Mississippi River Win Provides Boost Headed Into The Classic
Story
by Pete Robbins
Posted
- December 21st 8:51am CST
Mayflower, Ark.
-- Kevin Short’s Elite Series win on the Mississippi River this past August did a world of good for the Arkansas pro. Not only did it pad his bank account to the tune of a hundred grand and provide him with valuable points on his way to a personal-best finish in the AOY race, but it gave him the mental confidence that given the right set of circumstances, he can compete with the best of the best and come out on top.
“When you stand on that stage on Sunday afternoon and have the trophy in your hand, you know that for those four days nobody was any better,” he said. “It’s a huge boost of confidence. It’s monstrous. It’s still there with me right now and nobody can take it away from me.”
Photos
by Mark Jeffreys and Matt Pangrac
Short had previously won at the Open level and had been taking donations from central Arkansas anglers for years, but the tour-level victory came at the perfect time. Not only was it his lone second half check after a first half of the season in which he never finished beneath 32nd, but it provides the perfect approach to the upcoming Bassmaster Classic.
The Iowa trophy certainly looks nice on his mantle, but Short was quick to point out that should he leave Lay Lake in February with another one, he “can find another spot” for the additional hardware.
Best Elite Campaign So Far
Prior to 2009, Short’s best year on tour was 2007, when he finished 34th overall, thereby qualifying for his first Classic. But other than that, he’s generally been a middle of the pack finisher, with results in the fifties and sixties. Even after that breakthrough 2007 campaign, he reverted to 53rd in 2008 before turning in this year’s stellar performance – five checks in eight tries, including a 10th at Amistad to start the year and of course the victory on the Mississippi.
He said that this year’s success was the result of a conscious decision to fish for a certain caliber of fish, along with the natural evolution of his skills.
I’m fishing more to make the Classic now,” he said. “I’m fishing to catch five of the right size fish every single day. Four or five years ago it was either hero or zero. I didn’t care about anything in between. At one point in time you could get away with that, but with the competition we have today you can’t make a living doing that. You have to be close to those finishes in the twenties to do well. You have to put yourself in a position to do well and then you can bear down. Three or four years ago I was bearing down every day.”
“It’s a mental thing,” he continued. “I’m using the same baits but I changed the way I practice. I can cover water more efficiently now. I get a feel for what’s in an area and then move on and catch more. It’s just a learning process. I guess it just takes some people this long to get a sense of what they need to catch every day.”
Every Rose Has Its Thorn
On paper, Short’s season looks like an unabashed success. Not only did he notch his first tour level win, his second Classic berth and his best AOY finish, but he also put himself on firm financial ground in a difficult economy.
“For obvious reasons, it’s an even tougher market than it was last year,” he said. “But for me personally, it’s better. The majority of the companies I’ve aligned myself with have had great years. Even in a down economy I’ve gotten raises from some of them and even though I still haven’t come to terms with several of them for next year, I’m in a lot better shape on December 1, 2009, than I was on December 1, 2008.”
Despite the apparent positives, Short still thinks about how the 2009 season might have been improved. For most of the year, he was inside the top twelve cut in the AOY race, only falling out twice – after Wheeler (13th) and after Kentucky Lake (17th). But the win in Iowa put him back in 10th with only Oneida left. An 81st place finish there drew his top twelve hopes to a close. As a result, he said he’d rate the year an eight on a scale of one to ten.
“I think if I had stayed in the top twelve and even had a remote shot of moving up in the last two events, it might’ve been ‘10’ material,” he said. “Looking back, I might have let it slip through my fingers. I would’ve liked to fish three or four more events. Eight is not enough. Obviously the win helps tremendously, but take that away and the complexion might have been different. It might have been a five or a six without the win.”
While the 81st at Oneida was his lowest finish of the season, the 67th at Kentucky Lake may be the one that stung the most. It’s a body of water that has befuddled him ever since he’s been on tour – this was actually his best Elite Series finish there after 87th and 101st place bombs in 2006 and 2008, respectively. This year’s out-of-the-money finish was particularly painful because he was around the right kind of fish to do well.
“I just have to get past that,” he said. “On the first day I had over 20 pounds and I was right in the thick of things, right where I needed to be. Then on the second day, I can’t even catch my ass with both hands. I was zigging and zagging but never making the right adjustments. I knew I was around them because there were guys around me catching them.”
Particularly galling was the fact that a spot that he’d caught some of his weigh fish from on Day One proved to be better than he originally thought. When he got there around 9:30 the second day, eventual winner Bobby Lane was camped out on the key stretch. “I fished a little stretch above it, then left, came back and he was still camped on it,” Short recalled. “It was not good at all. I did not understand what was there. It just shows you can be right next to the biggest school on the lake. You just have to stop and throw everything in the boat and figure out what the big ones like better than anything else.”
Classic Bound
Despite the second half stumble, Short has now fully turned his attention to the upcoming Lay Lake Classic. He spent several days down there last month – “I fished a total of three hours in three days,” he recalled – and is headed down there again before the cutoff. This time he intends to spend much more time with a rod and reel in his hand.
He finished middle of the pack at Hartwell in February 2008. Like this year’s Kentucky Lake tournament, he had figured out part but not all of the puzzle. “I never really felt like I was around the right quality fish to win,” he said. “I was very close but didn’t use all of the tools in my boat to catch them. I was within eyesight all three days of two of the guys in the top six.”
In addition to being a more confident angler than he was 22 months ago, Short also believes that he’ll be more adept at handling the hoops presented to Classic contenders on his second attempt. “I’ve learned the routine,” he said. “One handicap for all of the competitors is a lack of time to yourself. That’s something I wasn’t used to. I knew it, but I hadn’t lived through it. Now I have.”
While his sole tour-level win came in a grind ‘em out showdown, he likes the fact that Lay has the potential to be a whackfest by comparison. “It’s not like we’re going to a lake without fish in it,” he said. “It’s absolutely full of fish.”
His goal is to enter the tournament “loose,” ready to roll with the punches and whatever weather changes are thrown the competitors’ way.
“That time of year, the weather can change 180 degrees from one day to the next. It can go from 70 and sunny to 45 and sleet. I’ve fished a lot of tournaments at home in January and February and the fishermen who do well are the ones who change to the conditions for that day. For a guy like me without a lot of experience on Lay, that could play into my favor. I don’t have any preconceived ideas. I can focus on what’s happening right now.”
