Rick Clunn: bass fishing’s Jedi Master

Part one: the master unveiled

All 7 feet of the fishing rod cut the misty air like a light saber when he cast. The buzzbait tied to the end of the line added the “WRRRZZZZ” sound effect as the bait whizzed away at hyper-speed into the fog.

The line whipped the moisture in the guides, giving the fishing rod a vapory glow in the gray dawn. As the hooded angler in the front of the boat waited for his bait to land, he gripped the rod with both hands, like a swordsman ready to do battle with someone, or something.

The distant screech of a Great Blue Heron pierced the fog and the shrouded angler turned to look over his shoulder. His gray beard protruded from the rain jacket; his steely blues eyes flashed from beneath the hood, scanning the limited white distance for signs of life.

Indeed, the scene looked like something out of “Star Wars.” The sage Jedi Master Obi Wan Kenobi meditating on the lake’s fog-draped surface, trying to connect with the Force, that mysterious all-knowing power that connects the universe.

But the man under the hood was not old Ben Kenobi; it was legendary tournament bass angler Rick Clunn.

Clunn’s casts were perfect. The buzzbait looked like it was remote controlled as it whizzed out low to the water, curled around the backside of a flooded bush, and hovered slightly before settling on the water and gurgling its way back to the boat.

But Clunn’s cadence was interrupted. He peered down at his foot. The first words of the morning were spoken in a low, hushed tone.

“It looks like we have an intruder – a hitchhiker perhaps,” he said.

Between his sandal straps, on the bare top of his foot, a small inchworm was on its hindquarters reaching up for something to grab. Clunn stuck the butt of his rod down on top of his foot and the worm began shimmying up the pole.

Clunn maneuvered his boat through the bushes to the bank. He extended his rod to the bank and shook the small worm off onto higher ground without giving a reason for his actions.

Now against the bank, Clunn spied a new casting angle from the backside of the bushes. He cut the air with his fishing weapon again, launching the buzzbait on another mission. This time the pleasant gurgle was interrupted by a push and boil of water. Clunn brandished the fishing weapon high into the air and wrestled a chunky, 3-pound bass aboard.

“Maybe,” he paused while unhooking the fish, “I need to be fishing a little shallower.”

If bass fishing has a Jedi Master, it would have to be Rick Clunn.

Rick Clunn does not subscribe to the commonly accepted conventions of bass fishing. Words like “lucky” or “fortunate” are rare in his vocabulary. Phrases like, “just meant to win,” or “guess it was just my time,” do not sit well with him.

For Clunn, there is much more to bass fishing than tossing out a lure and hoping for the best. For Clunn, bass fishing is an insatiable quest for perfection.

During his 28-year career, the eclectic angler has studied philosophies such as Zen, Toa Te Ching and Hapkido, to name a few. He has delved into meditation, visualization, transcendentalism and quantum physics. He has lived with Indians, attended advanced classes in wilderness survival and retained a fascination with tri-athletes – all in an effort to explore the limitlessness of human potential in his bass-fishing laboratory.

His unquenchable desire for self-discovery has not gone without rewards. His bass-fishing career accomplishments are astounding. He has won 13 BASS titles and three FLW titles, and he was the BASS Angler of the Year in 1988. He has also won the Red Man All-American and the U.S. Open.

Included in his career victories are a BASS Megabucks title (2001), a Wal-Mart Open and a Forrest Wood Open (both in 2000), and four BASS Masters Classic victories (1976, 1977, 1984, 1990).

Clunn has given tournament bass fishing some of the sport’s most indelible moments. He won the 1984 Classic with a whopping 25-pound margin. At the Classic on the James River in 1990, he came from 13th place with a catch of 18 pounds, 7 ounces on the final day to win. That performance proved to the fishing world what Clunn had always known: There is more to bass fishing than just chunking and winding.

But this spring, the fishing Force was not with bass fishing’s Jedi Master. A string of mediocre tournaments kept him from making the 2002 BASS Masters Classic. That shortfall broke an astonishing string of 28 consecutive BASS Masters Classic qualifications.

Since the string has been broken, Clunn has promised a different approach to tournament fishing. With that, a new chapter begins in Clunn’s sublime journey into self-discovery and bass fishing.

Recently, Clunn spoke candidly with FLW Outdoors about the past, present and future of his tournament performances.

FLW Outdoors: Since breaking your string of BASS Masters Classic qualifications, you have talked about fishing with a different approach, or fishing in a different way. What do you mean by that?

Clunn: For 28 years I have been programmed to fish for limits and points. This started for me back when the limit was 15 bass. Back then, bass fishing was solely a numbers game – quality was not an issue – you always fished for numbers. So I started with a numbers mentality. That was reinforced with a points system.

We all drive to the tournament saying, “I am going to win this tournament.” But somewhere during practice that switches to, “Well, I will get a limit first and then go for big ones.” Winning becomes secondary. You are now fishing for a limit, to get points, to get a check.

When tournaments went to a five-fish limit is really when this shift from quantity to quality took place. But many of us had spent half of our careers fishing for numbers, and we became programmed that way. These days this is a quality game.

I want to fish more courageously and fish for the right fish, the quality fish, the whole time. I want to commit my prepractice, my mental preparation and my practice to the right fish, not the numbers game.

FLW Outdoors: You are known for pushing yourself to extremes for tournament preparation, especially mentally. How do you rationalize bad tournaments when your preparation is so intensive?

Clunn: The first step is awareness. I have to be aware of everything that went into that tournament, good and bad. Then I have to analyze those things and identify the problems.

Usually, I find the immediate problems are in my practice period. We have been told that practice makes perfect. Actually, perfect practice makes perfect. So when I analyze a tournament performance, practice is where I find the most evident problems.

Once you isolate a problem, how you react to that problem is the key. If you just say, “the weather changed,” or “fishing pressure hurt me,” then all you have is an excuse. I guard against having convenient excuses for fishing performance. When I identify a problem, I want to react and find a way from letting it happen again.

Then I look outside the tournament for external factors that can affect fishing – family, business, politics. External distractions can be a major factor and it really boils down to being able to shut out those distractions. Gifted athletes have this ability; they can intently focus on the task at hand and exclude everything else.

I am not gifted in that regard. As an angler, I have to work particularly hard at blocking out distractions to maintain a decent level of performance. Everything must work in harmony – mind, body and soul – a distraction can disrupt that harmony.

Finally, I always end my performance analysis on a positive note. First I address the problems and distractions, and then I look at the things I did right so I can end with a positive confirmation.

FLW Outdoors: At one point in your career, you alluded to an ability to control the outcome of tournaments. Do you still believe this is possible?

Clunn: I am heading back in that direction. In the first 10 years of my career, I studied a lot of meditation and visualization, the creative process within our human potential. From that I learned that we do have a tremendous amount of control over our own reality. But complete control, I don’t know if I would go that far.

Through my spiritual and mental studies, I had developed my own approach to this process of trying to affect the outcome of my performance. What I found was amazing. I was amazed at how effective I could be at affecting performance with these practices.

When I won the 1985 All-American by affecting the outcome of my performance with these techniques, I had an epiphany. Something in me snapped. Something inside me said: “So you know about the human potential of controlling reality, but is this gift really meant to win honors and awards in fishing tournaments? Shouldn’t such a powerful tool be used for a higher purpose than for selfish reasons?” And I clearly understood that there is a great deal of responsibility that comes with this incredible process, which is difficult to explain. But with that realization, I quit using it.

The only other time I used it to affect a tournament outcome was when I won the Classic in 1990. For a month before that tournament, I spent a lot of time envisioning the way things would unfold in that event.

But now something in me says I need to use it again – not to win tournaments – but to get my fishing back on track and at the same time serve a higher purpose.

That is why I am teaching a fishing school this fall. It will force me to go back and relearn those techniques in order to teach them. But I know that in returning to this approach, I am going to have to decide how to use it to serve a higher purpose. I believe that by being in the role of a teacher that purpose will present itself.

This is the end of part one. In part two Clunn will discuss his fishing school, his competition and touching perfection.

The latter half of Rob Newell’s in-depth interview with legendary fisherman Rick Clunn takes the piece into hyper-speed with an extensive question-and-answer segment. In `Part two: the master bestows wisdom,’ Clunn’s thoughts on the next generation of tournament anglers, his fishing school and the quest for fishing perfection are revealed in his own words.

Links:

Clunn contemplates his Force
Two-part interview probes mystery of Rick Clunn