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Norman,
OK - It’s almost a cruel joke. Missouri pro Mark Tucker, who is known equally well for his prowess with a jig and for his bulging biceps, could barely set the hook in 2008.
Tucker’s pain was clearly evident to road roommates Peter Thliveros, Kenyon Hill and Bernie Schultz, who saw him pack his shoulder with ice at least twice a day on both practice and competition days, but after some cajoling, he’s finally agreed to make the story public.
“This is the first time I’ve told anybody,” he said. “I don’t want it to seem like I’m making excuses.” His hesitance is understandable. After all, he made four consecutive Bassmaster Classics from 2004 to 2007, before failing to qualify for the 2008 tournament on Hartwell and the upcoming world championship on the Red River.
He finished 36th, 12th and 28th in the Angler of the Year race in 2004 through 2007, before finishing 63rd last year and 67th in 2008. He doesn’t want to blame his poor performance on the injury. “I probably had the chances to make it each year,” he said. “I lost several key fish, not a bunch, but enough to make a difference.”
The season-ending tournament at Lake Oneida was a low point. He qualified for the third day cut easily, but his arm troubles caught up with him on day three. “I missed three fish that third day,” he said. “I didn’t have the strength to set the hook any more. I was catching them on a jig in grass. With a weed guard you really have to jack ‘em, and with smallmouths it’s even harder.
Ending the season on a down note was tough, but rather than dwelling on recent failures, he chose to embark on an ambitious plan of recovery, one that started a little over a month ago, when he elected to have his shoulder operated upon.
Medical Mystery
Prior to the 2008 Elite Series season, Tucker tried to find a medical solution to his aching arm and shoulder.
“I went to two different doctors in February before we started the season,” he said. “Because once you put your money into the Elites, you’re committed.”
Neither physician thought that there was a major problem, but Tucker knew better. One piece of evidence: his normal 60 to 70 pound dumbbell curls had been reduced to 20 pounds. The doctors told him the problems were related to muscle spasms. He wasn’t sold, but had to hit the road without a more meaningful diagnosis.
While the nature of his injury may not yet have been determined, its multiple causes were obvious. “I did concrete work for 22 years before fishing,” he said. “And I also trained (as a competitive weightlifter). And before lifting I boxed. All of that jabbing and hitting bags. And I came right out of that into fishing.”
He’s also convinced that his fishing style made the injury worse. He prefers to fish a jig or worm whenever appropriate, and that requires “holding the rod between 12 and 2 o’clock with your bicep flexed the whole time, for ten hours every day.”
Upon returning home from Oneida, he couldn’t stand the pain, or the thought of another year of subpar finishes, for another second, so he sought out a third opinion, from the orthopedic surgeon who operates on the St. Louis Cardinals’ pitchers.
“He sent me to the best in the city and as soon as I sat down that guy told me I had a torn bicep and that my shoulder was messed up, too,” Tucker remembered. “They gave me another cat scan, but this time they put a seven-inch needle in my shoulder to inject some dye. He said I had some serious issues, he didn’t even know how I could hold a rod up, let alone fish.”
The pictures told a gruesome story. “I had a torn rotator cuff and a torn bicep. Your bicep has two heads, a long one and a short one. He cut out the long one and it was so damaged he couldn’t reattach it. It aggravates me that I went to the doctors last year and they didn’t see that, so I just kept tearing it and tearing it and tearing it.”
He’d never been hospitalized or operated upon previously, so he admitted to being somewhat scared by the process, but once he saw the overwhelming evidence he was left with no choice but to undergo the surgery, and now he’s glad that he did.
Baby Steps
Tucker had planned to return home from the Elite Series, rest for a bit, and then fish local events on Lake of the Ozarks and Grand Lake, but those plans have been put on hold for the foreseeable future. The doctor told him to expect to undergo months of rehab before he can fish again.
“For the first two weeks (after the surgery) I wished I had never got it done,” he said. “They couldn’t do it arthroscopically, so they had to cut me and dig around and that’s why it got so sore.”
“He told me that’s why it takes so long for pitchers to recover,” Tucker said. “He said that if I don’t tear it up, in a year’s time it should all be as good as new, other than the bicep. In four months, I’ll be able to do some things. I feel like I’m pretty far along, but there’s a long ways to go. From working out I know what my arm can do.”
He hadn’t considered asking BASS for a medical exemption in 2009, noting that he had fished for the past year and a half with the arm “torn completely up,” and that he expects to begin fishing again in February.
“My rotator feels awesome, and that feels great,” he said. “My bicep, I just hope to get back to 50 percent strength. I’m not worried about lifting weights.”
As much as he expects his physical condition to improve, he noted that mentally he’s better off than where he was last year at this time, and certainly light years ahead of where he was after Oneida.
“I’m a perfectionist,” he said. “My heart was always still in it. I want to win more than anyone else, but it was hard when I was pitching to different spots and it took two or three pitches to hit them. And if the wind was blowing at all, you don’t get a second chance to hit those spots, so I was costing myself fish every tournament.”
Even though he’s anxious to continue his rehab and restart his career in 2009, the inability to either fish or lift weights is starting to drive him crazy. He actually spent a few hours in his basement last week “sorting out about a million spinnerbait blades.”
He’s also chomping at the bit to get out in the woods. “I have a Browning Citori over/under that I’ve shot one-handed in the past and I have two bird dogs and one of them is just itching to go,” he said. “But my wife said I’m not going.”
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