Willingness, Ability To Adjust Paid Off For Baksay

Photo: BassFan Terry Baksay finished 55th or better in five of the six FLW Tour events this year.

"I've never had a problem finding fish," said the veteran from Connecticut. "But at times I have had problems adapting when I couldn't get my fish going or they'd moved or something like that.

"I've simplified my fishing quite a bit over the past few years, and that's helped me adapt better on the water. Sometimes it's a complete 180-degree turn and other times it's something that's not so drastic, but all of a sudden you're catching fish, and it feels good."

Big Bomb Reduction

Baksay's willingness to make on-the-water adjustments has paid off handsomely over the past two FLW Tour seasons. Prior to 2007, he'd never finished higher than 85th in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race. He improved to 54th last year, and then climbed all the way to 11th this season.

He turned in one stinker – a 136th at Beaver Lake, where he's never fared well. He finished no worse that 55th in the other five regular-season events and would have won the AOY had he come in 48th or better at Beaver.

"Before, I'd stay with something for 8 hours like an idiot and I'd come in with three fish while everybody else had 15 pounds," he said. "But in four of the six tournaments this year I ended up doing something that I didn't do at all in practice.

"Right now my confidence is through the roof and even if I have a bomb, I know I can follow it up with a good finish. Everything has been clicking and the key will be to maintain it."

He's become comfortable utilizing just about every technique except flipping ("that's something I don't do enough of"). But he's really in his element throwing a jerkbait.

"I made (the fish) bite a jerkbait everywhere except Beaver and Fort Loudoun-Tellico, and if I can get bit on it, that's all I want to throw. I feel there's always some fish that will bite it, and it's up to me to figure out the color, size, shape and model. I've got 10 or 12 boxes of them with me all the time.

"Since the Rapala X-Rap came out, that's absolutely been my bread and butter. I've come up with ways to throw and fish the different sizes and I feel like I can really get into the zone with it. I might be throwing a white one and not getting bites, then I'll switch to chartreuse or pink and it'll be just bam, bam, bam, bam."

Photo: FLW Outdoors/Rob Newell Baksay will fish the Bassmaster Northern Opens next year and if he fares well enough, he'll consider competing on the 2010 Elite Series.

Baksay fished the Bassmaster circuit for a decade and a half prior to becoming a strictly FLW pro in 2006, and qualified for two Classics during that timefram. After many years with Ranger, he's running a Skeeter boat now, and with Skeeter being a BASS sponsor, there's some incentive to go back.

"Skeeter would obviously like their anglers to fish BASS, and I'm going to do the Northern Opens next year since those events will be right in my neck of the woods," he said. "If I do well enough (finish among the Top 10 in the points) and get the invitation back in (to the Elite Series), we'll see what happens. If I can work up the sponsors, I'd have to think about it seriously."

He doesn't particularly care for the latest Elite Series format change – the replacement of co-anglers with non-fishing observers.

"There've been times when co-anglers have gotten into my boat and caught fish that I could've used, but I can think of other times when they've clued me in to what was going on. They can be totally staying out of your way fishing in a foot of water and the next thing you know they catch a 5-pounder. They you start doing what they were doing and you start catching fish.

"I'm not a big believer in (the idea that they make things more difficult for the pros). I think if you're good enough and you have the fish, you should be able to go catch them and not worry about it."

Notable

> Baksay said he benefits from rooming with Alvin Shaw and Tracy Adams on the road. "We don't share spots, but we share information about patterns and what we're catching fish on, and I think it helps all of us."

> He said the reason he left BASS after 2006 was because the first installment on the $55,000 worth of Elite Series entry fees was due in December of that year – just a month before wife Marcie was due to deliver their third son and the family's move into their new home. "I'd be divorced and living in a box right now – my wife would've killed me. Do I regret it now? No, I've made more money with FLW the last 3 years than I likely would have with BASS."

> His tenure as a psychologist was short. "I did it for about 6 months and that was it. I was a manager at a Herman's Sporting Goods while I was in school, and I continued to do that after I started fishing."

> He's never been able to secure a boat-wrap deal. "There's one guy I talk to every now and then, but nothing has happened yet. With my proximity to New York City and all the driving I do around there, that's something I've never been able to figure out."

> He improved from 88th to 43rd in the BassFan World Rankings this season.