Cherryville, NC - When the 2010 Elite Series regular season opened last month in California with back-to-back stops at the California Delta and Clear Lake, there wasn’t much buzz surrounding North Carolina’s Guy
Eaker. Fast forward two weeks to the final day weigh-in at Clear Lake, and
Eaker, who says he may be competing in his last season on the Elite Series before retiring, was the topic of discussion.
It all started during practice at the California Delta, where rumors of a giant 14-pound largemouth caught by Eaker, began to swirl. The buzz continued right through the first day of competition when he weighed in over 15 pounds, putting him in the Top 10.
Photos
by Mark Jeffreys & Matt Pangrac
Eaker left the Delta with a Top 25 finish under his belt and headed to Clear Lake, where he continued to catch them. Starting the Golden State Shootout in 5th after the completion of Day 1, Eaker never fell out of the Top 5, finishing the tournament in 3rd place after weighing in over 90 pounds of Clear Lake bass.
Fishing Strengths
While Eaker is obviously enjoying the success 2010 has brought with it, his fast start to the season hasn’t come as a complete surprise. When preparing for the season, the North Carolina pro liked what he saw.
“Before the season started, I was looking at the schedule with my buddy Paul Elias and he told me, ‘Eaker, this is your year because it is set up to where you’ll be able to catch them.’ Out of all the years that we’ve had the Elite Series, the schedule this year really sets up in my favor.” A self described shallow-water expert, Eaker likes to “put that trolling motor down and cover some water with a spinnerbait, crankbait, or trap.”
While the California Delta and Clear Lake both played to Eaker’s strengths, he believes that there are other stops in the 2010 season that could work in his favor as well. “I don’t like to get overconfident but I really like some of the other lakes we are going to,” he stated. “I’ve decided to do something a little different that I haven’t been doing the last few years because I would kind of like to make that Classic again.
The big difference for 2010 is pre-practice. Rather than spend just the two-and-a-half days of official practice preparing for the tournament, Eaker has decided to dedicate some time prior to the cut off period on specific bodies of water.
“I know most of the lakes, but Kentucky Lake has given me a few problems when I have tried to fish deep. I’m going to go spend some time there and find some deep places so I can catch them that way if I have to.” He is also planning on flying to Oklahoma and scouting the Arkansas River for the final event of the regular season.
Getting Back to the Classic
Since the inception of the Elite Series in 2006, Eaker has averaged an 88th place finish in the Toyota Tundra Angler Of the Year point’s race. With one-quarter of the regular season already complete in 2010, Eaker currently sits in 3rd place in the TTAOY standings and is in prime position to make his 11th Bassmaster Classic appearance next year in Louisiana. It’s an opportunity that the 70-year-old pro is well aware of.
“Yea, I’m thinking about it,” he chuckled. “I’ve been waking up at five in the morning and can’t go back to sleep. My wife told me that she can’t believe that I’ve done this all my life and I still let it get to me. I just want to do everything that I can do. Whatever it takes, that’s what I want to do.”
Eaker’s last taste of Classic competition came in 1992 when he posted a 39th place finish on Alabama’s Logan Martin Lake. Just because he has been absent from the sports most prestigious tournament for nearly two decades doesn’t mean that he isn’t a Classic veteran. During the 1980s, Eaker qualified for the Bassmaster Classic seven times, including a 3rd place finish on the Ohio River in 1987.
“It would mean a lot to get back to the Classic, especially since it might be my last year out here,” said Eaker. “The 2011 Classic is in New Orleans and that’s my style of fishing down there. If I end up making that son of a gun, I feel like I can catch ’em.”
Keeping the Drive
One would think that a veteran of Eaker’s stature, who has been competing at the highest level for over 30 years, would be numb to the pressures of tournament fishing. However, that has never been the case.
Even after fishing professionally for 35 years, Eaker said that he still gets pre-tournament jitters every morning, especially right before blast-off, and can hardly eat or drink anything. “My whole career, I’ve always been nervous until I get out there on the water and make that first cast. Then it’s time to compete. If I still didn’t get excited and get a charge out of it, I would have quit a long time ago.
“Someone asked me how it feels to catch a five pounder in practice and I told them that it’s great. But if you watch me catch a five pounder in a tournament, you’d think it was the first five pounder I’d ever caught in my life. It’s just in my blood.”
Aside from the competition, Eaker also enjoys spending time with other anglers, many of
whom he has known for decades. “I love the fellowship of these guys. I’ve watched a lot of other anglers grow up and then watched their kids grow up. It’s like a big family. When I go to these tournaments, I still see the same people that I’ve known for 35 years.
“I’ve always said that I’m no Rick Clunn, I haven’t won four Classics, and I’ve never won an Angler Of the Year. But I
guarantee you one thing, they haven’t had near as much fun as I have. What else can you ask for?”
