CREDIT:BASSFAN.COM
You'd have to be living under a rock if you haven't already heard that 24-year-old Michael Bennett is bass fishing's most recent millionaire by way of his convincing victory at last week's FLW Forrest Wood Cup championship.
A few things stand out about the Californian's win. First is the fact that despite his age, the fourth-year pro showed a remarkable ability to trust his instincts - a trait that many tour-level anglers don't develop until well on into their careers, if ever.
Another notable aspect of Bennett's triumph is the margin by which he won. Since weights are zeroed after day 2 in FLW competition, records will show that he won by a 5-pound margin, which is plenty solid in itself. However, if you used a cumulative catch total, his total margin of victory jumps to about 8 pounds - a number that more adequately reveals just how dominant his performance was.
But perhaps the most surprising thing about this win is that he never had a clue he could actually pull it off. The day before the tournament was set to get underway, Bennett told BassFan that his confidence level was virtually zero, and he wasn't even sure how or where he'd catch his first fish on day 1.
"Honestly, I think there are a lot of guys in the field who are going to catch them who don't even realize it yet," he said in a brief interview published here last Wednesday in BassFan's Dock Talk section. "This is going to be one of those deals where a guy can stumble on to something and really surprise himself."
What he didn't realize is that he would be the one to make that prediction come true.
It's hard to pinpoint how some pros are able to adapt so quickly and turn a completely unproductive practice into a winning pattern. What's even more difficult to understand is how they overcome the giant mental obstacle that comes along with the lack of confidence spawned by a poor practice.
In this Bass Buzz Q&A, Bennett talks about those things, as well as his hectic post-victory schedule and the legacy he hopes to leave behind as 2008 Forrest Wood Cup champion.
Bass Buzz: What happened at Lake Murray that allowed you to go from your pre-tournament feelings of uncertainty to ultimately winning the event?
Bennett: It was all about the weather. In practice we had hot, sunny days. South Carolina had experienced a couple 100-degree days, and the water temps were getting up in the high 80s.
I really didn't get squat for a shallow bite in practice. On the last day (of practice) I got one shallow frog bite, but that was it.
Then on our off-limits day we had that front come through. Everybody was worried about how the runoff would change the lake, but as it turned out the most significant impact of the front was on the water temperature.
The water temps dropped about 6 degrees total, and that's what changed everything.
The fish were already shallow before the front - at least about 60 percent of them were. I think they've been up shallow since spring. But they've been getting beat on for months, and they were really skittish. On top of that, the water temps were too high for them to really be aggressive.
What that front did was drop the water temperatures enough to allow those shallow fish to start to eat.
If that front hadn't come through, do you think we'd be looking at a completely different result?
Absolutely. I think if everything had stayed the same, Anthony Gagliardi probably would've walked away with it. The key before that front was those deep schooling fish, and I think he had them figured out. But after that front those schooling fish turned off a little, and the shallow bite kicked in.
Yesterday I went out and did a photo shoot (at Murray), and the temps are back up and it's sunny again. What I noticed was that those schooling fish were back everywhere. This tournament was just an anomaly. The schooling fish would've been a big pattern, but the front just put a damper on that bite for the 4 tournament days and that allowed us to catch them shallow.
How were you able to maintain your confidence and intensity after experiencing such a slow practice?
The big thing for me was that I kept an open mind. In some tournaments you can get on a pattern and it can turn out to hurt you, because if it ends up not being a pattern you can win with, you still have a tendency to fall back on it and not explore new stuff.
In this event I didn't have any preconceived notions about what was working, I just went out and fished and tried to learn something with every bite, and that's what helped me win. Every fish I caught taught me a little more, and that helped me get more confident as the tournament went on.
I know a lot of guys always try to talk down their practice, but I'm pretty straight-forward. I really didn't know how I was going to catch my first fish.
I said the guy who won this event was going to surprise himself, and I guess I was right because I was definitely surprised to do it. I knew it was going to come down to the guy who could best develop a pattern during competition, but I didn't know I'd be the one who figured it out.
Describe your schedule since you won the tournament. Has it been crazy?
It's been pure chaos. Monday I had a 5- or 6-hour series of interviews for radio and TV. I think altogether I did 17 interviews. I had a 2 1/2-hour photo shoot. I've been doing phone interviews out the wazoo.
I can't even keep my voicemail empty on my phone. I've been checking it every hour and every time I check it it's full again.
My girlfriend, Emily, is helping me out a lot. She's keeping track of who's calling and who I need to thank and all that kind of stuff. She's dealing with the media and making sure everybody gets the right facts. She's been a huge help.
It's definitely crazy, but it's fun.
During the event last week Scott Suggs' name came up a lot. Several times people made mention of how good of a champion he's been since he won the Cup last year, and how he's been a good representative of the sport. What do you want people to be saying about you and the kind of champion you've been a year from now?
I really want to be a humble champion. I don't want it to get to my head. I'm a family guy that likes to hang out with his friends, and I won't let anything change that.
I think that overall I'd like to impact the sport of fishing in showing that youth and younger people can get into this sport and have just as good a shot as anybody if they work hard enough.
I think a lot of the younger guys in this sport get discouraged when they think about competing against veterans that have been doing this for 20 or 30 years. I hope I can show that you can get into this sport at the age of 18 or 19 and actually make it.
That's probably my number one goal - just promoting the sport and hopefully I can play a role in growing bass fishing. I definitely want to see this sport grow, and I'll do whatever I can to make that happen.