for dropshotting.”
The other new lure is the craw, and Biffle said that it is similar to an original Salt Craw, but, “it’s a little larger in the body at 5-inches, and the pinchers are bigger,” he said.
With all of the work with Larew on new products, Biffle said that he still relies on a jig and craw to be his number one bait. “If I could only use one lure forever, it would be a Lunker Lure jig with a Super Salt Biffle Craw as a trailer,” he said. “I typically have five or six jigs tied up during a tournament, and they are usually black with some sort of an accent color.”
Lake
Hartwell
Biffle said he is looking forward to
the Classic, but that he has yet to
visit Lake Hartwell. “I had
planned on going down there for
scouting purposes,” Biffle said.
“But, I wanted it to be as close
as to the cutoff as possible to try
and have the conditions be closer to
they will be at the tournament, but
things got in the way.”
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He said that he wasn’t worried about not seeing the lake, and will rely on the practice rounds the week before the event. “The water is low right now, and warmer than it will be then,” he said. “I’m usually at my best when I’m hunting for them. So, I decided to stay home, besides, the way I look at it, those guys that spent weeks looking at it will be confused come tournament time, and I won’t be,” he added with a chuckle.
Legacy of Biffle
Tommy Biffle’s name is associated with the sport of bass fishing. His name is also synonymous with the flipping and pitching techniques, and while he is proud to have his name associated with it, he wonders what might have happened had he been quieter.
“I almost wish that we would have kept quiet for all of these years,” he said. “I see all of these guys with flipping sticks in their hands and wonder how much I could have won had I not said anything. But then again, I’ve been a part of introducing a technique to the country, and that can’t be all bad.”
Biffle has experienced the frustration of placing in the bride’s maid position in the most prestigious tournament in the world twice. He finished the 1990 Classic in 2nd place to Rick Clunn by almost seven pounds. But even more painful was falling four ounces short of taking the crown from Bryan Kerchal in 1994.
“The hardest part wasn’t that I’d lost that tournament,” Biffle said. “It was the fact that everybody was telling me that I had won backstage. They looked at my fish, and had me wait until last to weigh in. I had even taped an interview backstage about what it felt like to be the Classic Champion. Then my fish weighed lighter than we’d thought, and it was a shock.”
“But, if I take myself out of the equation emotionally, I realize that what Bryan did is one of the greatest moments in Bassmaster history, especially in light of what happened in December of that year. His winning definitely helped our sport grow.”
“I have had a good career in this sport,” he said. “I have won some tournaments, been at the top, and been at the bottom, but I can take pride in the career I’ve built; but it’s not over, I want to win The Classic and an Angler of the Year title.”
If he could write the script to the perfect crescendo of his career, he said it would be with a Quantum flipping stick in his hands. “My dream would be to win the Classic by whackin’ the crap out of great big’uns by flipping my jig into buck brush and willows,” he said. “That is how I would love for it to go.”
For more on Tommy Biffle, his career, and his sponsors visit his website at:
www.tommybiffle.com
To find out more about his Polaris and Ranger Utility Vehicle Dealership, Tommy Biffle’s Lakeside Polaris, visit them at:
www.lakesidepolaris.com
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