At the rate he's going, Byron Velvick stands a chance at becoming as well-known for his bass-fishing exploits as he is for his endeavors in front of a TV camera.
The 45-year-old California native who now resides in Texas is on the biggest roll of his tour-level career. His abilities with a rod and reel have long been respected in the West, where he won two WON Bass U.S. Opens in the 1990s and caught more than 83 pounds in a Bassmaster Open at Clear Lake to set a heavyweight record for a 3-day tournament.
In other parts of the country, however, he was best known for his stint on The Bachelor and, among BassFans, for his role as co-anchor on ESPN's ill-fated BassCenter. During the first 2 seasons of the Elite Series (2006-07), he fished a lot like a guy who was either spread too thin by his boob-tube obligations, or one who should go into TV work full-time and forget all about trying to compete with the best bass-catchers in the world.
That started to change last year, however, as he qualified for his first Bassmaster Classic. This year has been even better – he posted three straight finishes of 11th or higher prior to a 30th at the Mississippi River and he's in contention to become one of the 12 anglers who'll compete in the newly instituted, two-event postseason to determine the Angler of the Year (AOY).
"It's been awesome," he said. "It's cool to have people come up and tell me that they've been picking me for their fantasy team and I've been doing well for them. I've gotten a lot of attaboys and emails from people all over.
"I always thought I was a good angler, even though those couple of years were really disappointing. But it's also nice when other people have confidence in you."
Wouldn't Give it Back
Velvick said he has no regrets about his TV stints. They were fun, lucrative and personally rewarding, and he met his fianceé, Mary Delgado, on The Bachelor.
But there's no doubt they took a toll on his fishing.
"I couldn't give it my all (on the water) because I was torn in too many directions," he said. "Coming off the reality TV craziness, everywhere we went there were newspaper people wanting to talk about The Bachelor, and then every week we weren't competing I was flying to Charlotte (N.C.) to do BassCenter. And even when we were competing, I'd have to do the little sound bites while everyone else was working on their tackle.
"There were some awesome opportunities with TV and I loved taking bass fishing to shows like Regis and Kelly and The View. For awhile I lived a rock-star lifestyle and the notoriety was fun, but I paid a price for it. There were too many distractions."
He said some of his early Elite Series struggles (he cashed only five checks during the first 2 years) were also due to his own improper mindset. Out West, he always had confidence in the decisions he made and was unconcerned with what anybody else was doing. On the Elites, that wasn't always the case.
"In the West I'd run around as confident as anybody and I knew I was really competing against a core group of about 10 guys. But it's hard to take that to the national level when there's a hundred boats and there's a stick in every one of them. It was hard to put those blinders on and just do my thing.
"I'd be practicing one way and I'd see Tommy Biffle over in the bushes, and I'd wonder if that was where I should be, too. Or I'd see Kevin VanDam fishing a roadbed and I'd think, Okay, what am I missing?"
Those kinds of thoughts have crept into his head much less frequently over the past 2 seasons.
Velvick's stint on the bachelor brought him notoriety he wouldn't have otherwise achieved, but it took a toll on his fishing.
"Guys like Kevin and Skeet (Reese) are fishing every tournament to win. They're not looking to see where the cut for the money will be, they're looking at the Top 3 spots and figuring out how they're going to get there.
"I feel like I've been doing more of that recently, especially on the little run I've had. One thing I can say is at every tournament this year, I've found at least one good area, even though sometimes I left it too soon or didn't go to it soon enough."
Ready for the Big Finale
Velvick is 18th in the points race, just 53 away from the coveted No. 12 spot that's currently held by Cliff Pace. The postseason qualifiers will be determined after the Oneida event in August.
He's finished 49th and 50th in his two Elite appearances at Oneida, but he has more incentive to fare well this time around.
"I kind of like the position I'm in because I'm not trying to defend anything," he said. "A couple of guys have to stumble, but I'm still close enough that with a Top 15 and a couple of hiccups (by other contenders), I'm there.
"It's a fun place to be – I can just go and get after it."
Notable
> Velvick still hosts an ESPN Outdoors show (Going Coastal), but taping is done during the off-season or during long breaks in the schedule. The first 2010 episode will be shot next month.
> He and VanDam both started fishing the Bassmaster Circuit full-time in 1990 and he was awed by the latter's instant success. "That was when the pairings were pro-pro and I drew him at a tournament in Oklahoma. I asked him how he managed to never miss a check, and he said he hadn't fished for a check yet. He said, 'I fish every tournament to win, and the checks just come.'''
> Delgado is traveling with him for the second straight year, but she fished as a co-angler in 2008. "Now that there aren't any co-anglers, a lot more of her focus has been on being there for me, and that's been fantastic."
