Vance McCullough – Photo Courtesy of FLWFishing.com
Some guys flat out know how to catch fish. Ron Nelson is one of them. He followed up his strong 2019 rookie season by leading the 2020 FLW Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Angler of the Year race after the completion of three events, placing 5th, 11thand 2nd on Rayburn, Harris Chain and Lake Martin, respectively.
Then the motor fell off the boat of the tournament fishing world – as it has for the larger world, in general – leaving it dead in the water just as the Pro Circuit was winding its way into Nelson’s wheelhouse. “I am a huge believer in momentum. I’m also a huge believer in knowing your personal strengths. My personal strength, and my history, is that during that spawning season, prespawn, postspawn and closely thereafter, I really excel so, yes, I was looking forward to that streak of tournaments.”
The springtime tournaments, during which he planned to separate himself from the field, have now all been rescheduled to take place later in the season when conditions will differ from those that had Nelson chomping at the bit last month. He expected Lake Martin to be a high hurdle. Instead, it was a high finish – a bonus that Nelson now enjoys even more, given the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over the remainder of the schedule. “I was like, ‘well, Martin is going to be the hard one for me’. It’s not my style of lake. I had no history there. Once I got past Martin, I figured it would be pretty good from Cherokee to South Carolina.
“I’m still looking forward to that stretch but now things have changed, and I’m fine with that. I’ve got zero anxiety about it. The only thing I’m anxious about, in reality, is I’m looking forward to getting back to the balanced life we had before the virus. This is a new thing for everybody, not being in the workforce, everything coming to a halt.”
Most pros are enjoying the break, hanging out with family and generally taking things as they come. By nature, fishermen possess more patience than the average person, but as we enter the 2nd month of relative solitude many are getting antsy because, by nature, professional anglers also possess a stronger competitive drive than the average person. Nelson tempers that drive by doing things now that he would have done this summer, as he will be fishing this summer when he had planned to be home. “I’ve been real busy taking care of the chores around the house, things that I could have done in June and July, getting them done now. That’s nice – getting the home front taken care because the home front, to me, is always first.
“It is nice to spend more time at home and not be on the road. That being said, we’re very competitive as fishermen. We enjoy the challenge, the adventure, the new lakes.”
Nelson will embrace the new challenges when the time comes. One big challenge will be to reestablish the momentum he carried home from Lake Martin. “I’m looking at hitting that reset button like we have to do a lot of times in tournament fishing, whether you’re getting through a tough patch or you’ve got to reset, mentally, just to figure out what’s going on. If they change the dates on a couple more tournaments, I’m fine with it.
“I am glad that we did fish Martin, not just because of how I finished, but because we were already there. As fishermen we’re already self-quarantined as it is. In the boat by yourself. In the truck by yourself. I’m glad they didn’t say ‘go home’ and not fish.”
When FLW made the decision to fish the Martin tournament they also decided to not have marshals in the boats, social distancing being the big consideration. Nelson is a friendly conversationalist. Due to his performance he didn’t lack company for long. “I think I was in the Top 5 on Day 3 and Day 4 so two of the days I had a camera guy so it was kind of like having a marshal because we talked all day as he was in the back of the boat.”
If you watch Nelson, or most any pro, on FLW Live and he’s not talking, you can bet he’s dialed-in on a fish or looking hard for one. “When I’m bird-dogging it, looking for any little sign, then I’m kind of quiet but when I’m in dead water or not in my sweet stuff, I’ll have a conversation but when I’m in the juice, I don’t talk much. I kind of get on point because any little sign – I don’t want to miss it.”
Nelson didn’t miss many signs on Martin where he displayed the type of decision-making prowess needed to make a run at the AOY title on a major tour. “I knew they were dropping the water. On days 2, 3 and 4 I fished all new water. I started off fishing down lake where the water was clear. I knew those deeper fish, I could still see them when the water was high. And they would get pressured, whereas up the lake it was dirtier in practice and the water was still higher but when it dropped, those fish became visible and a lot of guys had already fished those areas and didn’t catch those fish because they couldn’t see them.”
Nelson says sight fishing isn’t his favorite way to do business, though he’s figured out that he’s good at it. “I love punching and flipping. That’s one of my favorite ways of fishing, fishing Florida style in the heavy stuff. Give me braid and a one-or-two-ounce weight and let me go to work. That’s combat fishing. I don’t do that a lot, so I make a lot of mistakes, but to me that’s a blast!”
Nelson gained a lot of experience in his rookie year on Tour, but his cross-country education began back when he decided to travel out of his comfort zone during his AAA days. He grew up with the spinning rod but knew there was a world of diverse waters and techniques to explore. “That’s what drove me to go fish the Toyota Series. I wanted to fish the Southeast Division down in Florida and South Carolina and fish different bodies of water and fish a shad spawn and fish for big fish and stuff,” Nelson rattles off in his quick paced Michigan accent. “It’s been a neat adventure. But if you look at my track record, as far as wins, the win on Champlain, the win on Smith Mountain Lake, yeah, it’s clear water, it’s around the sight fishing time. I think I know how to manage my time well and catch those fish faster than a lot of guys know how to catch them maybe.”
The versatility that Nelson has sought is starting to pay dividends and will likely serve him well during the most unpredictable tournament season we’ve ever seen. “I’m ready for any situation whether it’s a deep brush pile bite with shaky heads or a topwater bite, beating the bank with a buzzbait, I’m ready to do it all. I don’t have any fear about something not being in my wheelhouse. I’m rounded enough, seasoned enough now, comfortable now.”
As we all pass the time during the COVID-19 quarantine, are there constructive ways use the time, to prepare? Or should we just relax, spend time with the family and recharge the proverbial batteries? “Well, I think by recharging the batteries and spending time with the family you are being constructive. I feel like I live a double life as far as having a wife at home and being on the road. When things at home are taken care of, it’s a lot easier to stay focused while on the road. Now I feel like ‘let’s take care of the home life and when it’s time, we’ll get the ball rolling again and get back to fishing’. It’ll be a lot easier to just put my head down and not have to worry about things I should be doing at home because they are already done.
“It’s not going to be constructive as far as – I’m not wasting my time retying baits and restringing rods, not even trying to focus on one given tournament until we actually get the ok to go. I’m just going to keep fishing on the back burner and then approach it like it’s the first tournament all over. The next one’s our first tournament, in my mind.”
That’s not to say Nelson isn’t wetting a line with his wife, Karla. “We’ve had really nice weather the last three days, so we went out and did some crappie fishing and some bass fishing together.”
Aside from fun fishing, Nelson is staying in something of a routine by maintaining a regular sleep schedule and getting exercise by hiking with Karla and their two dogs in the wooded areas near their Berrien Springs, Michigan home. “I don’t go to the gym, don’t exercise like I should, but hiking is something I enjoy, and it builds endurance. When you stand, like the last tournament we fished, when you made the cut it was seven days straight. There was no off day. There was no break. On the last day my legs were getting a little tired,” shares the 45-year-old. “Instead of sitting on the couch and watching movies we try to stay active.”
Many people across the country are off their normal sleep schedule these days for a variety of reasons related to the pandemic. When Nelson’s head hits the pillow, he is sleeping well. If he has concerns, tournament fishing isn’t a major one right now. “The pressure is only what you create for yourself. I just don’t create any pressure for myself like that. It doesn’t even cross my mind as far as the anxiety of it. I recognize that it’s not happening, so I don’t have to worry about it until it does.”
Nelson is calmly focused on the job to come, whenever, wherever it comes. “(The schedule) has shifted. I’m still in the hunt to do well and I expect to do well, one check at a time, one fish at a time. You can’t get ahead of yourself. The points race is never decided until the last tournament. Makes it fun.”
