News: 10/31/07
Get5Bass Pro Scene
Reehm Talks about Making Classic and Elite Series
Clark Reehm displays one of his newest sponsors baits, a Lucky Craft Staysee.
Get5 had the opportunity to talk with Clark Reehm (Russellville) about his
2007 season. Reehm achieved his dream (and the dream of many aspiring pro
anglers) of making the Bassmaster Classic and the BASS Elite Series by
finishing second in the Bassmaster Central Open points race. In this candid
interview, Reehm talks about his emotions leading up to his qualification, the
fishing industry, and his maturation as an angler.
Get5: You accomplished one of your goals for 2007 by placing 2nd in the
Bassmaster Central Open points race, which qualified you for the 2008
Bassmaster Classic and Elite Series. Tell us what the emotional roller coaster
was like while preparing for the final Central Open tournament at Lake
Amistad, fishing the event, and learning that you had clinched a Classic Berth.
Clark: First off, I need to mention that the gap between the Red River event
in June and the last event, Lake Amistad, in September seemed extremely
long. Sitting third in the points weighed heavily on me all summer. To be
honest with you, I never thought I would have been that high in the points. All
I wanted to do was qualify for the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series, but now,
sitting in that high of a position, a Classic berth was in sight.
In early September I went to Lake Champlain in New York for an FLW Series
Event. All I could think about was the upcoming tournament at the end of the
month at Lake Amistad. “ Don’t do anything to tear your boat up! You can’t
afford to jeopardize the most important tournament in your career!” This was
my mantra for that week…on day two I broke down. That didn’t help with my
mental state. I got my boat fixed at the service trailer and I was soon off to
Amistad. I drove from the New York/Canada border to the Texas/Mexico
border with a short stop in Russellville to do laundry. Those long drives of
solitude aren’t fun when events loom on your mind. That is one of the down
sides of professional bass fishing that most people don’t fully understand when
they think catching fish for a living has got to be the greatest job on Earth.
With so much riding on Amistad, I allocated two weeks for prefishing and the
tournament, but it didn’t seem to help. During that period, I caught fish as
deep as 75’ feet and as shallow as 6”. I had run way up the Mexican side of
the lake and as far as you could go up the Texas side. I basically caught fish
everywhere I went doing whatever technique I want to throw, but just couldn’t
catch any quality fish. Kicker Fish has a new finesse worm with built in air
pockets that I could dropshot in four or five different places and catch over a
hundred fish a day, but 2 pounders wouldn’t do me any good. Lake Amistad
has the reputation for kicking out monster sacks and going into the
tournament everyone thought it would take 80 lbs – 90 lbs to win for three
days. The best I had mustered up was 17 lbs one day. I was now freaking out!
My roommate, Sammy Burks, had prefished for three days and his worst day
was 20 lbs and his best was 32lbs. The dock talk was killing me hearing of the
10lb+ fish that guys were catching.
The one thing I kept telling myself was I was essentially in a ten-man
tournament competing for those Classic and Elite spots. I am friends with
most of the other guys that were high in the points and knew that they were
struggling to catch quality bags as well. Dave Wolak (2nd in the points) and I
stopped on the lake one day and it really helped calm me down as we
discussed what all was going on. The game plan that we formulated was to just
go catch our easy 12lb bags and then go rot on some deep hole trying to get a
big bite. We both ended up following that game plan to the letter and we held
on to qualify for the Classic #1 and #2.
The actual tournament days went by very slow. The first two days I caught
quick limits on a watermelon candy Kicker Fish Wacky Worm. Those fast
limits calmed me down and on day one I actually ended up with the second
biggest bag I had caught in two weeks, right at 16 lbs. That put me in 20th
place. Day two was when all of my emotions collided combining the worst
feelings I’ve ever had in a boat with the absolute best! At about noon, I pulled
up to a tiny little point where I had caught a few quality fish and caught a three
pounder. This was a great cull for me, but the seven pounder my co angler put
in the boat right afterward would have helped out even more. My heart sank.
Then I broke off a big one… I was mentally and emotionally devastated. Next
I motored the boat to another area, but I might as well have put it on the
trailer. I was on the cusp of the greatest opportunity of my career and I knew
that I had blown it. You have to execute at this level, not execute yourself. I
could not think of a time that I have ever been that down on myself
questioning my abilities and if I should even be there. Hold on one
second…there shouldn’t be any grass growing in 45’ of water. I set the hook
and that big fish skyrocketed out of the water into my co anglers outstretched
net. I almost vomited.
That big fish ended up being a little shy of 5 lbs. I hugged my co angler and
told him that was my Classic fish. I don’t think I will ever forget that moment.
I ended up with 13 pounds that day. I was in the first flight that day and
watched the weigh-in on my buddy’s Iphone back at the room. Lots of people
were calling me with crunched numbers as we watched the other guys in
Classic contention weigh-in. I knew half way through the weigh-in on day two
that I had qualified unofficially. I was ecstatic!
Day three was insignificant to me so I basically just went fishing. That night
we had a celebration at Byron Velvick’s Lake Amistad Lodge and you know
what they say about what happens in Mexico…
Get5: Now that you have qualified for the Classic, what do you know about
Lake Hartwell?
Clark: I really don’t know much about the Lake other than everything that
you can read on the Internet. Jay Fuller (3rd in the Central Opens) and I are
looking forward to going to Hartwell after Thanksgiving for two weeks to do
some recon. The drought conditions in that area have made the water level
extremely low so everything I find will be current for the water conditions.
The smaller lake size will be nice because it already eliminates searching half
of the fishable water that would normally be present.
Get5: As stated earlier, you have also qualified for the 2008 Bassmaster
Elite Series. Do you plan to fish the Elite Series next year and if so what
challenges does that bring to the table?
Clark: I have said many times that this would be a wasted year if I failed to
qualify for the Elite Series. I came very close last year and I knew I couldn’t
afford to fish the lower circuits for very much longer. The main challenge as
almost any one of the Elite guys will tell you obviously is the $55,000 entry
fee. The first deadline came up extremely fast and I had to borrow the $7000
deposit money from my Dad. Contractually, I am now committed to the
remaining $48,000. As far as other adversities go, there is always the rookie
learning curve. There are about 100 other challenges I will face as well.
Problems such as Skeet, KVD, Ike, etc…
Get5: Qualifying for the Classic should open up some doors for you as far as
sponsorship goes. Do you have any new (or current) sponsors you would like
to talk about? What is your strategy as far as attracting new sponsors?
Clark: I am currently talking to numerous companies, but the Classic
qualification just doesn’t seem to have the weight it once did. The whole
Bassmaster Elite Angler title is the major selling point and you basically
include incentives for the Classic. It is hard to gas your truck up with free
products so deals become trickier to talk about. Currently, I am in need of
some major funding especially a corporate level sponsorship deal to wrap my
boat. Outside the fishing industry sponsorships are where you really have to
look now for the big bucks. Just like everything else in life, it is all who you
know. I am constantly looking for “ins” to be able to make proposals to
businesses. You can’t just cold call or randomly walk off the street.
As far as other deals are concerned, I am looking at them one at a time. I have
signed on with Lucky Craft, which I am very excited about because I have
been throwing their baits for some time now. My current plastic sponsor,
Kicker Fish and I are going to start negotiating soon as well. I went to the
ICAST show this past summer and have been talking with Dobyn’s Rods, an
upstart from California that is making some awesome products. I would really
love to find a truck sponsorship for next year too.
Get5: You've obviously fished a full slate of tournaments this year. What
attributes (mental, mechanical, etc.) have helped you excel in 2007?
My maturation as an angler has really come around in the past two years of
tournament fishing when I started fishing the Bassmaster Southern Tour and
Central opens. I had to reexamine a lot of my fishing styles and tendencies to
be able to catch fish on the road and have really come into my own. I have
developed some new techniques and philosophies that have been instrumental
to my tournament successes. One such philosophy is getting over the magic
spot syndrome and learning to read water. Being able to correctly use “dock-
talk” and filtering out the hurtful content has been something I have been able
to overcome as well. I run what I feel comfortable doing and work on
weaknesses when I’m not in tournament situations. When people see me on
the lake now, I will almost always have a spinning rod in my hand. It doesn’t
do me any good to go out to Dardanelle and throw a jig or crankbait. I am not
learning anything or challenging myself by doing that. The confidence and
versatility that pros have is one major factor that separates them from
average anglers.
Get5: Tell us about some key baits or equipment that has helped you have
such a great 2007.
Clark: I have a tendency to cover water extremely fast looking for reaction
strikes in high percentage areas. The three confidence baits I always have
tied on no matter where I go are a Chartreuse Perch colored Lucky Craft RC
1.5, a Chartreuse Shad Lucky Craft Slender Pointer and a smaller profile
White//White spinnerbait. I am able to work those three baits quickly and
efficiently to cover water to find fish fast. The beauty of the two Lucky Craft
baits is they seem to be more effective the faster you work them. That is one
of the keys to my success. I look for conditions on new bodies of water that I
can relate to past experiences on other lakes and those baits seem to catch
fish consistently everywhere I go.
When I spinnerbait, I usually throw one of two types with my selection based
on water conditions. If the water is clearer and smallmouth or spotted bass
might play a critical role in the tournament, I throw a ¾ chartreuse and white
bladed Mini-Me made by SOB Lures. This is one of those compact hidden
weight spinnerbaits with a great hook. I almost won the Bassmaster Central
Open at Lake Texoma earlier this year on this spinnerbait. The other
spinnerbait I throw in dirtier water like Lake Dardanelle is a ¼ oz Mister
Hooty. What makes this bait unique is it has an old school rubber skirt that
has a lot of action. River system bass love this spinnerbait. It was actually
built to fish the Ouachita and Red Rivers in Northern Louisiana. By keeping
things simple and having confidence in proven fish catching baits, it eliminates
a lot of time digging in the tackle box and second-guessing yourself.
Get5: Do you have anything else that you'd like to add?
Clark: I moved back to Russellville in February to make an honest run at
making it to the next level. The people here have been great, especially all of
the regulars that come fish the tournaments on Saturdays, Tuesdays and
Thursdays. I have learned a lot from all of these guys whether they realize it
or not and I appreciate all of the encouragement and congratulatory comments
they have given to me.
As any of them will tell you, I am all about helping anglers learn to become
better fisherman and freely give out information…after the tournaments.
Bass pros are just regular guys and are very approachable. If you want to talk
fishing sometime and you see me around, I more than welcome the opportunity.
To learn more about Clark Reehm read Get5's February interview with him,
click here
Get5Bass Pro Scene
Reehm Talks about Making Classic and Elite Series
Clark Reehm displays one of his newest sponsors baits, a Lucky Craft Staysee.
Get5 had the opportunity to talk with Clark Reehm (Russellville) about his
2007 season. Reehm achieved his dream (and the dream of many aspiring pro
anglers) of making the Bassmaster Classic and the BASS Elite Series by
finishing second in the Bassmaster Central Open points race. In this candid
interview, Reehm talks about his emotions leading up to his qualification, the
fishing industry, and his maturation as an angler.
Get5: You accomplished one of your goals for 2007 by placing 2nd in the
Bassmaster Central Open points race, which qualified you for the 2008
Bassmaster Classic and Elite Series. Tell us what the emotional roller coaster
was like while preparing for the final Central Open tournament at Lake
Amistad, fishing the event, and learning that you had clinched a Classic Berth.
Clark: First off, I need to mention that the gap between the Red River event
in June and the last event, Lake Amistad, in September seemed extremely
long. Sitting third in the points weighed heavily on me all summer. To be
honest with you, I never thought I would have been that high in the points. All
I wanted to do was qualify for the 2008 Bassmaster Elite Series, but now,
sitting in that high of a position, a Classic berth was in sight.
In early September I went to Lake Champlain in New York for an FLW Series
Event. All I could think about was the upcoming tournament at the end of the
month at Lake Amistad. “ Don’t do anything to tear your boat up! You can’t
afford to jeopardize the most important tournament in your career!” This was
my mantra for that week…on day two I broke down. That didn’t help with my
mental state. I got my boat fixed at the service trailer and I was soon off to
Amistad. I drove from the New York/Canada border to the Texas/Mexico
border with a short stop in Russellville to do laundry. Those long drives of
solitude aren’t fun when events loom on your mind. That is one of the down
sides of professional bass fishing that most people don’t fully understand when
they think catching fish for a living has got to be the greatest job on Earth.
With so much riding on Amistad, I allocated two weeks for prefishing and the
tournament, but it didn’t seem to help. During that period, I caught fish as
deep as 75’ feet and as shallow as 6”. I had run way up the Mexican side of
the lake and as far as you could go up the Texas side. I basically caught fish
everywhere I went doing whatever technique I want to throw, but just couldn’t
catch any quality fish. Kicker Fish has a new finesse worm with built in air
pockets that I could dropshot in four or five different places and catch over a
hundred fish a day, but 2 pounders wouldn’t do me any good. Lake Amistad
has the reputation for kicking out monster sacks and going into the
tournament everyone thought it would take 80 lbs – 90 lbs to win for three
days. The best I had mustered up was 17 lbs one day. I was now freaking out!
My roommate, Sammy Burks, had prefished for three days and his worst day
was 20 lbs and his best was 32lbs. The dock talk was killing me hearing of the
10lb+ fish that guys were catching.
The one thing I kept telling myself was I was essentially in a ten-man
tournament competing for those Classic and Elite spots. I am friends with
most of the other guys that were high in the points and knew that they were
struggling to catch quality bags as well. Dave Wolak (2nd in the points) and I
stopped on the lake one day and it really helped calm me down as we
discussed what all was going on. The game plan that we formulated was to just
go catch our easy 12lb bags and then go rot on some deep hole trying to get a
big bite. We both ended up following that game plan to the letter and we held
on to qualify for the Classic #1 and #2.
The actual tournament days went by very slow. The first two days I caught
quick limits on a watermelon candy Kicker Fish Wacky Worm. Those fast
limits calmed me down and on day one I actually ended up with the second
biggest bag I had caught in two weeks, right at 16 lbs. That put me in 20th
place. Day two was when all of my emotions collided combining the worst
feelings I’ve ever had in a boat with the absolute best! At about noon, I pulled
up to a tiny little point where I had caught a few quality fish and caught a three
pounder. This was a great cull for me, but the seven pounder my co angler put
in the boat right afterward would have helped out even more. My heart sank.
Then I broke off a big one… I was mentally and emotionally devastated. Next
I motored the boat to another area, but I might as well have put it on the
trailer. I was on the cusp of the greatest opportunity of my career and I knew
that I had blown it. You have to execute at this level, not execute yourself. I
could not think of a time that I have ever been that down on myself
questioning my abilities and if I should even be there. Hold on one
second…there shouldn’t be any grass growing in 45’ of water. I set the hook
and that big fish skyrocketed out of the water into my co anglers outstretched
net. I almost vomited.
That big fish ended up being a little shy of 5 lbs. I hugged my co angler and
told him that was my Classic fish. I don’t think I will ever forget that moment.
I ended up with 13 pounds that day. I was in the first flight that day and
watched the weigh-in on my buddy’s Iphone back at the room. Lots of people
were calling me with crunched numbers as we watched the other guys in
Classic contention weigh-in. I knew half way through the weigh-in on day two
that I had qualified unofficially. I was ecstatic!
Day three was insignificant to me so I basically just went fishing. That night
we had a celebration at Byron Velvick’s Lake Amistad Lodge and you know
what they say about what happens in Mexico…
Get5: Now that you have qualified for the Classic, what do you know about
Lake Hartwell?
Clark: I really don’t know much about the Lake other than everything that
you can read on the Internet. Jay Fuller (3rd in the Central Opens) and I are
looking forward to going to Hartwell after Thanksgiving for two weeks to do
some recon. The drought conditions in that area have made the water level
extremely low so everything I find will be current for the water conditions.
The smaller lake size will be nice because it already eliminates searching half
of the fishable water that would normally be present.
Get5: As stated earlier, you have also qualified for the 2008 Bassmaster
Elite Series. Do you plan to fish the Elite Series next year and if so what
challenges does that bring to the table?
Clark: I have said many times that this would be a wasted year if I failed to
qualify for the Elite Series. I came very close last year and I knew I couldn’t
afford to fish the lower circuits for very much longer. The main challenge as
almost any one of the Elite guys will tell you obviously is the $55,000 entry
fee. The first deadline came up extremely fast and I had to borrow the $7000
deposit money from my Dad. Contractually, I am now committed to the
remaining $48,000. As far as other adversities go, there is always the rookie
learning curve. There are about 100 other challenges I will face as well.
Problems such as Skeet, KVD, Ike, etc…
Get5: Qualifying for the Classic should open up some doors for you as far as
sponsorship goes. Do you have any new (or current) sponsors you would like
to talk about? What is your strategy as far as attracting new sponsors?
Clark: I am currently talking to numerous companies, but the Classic
qualification just doesn’t seem to have the weight it once did. The whole
Bassmaster Elite Angler title is the major selling point and you basically
include incentives for the Classic. It is hard to gas your truck up with free
products so deals become trickier to talk about. Currently, I am in need of
some major funding especially a corporate level sponsorship deal to wrap my
boat. Outside the fishing industry sponsorships are where you really have to
look now for the big bucks. Just like everything else in life, it is all who you
know. I am constantly looking for “ins” to be able to make proposals to
businesses. You can’t just cold call or randomly walk off the street.
As far as other deals are concerned, I am looking at them one at a time. I have
signed on with Lucky Craft, which I am very excited about because I have
been throwing their baits for some time now. My current plastic sponsor,
Kicker Fish and I are going to start negotiating soon as well. I went to the
ICAST show this past summer and have been talking with Dobyn’s Rods, an
upstart from California that is making some awesome products. I would really
love to find a truck sponsorship for next year too.
Get5: You've obviously fished a full slate of tournaments this year. What
attributes (mental, mechanical, etc.) have helped you excel in 2007?
My maturation as an angler has really come around in the past two years of
tournament fishing when I started fishing the Bassmaster Southern Tour and
Central opens. I had to reexamine a lot of my fishing styles and tendencies to
be able to catch fish on the road and have really come into my own. I have
developed some new techniques and philosophies that have been instrumental
to my tournament successes. One such philosophy is getting over the magic
spot syndrome and learning to read water. Being able to correctly use “dock-
talk” and filtering out the hurtful content has been something I have been able
to overcome as well. I run what I feel comfortable doing and work on
weaknesses when I’m not in tournament situations. When people see me on
the lake now, I will almost always have a spinning rod in my hand. It doesn’t
do me any good to go out to Dardanelle and throw a jig or crankbait. I am not
learning anything or challenging myself by doing that. The confidence and
versatility that pros have is one major factor that separates them from
average anglers.
Get5: Tell us about some key baits or equipment that has helped you have
such a great 2007.
Clark: I have a tendency to cover water extremely fast looking for reaction
strikes in high percentage areas. The three confidence baits I always have
tied on no matter where I go are a Chartreuse Perch colored Lucky Craft RC
1.5, a Chartreuse Shad Lucky Craft Slender Pointer and a smaller profile
White//White spinnerbait. I am able to work those three baits quickly and
efficiently to cover water to find fish fast. The beauty of the two Lucky Craft
baits is they seem to be more effective the faster you work them. That is one
of the keys to my success. I look for conditions on new bodies of water that I
can relate to past experiences on other lakes and those baits seem to catch
fish consistently everywhere I go.
When I spinnerbait, I usually throw one of two types with my selection based
on water conditions. If the water is clearer and smallmouth or spotted bass
might play a critical role in the tournament, I throw a ¾ chartreuse and white
bladed Mini-Me made by SOB Lures. This is one of those compact hidden
weight spinnerbaits with a great hook. I almost won the Bassmaster Central
Open at Lake Texoma earlier this year on this spinnerbait. The other
spinnerbait I throw in dirtier water like Lake Dardanelle is a ¼ oz Mister
Hooty. What makes this bait unique is it has an old school rubber skirt that
has a lot of action. River system bass love this spinnerbait. It was actually
built to fish the Ouachita and Red Rivers in Northern Louisiana. By keeping
things simple and having confidence in proven fish catching baits, it eliminates
a lot of time digging in the tackle box and second-guessing yourself.
Get5: Do you have anything else that you'd like to add?
Clark: I moved back to Russellville in February to make an honest run at
making it to the next level. The people here have been great, especially all of
the regulars that come fish the tournaments on Saturdays, Tuesdays and
Thursdays. I have learned a lot from all of these guys whether they realize it
or not and I appreciate all of the encouragement and congratulatory comments
they have given to me.
As any of them will tell you, I am all about helping anglers learn to become
better fisherman and freely give out information…after the tournaments.
Bass pros are just regular guys and are very approachable. If you want to talk
fishing sometime and you see me around, I more than welcome the opportunity.
To learn more about Clark Reehm read Get5's February interview with him,
click here
