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Paducah,
KY. – At the end of the 2007 Elite Series season, Mark Menendez was the first man outside the Bassmaster Classic cut, but he had a trump card – Terry Scroggins sat in first place in the Southern Open points standings. If Scroggins held on and ended up in the top three, he would double-qualify for the big dance and Menendez would move up into the field. It seemed like no less than an even money bet. To some, it seemed like a sure thing.
Unfortunately for Menendez, Scroggins stumbled on Wheeler and did not earn a duplicative qualification. Scroggins still got to compete, but Menendez was left high and dry.
“Scroggins had been on a tear for the last two or three years,” Menendez said. “I never expected that he’d only catch six pounds a day at Wheeler.”
Based on the unexpected outcome from last year, you’ll have to forgive the affable Kentucky pro if he hasn’t blocked out his time on the Red River quite yet. He’s not going to count on anything until the invite is in hand, but at the same time, with the two Open tours only partially complete, he’s hopeful that he’ll sneak into the field.
“Both Peter T. and Aaron (Martens) are in the mix in the Southerns right now,” Menendez said, with one event left on that tour, “But the guy I think could really help me if someone stumbles is Bobby Lane. And in the Centrals (Rick) Clunn is pretty high up in them.”
Momentum Deficit
By no stretch of the imagination did Menendez have a poor year, but he was never able to develop any meaningful momentum. Despite earning six checks in eleven events, including two top twelve appearances, he never fished his way to more than two checks in a row.
He started the season strong, with an 11th at the Harris Chain and 43rd at Kissimmee, but except for a 45th at Amistad (the 4th event), he didn’t make another top fifty cut until his 12th place finish at Wheeler (the 7th event).
“I’ve always been an every other day dude,” he said. “I never seem to string them together except when I’ve won an event. Then I get that momentum going.”
At Kissimmee, he had a huge bag the second day which he “rode through the tournament,” and at Amistad he rode one good day to a check as well, but he typically could not keep a pattern going over consecutive days.
“Maybe it was that I didn’t have the right areas,” he speculated. “I was only getting six to eight bites a day.”
Lost But Not Forgotten
He hasn’t done much fishing since Oneida ended, little more than taking his “son and his Spiderman rod down to the pond,” but he’s replayed a few lost fish over and over in his mind and taxed himself with the possible ways that remain for him to qualify for the Classic.
“I calculated everything there is for about a day and a half,” he said. Part of that process necessarily involved replaying the opportunities that he missed, including one particular fish at Lake Murray, where he finished a season’s-worst 86th.
“There was one fish that I lost twice,” he said. “If I catch it, I move up 20 places and I’m going to Shreveport. She was about 3 ½ pounds, guarding fry, taking care of her babies. I threw in a Strike King Ocho and she immediately crunched it, but there was one little stick between us and she ran into it and came off. She was still looking to attack so I threw in a jig and she hit again, and came off again.”
At Kentucky Lake, near his Paducah home, he “had the opportunity to catch 23 or 24 pounds a day, but wound up with 15.” He missed the money by three places.
At Old Hickory, he found the same fish as his roommate Bill Lowen, and “wasn’t going to move in on him.” Lowen finished 2nd. Menendez finished 66th.
But other than Murray, Kentucky Lake and Old Hickory, he didn’t lose a fish that would have helped him “at any of the other eight tournaments.”
Luxury
In 2005 Menendez contracted spinal meningitis and had to give up his career for a period of time to get his health in order. Thus, while he would dearly love to make the Classic, he’s also thankful for what he has.
“I’ll say it like this,” he said. “Since 2005, fishing is one hundred percent a luxury. It’s a hell of a lot better than laying in the ground looking at the backs of daisies. I learned that the hard way.”
While travel is harder than it used to be, that’s not so much a remnant of his illness as of the fact that his children are now three and four years old and it’s harder to be away from them, but he said that he’s “the luckiest person on tour.”
“I’m still chasing my dream,” he added.
That dream does include at least another Classic, preferably sooner rather than later. “I’d love to get anther shot,” he said. “Five Classics is kind of a benchmark. It’s the most important event in fishing. Everybody says it’s the Angler of the Year, but the Classic is the title I’ve dreamed about winning since I was a kid.”
He’s had chances to win in the past: In 2003, he led the Louisiana Delta Classic after the first day. It was eventually won by Mike
Iaconelli. In 1997, on Logan Martin, he was “in the running” before eventually finishing 12th.
“I tend to fish very carefree (in the Classic),” he added. “I swing hard.”
While he hasn’t allowed himself to get too comfortable with the idea that he’ll be in the field at the Red River, having been disappointed before, Menendez has given the tournament some thought. |
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“I’ve seen what everyone else has said,” he stated. “It’s going to be a weather-related issue. It could be one of the most dangerous tournaments we’ve had if there’s high running water. But it’s a different kind of venue. It will be won on a spot, a single bank or an oxbow.”
In order to win such a tournament, a competitor has to have incredible patience. Menendez thinks that his experiences the past few years, both his illness and his need to wait for others to determine his eventual Classic fate, put him in good stead to do well in such a tournament.
“A couple of years ago, I learned that if I keep my (outboard) motor turned off, I tend to do a lot better,” he said. He’ll wait and see what happens.
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