"After
Clarks Hill, I started thinking that things might
be starting to turn my way."
Story
by Matt Pangrac
Posted
- June 25th, 5:24am CST
This is Part-one of a two-part story focusing on Elite Series pro Terry Butcher and his rock-solid 2010 Elite Series regular season performance which had lead to a birth in the post season. Part-one takes an in-depth look at each of Butcher’s tournaments in the 2010 regular season. Part-two, which will run on
Wednesday, will focus on his goals heading into the post season and Butcher’s growth over the course of his career.
Talala, OK - When the 2009 Elite Series stopped on New York’s Oneida Lake last August for the final event of the regular season, Oklahoma’s Terry Butcher sat in 50th place in the Toyota Trucks Angler Of the Year point standings.
Butcher launched his boat on Oneida’s crystal clear waters knowing that if he was to qualify for his first Bassmaster Classic, he would have to fish a near flawless tournament and hope that it was enough to jump at least 13 spots in the standings to reach the magical 37th position and an automatic birth in the 2010 Lay Lake Classic.
Photos
by Mark Jeffreys & Matt Pangrac
When the dust settled, the 38-year-old pro had done just that. On the back of a 10th place finish at Oneida, Butcher jumped 15 places in the TTAOY standings and finished the 2009 season within the Classic cut in 35th position.
While Lay Lake wasn’t kind to the soft-spoken pro in the 2010 Classic (he finished 36th), Butcher entered the 2010 Elite Series regular season determined to make it back to the biggest stage in professional bass fishing and qualify for back-to-back Classics.
After opening the 2010 Elite Series season on the California Delta with a dismal 73rd place showing, Butcher’s hopes for a 2011 Classic qualification appeared to be dashed before they ever took root.
After the Delta disaster, Butcher caught fire and set a torrid pace for the rest of the season, cashing checks in the next seven tournaments finishing no lower than 37th while recording three Top 10s.
Along the way, he rode a roller coaster of emotions from being nearly 40 positions out of Classic qualification at the beginning of the season, to hovering around Classic Qualification in the middle of the season, to making a push for the post season at the end of the year.
When the last angler crossed the scales at the conclusion of the 2010 regular season in Oklahoma, Butcher had settled in 5th place in the TTAOY standings, ahead of names like VanDam, Biffle, and Klein and chasing names like Reese and Evers. Along with keeping company with some of the biggest names in the sport, he garnered an invitation to the post season this July in Alabama where he will have the opportunity to fish for the 2010 Toyota Trucks Angler Of the Year title.
With the 2010 season in the rearview mirror, The BASS ZONE sat down with Butcher to reflect on each of his eight regular season tournaments. Here’s what he had to say, in his own words:
California Delta – 73rd Place (AOY standing: 73rd)
“Wow, the first tournament of the year on the California Delta. I didn’t have a great practice but it was one of those practices where I found a few little spots and had a good boat draw.
“I really though that if I was able to be the first boat to reach my area, I would be able to catch them. On the first morning, everything seemed right. I was the first boat there, the water looked good, and I had a good feeling. The only problem was that I just didn’t catch them. That first day, I had four fish that weighed a little over four-pounds.
“I had found a few spots at the other end of the Delta, so I decided to run those on the second day. I ended up with a small limit that didn’t weight very much.
“I was off to a bad start right off the bat. I was really disappointed because I knew that because of that start, I would be on the uphill climb all year long.”
Clear Lake – 7th Place (AOY standing: 34th)
“We went to Clear Lake right after the Delta, and I actually had a pretty good practice where I found a few different patterns that I though would work. On the first tournament day, I started in what I thought was my best area and only had two fish by noon.
“I went to my backup plan and ended up catching them off of my backup area the rest of the tournament. After starting off at the Delta so poorly and being able to rebound with a seventh place finish, I was able to actually get off to a decent start.”
Smith Mountain Lake - 25th Place (AOY standing: 22nd)
“I’ve always dreaded Smith Mountain because I’m not a real good sight fisherman. I sight fished the last time we were there and I actually did OK. Still, I was a little scared headed into that one.
“I knew that it would be close to the time that they would be spawning, and Matt Reed and Edwin (Evers) have been teaching me a lot about sight fishing over the last few years. I ended up finishing 25th sight fishing, so I really considered that a good tournament.
“Sight fishing isn’t something that I’m good at, but I think that I’m getting better. I stuck to my guns and sight fished the whole tournament, so I was really happy with my finish there.”
Pickwick Lake – 39th Place (AOY standing: 21st)
“Man, if you look at my least favorite lakes, Pickwick is right at the top and I really don’t know why. I’ve fished three or four tournaments there and I’ve never cashed a check there. The lake should fit me because it has everything that is my kind of fishing.
“I’ve never caught them there, so I was pretty concerned about that one.
“During practice, I found a flipping bite which gave me some confidence because that’s my style of fishing. As the tournament went on, I figured out how to catch them on a Zell Pop topwater.
“The funny thing about Pickwick was that I barely made the cut by two-ounces and finished 47th on Friday. I was able to move up to 39th on Saturday, so it worked out.”
Lake Guntersville – 21st Place (AOY standing: 18th)
“I’ve always done really well on Guntersville and this year, I actually didn’t have a very good practice there. I found a lot of fish but I never found the quality that you need to do well. Edwin (Evers) actually helped me out a lot.
“I had a good boat draw and I caught them really good the first two days. On the third day, they didn’t bite for me there. I was in like 7th going into Saturday and they just quit on Saturday.
“Considering that I thought I should have had a really good tournament at Guntersville, I guess it ended up alright that I finished in 21st.
“At this point in the year, I never thought about the post season. I just wanted to keep fighting to keep myself in position to make the Classic. I didn’t want it to come down to the last tournament of the year where I’m trying to fight my way into the Classic.”
Clarks Hill Lake – 10th Place (AOY standing: 14th)
“I can honestly say that Clarks Hill was my biggest fear of the year. The first time we ever went there, I finished third. The next two times we went there, I was next-to-last. I went last fall to fish the FLW Series there and had a decent finish. The only reason that I fished that tournament was to try and get a little confidence for the Elite Series tournament.
“The last day of practice, I tried fishing a Carolina Rig out deeper because Matt Reed told me he found a little something, and I ended up catching them good on that last day of practice.
“I did that on the first day and ended up catching them pretty good on both Thursday and Friday. On the third day, I had around eight-pounds and though I had blown it. I actually moved up to 11th and then finished in 10th on Sunday.
“After that, I started thinking, ‘Man, maybe things are starting to turn around for me.’
“That’s when I started thinking that I had a shot at the Top 12. It was in the back of my mind that there were only two tournaments left and if I continued to fish strong, who knows what could happen?”
Kentucky Lake – 3rd Place (AOY standing: 6th)
“I had heard that the grass wasn’t up good in Kentucky Lake, so I though that the weights would be down some and that I might be able to compete by fishing on Barkley.
“I’ve always fished Barkley in my career. It’s more my type of fishing because it’s a shallower lake and I like fishing that. Where you might fish 25-feet deep on Kentucky, you might fish 10- to 18-feet deep on Barkley.
“My first day of practice on Barkley, I made five casts and caught a keeper, a three-pounder and a five-pounder. I knew that they were there so I focused on finding other schools and decided to make the run and fish there the whole tournament.
“When the tournament started, I ran to my three best spots and never had a bite. I ended up catching enough to stay in the game and then on the second and third days, I caught them off of backup spots.
“On Sunday, they were loaded on my primary area and I culled five fish that weighed over four pounds each.”
Ft. Gibson Lake – 20th Place (AOY standing: 5th)
“I was catching a few fish on the River but wasn’t on anything great. I still had a lot of water to look at still. I can’t say if I would or wouldn’t have caught them if we hadn’t moved to Ft. Gibson.
“I decided to just grind this tournament out because I knew that if I made the Top 47, I was going to make the Top 12.
“With the history that I have on Ft. Gibson, I normally would have fished the river exclusively, but when you fish that river on Ft. Gibson, you’re gambling because it’s hard to put multiple days together up there.
“My strategy was to play it safe, stay down lake, catch a decent limit and then go up the river and see if I could catch some big ones. That’s exactly what I did.
“I stayed with that mentality the whole tournament and made the right decision to make it to Sunday. I just wasn’t able to capitalize on my big bites.”
