04-15-2008, 12:06 AM
By DAVID RAINER
It wasn't exactly the way he wanted to end his year atop the bass fishing world, but Boyd Duckett is not about to complain.
Duckett, the Demopolis businessman who became the first home-state angler to win a Bassmaster Classic last year with his victory on Lay Lake, struggled on the opening day of the 2008 Classic in Greenville, S.C., and wasn't able to make the cut.
Yet, Duckett was not the one-hit wonder that is so common among first-time Classic champions. However, he admits he was in a fog for a little while after winning the $500,000 top prize before a capacity crowd at Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
"It was probably after the second event before I realized what had happened," Duckett said of the title. "When you leave the stage after winning the Classic there was one week before the first event at Lake Amistad (Texas). I didn't come home or anything. I either did television or radio shows in all these cities and flew to all these places and I showed up one day late for practice at Amistad. You only get two and a half days to practice, so I missed one of those days.
"Then I stayed focused on the first event, which I did horrible in. Probably, the following event, when I had a little bit of time, normal practice time, that I got to thinking about it. It takes a little while for it to sink in."
Although Duckett juggles a successful business in Demopolis - Southern Tank Leasing - and a passion for bass fishing, he didn't realize how much the Classic title would affect him.
"It's really life-changing," he said. "I didn't realize how life-changing it is. I've been around bass fishing all my life. I recognized the Classic and the changes it seemed to have made in people. But not having lived through it, there's no way to estimate what it does to your fishing career. And coming so quick in my career - when I made the decision to go full-time and fish the 10 Tour events in 2006 - it was my very first Classic, my first season in the Elite series."
Duckett admits it did take a couple of tournaments to regain his composure.
"My first two events were really bad," he said. "It wasn't until Clear Lake that I actually made a 50 cut. I went 93rd and 78th in my first two events, so I guess I fell in line with everybody else. I started getting it together at Clear Lake and had some good finishes after that."
Of course, that last comment was a considerable understatement. Duckett managed to set a Bassmaster record for winnings in a single year with $850,000 in tournament paydays. He won the Bassmaster Legend, one the tour's major events, on Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas, followed by a victory in the made-for-TV Ultimate Match Fishing competition.
"At Lake Dardanelle we went to the six-hole course on the third and fourth days," Duckett explained. "That was a real enjoyable format for me. You have an hour and half in each hole. Nobody has practiced within the creek where the hole-course was. It was really one of those think-on-your-feet kinds of deals, so I really enjoyed that. Yeah, $250,000 is pretty dramatic. It was a big win. The whole field fished the first two days. I had just enough fish to make the top 12 cut. I went on the hole course and found some deep fish that I caught drop-shotting and jumped up to second or third going into the last day. Then the last day, the drop-shot bite ended and I ended up catching them flipping. I really did some good scrambling to get the win in that event. That's $750,000 in two events. That's pretty good."
In the Ultimate Match Fishing event, Duckett progressed through the elimination rounds and met Texas pro Kelly Jordon in the finals.
"That was really a fun event to fish," Duckett said. "It's really competitive. We started with 12 (anglers) on Lake Guntersville. It's single elimination, so we went to Kentucky Lake in June with six. You stay until there's nobody left. You fish and then take a day off to practice and fish again.
"I was able to beat Kelly by a very slim margin. It was 6/100ths of a pound. Kelly had such a great performance. I had never seen what he did. Kelly caught 22 pounds in less than eight minutes. Yes, less than eight minutes. He pulled up on a hole with that big spoon he's famous for and put 22 pounds in the boat in less than eight minutes. I sat back and was amazed.
"I had one fish at the time and I was backpedaling a little bit. But I had one good place and I fish Kentucky Lake a pretty good bit. I had a good ditch that ran into a creek mouth. But I didn't know if I could beat that weight or not. I actually caught a lot more fish, probably 30, but we didn't know who won. We just had a phenomenal day, both of us. I hated to see Kelly lose with 22 pounds, but I'll take it. Otherwise, I would have lost with 22-something."
Duckett's attempt to become only the second person to win back-to-back Classics derailed quickly on South Carolina's Lake Hartwell. Duckett had an opening round that was ruled by Murphy's Law. He lost fish after fish, the first on a spinnerbait, the second on a Rat-L-Trap and the third on a jig. He ended up with only two keepers at 4 pounds, 12 ounces.
"I don't know what physically changes but something does," Duckett said of an angler's actions after losing fish. "When I had that jig fish on, all I was thinking was, "˜please stay on, please stay on.' I had lost two good ones, and sure enough, it came off. The guys just swinging the fish in the boat, they don't think about it and they all stay on. You don't think anything changes, but something must."
Duckett was able to gain a modicum of redemption during the second round when he weighed in a five-fish limit at 15-2, but the opening-round hole was too deep to be able to advance to Sunday's final round. He finished in 33rd place.
"I felt better about (Saturday's round)," he said. "I was disappointed (Friday). I felt like I had a pretty strong pattern. I would have preferred to have (sunny) weather, and then just count on getting a couple of big bites during the three-day period, like I did last year. But that went away when I lost those fish."
Although he wasn't on the lake for the final round, Duckett didn't have time to rest. He was still busy, promoting products and signing autographs at the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo.
"All of us wish to have a big season where we get noticed and sponsors notice you and we get those opportunities," he said. "Then when it comes, it's another whole job in itself trying to keep up with all of the sponsor obligations. It's a fun problem to have. It took me a lot of the 2007 season to figure out how to handle that, because unlike a majority of the guys at the Elite level I've got off-the-water work. So I had to limit myself and figure out how to juggle that sponsorship requirement and it's really kept me busy."
After the Classic, Duckett may be able to swing through Demopolis, but he won't be able to stay long. The first 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series event is the Sunshine Showdown March 6-9 at Leesburg, Fla. When he is home, Duckett said things haven't changed much.
"You know how it is with your hometown, it's family and friends," he said. "You're still the person they knew you as before you won the Classic. But Demopolis has been really good to me. The city threw a party for me. They put a sign up at City Landing stating I was 2007 Bassmaster Classic champion. The city has been really, really good to me and it's a great town with a lot of great people in it. But they supported me before I won the Classic.
"I do get stopped to talk about fishing pretty regular."
Despite his new-found fame, Duckett is comfortable in the role.
"It's like anything we're passionate about in life," he said. "I'm chasing the dream like everybody who fishes competitively. I've tournament fished since 1977. I've slowly taken it up a notch at the time. In the fall of 2005 I made that commitment. I was 45 years old. I always knew I wanted to fish at the highest level and see how my game compared to these guys. You can't wait forever.
"It was well planned and I'm comfortable. I'm having a great time. I'm having fun."
It wasn't exactly the way he wanted to end his year atop the bass fishing world, but Boyd Duckett is not about to complain.
Duckett, the Demopolis businessman who became the first home-state angler to win a Bassmaster Classic last year with his victory on Lay Lake, struggled on the opening day of the 2008 Classic in Greenville, S.C., and wasn't able to make the cut.
Yet, Duckett was not the one-hit wonder that is so common among first-time Classic champions. However, he admits he was in a fog for a little while after winning the $500,000 top prize before a capacity crowd at Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center.
"It was probably after the second event before I realized what had happened," Duckett said of the title. "When you leave the stage after winning the Classic there was one week before the first event at Lake Amistad (Texas). I didn't come home or anything. I either did television or radio shows in all these cities and flew to all these places and I showed up one day late for practice at Amistad. You only get two and a half days to practice, so I missed one of those days.
"Then I stayed focused on the first event, which I did horrible in. Probably, the following event, when I had a little bit of time, normal practice time, that I got to thinking about it. It takes a little while for it to sink in."
Although Duckett juggles a successful business in Demopolis - Southern Tank Leasing - and a passion for bass fishing, he didn't realize how much the Classic title would affect him.
"It's really life-changing," he said. "I didn't realize how life-changing it is. I've been around bass fishing all my life. I recognized the Classic and the changes it seemed to have made in people. But not having lived through it, there's no way to estimate what it does to your fishing career. And coming so quick in my career - when I made the decision to go full-time and fish the 10 Tour events in 2006 - it was my very first Classic, my first season in the Elite series."
Duckett admits it did take a couple of tournaments to regain his composure.
"My first two events were really bad," he said. "It wasn't until Clear Lake that I actually made a 50 cut. I went 93rd and 78th in my first two events, so I guess I fell in line with everybody else. I started getting it together at Clear Lake and had some good finishes after that."
Of course, that last comment was a considerable understatement. Duckett managed to set a Bassmaster record for winnings in a single year with $850,000 in tournament paydays. He won the Bassmaster Legend, one the tour's major events, on Lake Dardanelle in Arkansas, followed by a victory in the made-for-TV Ultimate Match Fishing competition.
"At Lake Dardanelle we went to the six-hole course on the third and fourth days," Duckett explained. "That was a real enjoyable format for me. You have an hour and half in each hole. Nobody has practiced within the creek where the hole-course was. It was really one of those think-on-your-feet kinds of deals, so I really enjoyed that. Yeah, $250,000 is pretty dramatic. It was a big win. The whole field fished the first two days. I had just enough fish to make the top 12 cut. I went on the hole course and found some deep fish that I caught drop-shotting and jumped up to second or third going into the last day. Then the last day, the drop-shot bite ended and I ended up catching them flipping. I really did some good scrambling to get the win in that event. That's $750,000 in two events. That's pretty good."
In the Ultimate Match Fishing event, Duckett progressed through the elimination rounds and met Texas pro Kelly Jordon in the finals.
"That was really a fun event to fish," Duckett said. "It's really competitive. We started with 12 (anglers) on Lake Guntersville. It's single elimination, so we went to Kentucky Lake in June with six. You stay until there's nobody left. You fish and then take a day off to practice and fish again.
"I was able to beat Kelly by a very slim margin. It was 6/100ths of a pound. Kelly had such a great performance. I had never seen what he did. Kelly caught 22 pounds in less than eight minutes. Yes, less than eight minutes. He pulled up on a hole with that big spoon he's famous for and put 22 pounds in the boat in less than eight minutes. I sat back and was amazed.
"I had one fish at the time and I was backpedaling a little bit. But I had one good place and I fish Kentucky Lake a pretty good bit. I had a good ditch that ran into a creek mouth. But I didn't know if I could beat that weight or not. I actually caught a lot more fish, probably 30, but we didn't know who won. We just had a phenomenal day, both of us. I hated to see Kelly lose with 22 pounds, but I'll take it. Otherwise, I would have lost with 22-something."
Duckett's attempt to become only the second person to win back-to-back Classics derailed quickly on South Carolina's Lake Hartwell. Duckett had an opening round that was ruled by Murphy's Law. He lost fish after fish, the first on a spinnerbait, the second on a Rat-L-Trap and the third on a jig. He ended up with only two keepers at 4 pounds, 12 ounces.
"I don't know what physically changes but something does," Duckett said of an angler's actions after losing fish. "When I had that jig fish on, all I was thinking was, "˜please stay on, please stay on.' I had lost two good ones, and sure enough, it came off. The guys just swinging the fish in the boat, they don't think about it and they all stay on. You don't think anything changes, but something must."
Duckett was able to gain a modicum of redemption during the second round when he weighed in a five-fish limit at 15-2, but the opening-round hole was too deep to be able to advance to Sunday's final round. He finished in 33rd place.
"I felt better about (Saturday's round)," he said. "I was disappointed (Friday). I felt like I had a pretty strong pattern. I would have preferred to have (sunny) weather, and then just count on getting a couple of big bites during the three-day period, like I did last year. But that went away when I lost those fish."
Although he wasn't on the lake for the final round, Duckett didn't have time to rest. He was still busy, promoting products and signing autographs at the Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo.
"All of us wish to have a big season where we get noticed and sponsors notice you and we get those opportunities," he said. "Then when it comes, it's another whole job in itself trying to keep up with all of the sponsor obligations. It's a fun problem to have. It took me a lot of the 2007 season to figure out how to handle that, because unlike a majority of the guys at the Elite level I've got off-the-water work. So I had to limit myself and figure out how to juggle that sponsorship requirement and it's really kept me busy."
After the Classic, Duckett may be able to swing through Demopolis, but he won't be able to stay long. The first 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series event is the Sunshine Showdown March 6-9 at Leesburg, Fla. When he is home, Duckett said things haven't changed much.
"You know how it is with your hometown, it's family and friends," he said. "You're still the person they knew you as before you won the Classic. But Demopolis has been really good to me. The city threw a party for me. They put a sign up at City Landing stating I was 2007 Bassmaster Classic champion. The city has been really, really good to me and it's a great town with a lot of great people in it. But they supported me before I won the Classic.
"I do get stopped to talk about fishing pretty regular."
Despite his new-found fame, Duckett is comfortable in the role.
"It's like anything we're passionate about in life," he said. "I'm chasing the dream like everybody who fishes competitively. I've tournament fished since 1977. I've slowly taken it up a notch at the time. In the fall of 2005 I made that commitment. I was 45 years old. I always knew I wanted to fish at the highest level and see how my game compared to these guys. You can't wait forever.
"It was well planned and I'm comfortable. I'm having a great time. I'm having fun."