Taking the scenic route

‘Young gun’ Anthony Gagliardi nets 2006 Land O’Lakes FLW Tour Angler of the Year award, looks forward to years (and years and years …) of continued success on the tour

At the tender age of 28, FLW Tour pro Anthony Gagliardi has already achieved one of the biggest milestones of his career. In just seven short years as a professional tournament angler, Gagliardi now finds himself the newly crowned 2006 Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year – an award many of the most accomplished anglers in the history of the sport have yet to win.

But while the title was definitely sweet music for the native of Prosperity, S.C., Gagliardi’s triumph begs an interesting question: When an achievement that great is reached at such a young age, how does an angler continue to find additional motivation to pursue greatness for decades to come?

When faced with this conundrum, Gagliardi cannot help but laugh at the question – saying he needs to come up with an answer since he has already been asked that so many times since he sealed the title June 22 at the Wal-Mart FLW Tour’s season-ending event on Lake Champlain.

But now that the prestigious AOY title has been added to his resume in such a short time span, it is now becoming glaringly obvious that Gagliardi was born to be a competitive fisherman. However, this seemingly obvious fact, if truth be told, is one that has eluded him for quite some time.

“I grew up loving to fish, and as far back as I can remember, I just always thought that was the neatest thing in the world, to fish professionally,” Gagliardi said. “But that’s not what I thought I would be doing. I went to college and graduated with an engineering degree.”

Though Gagliardi’s ultimate career choice may have come as a surprise to him, he laid some impressive groundwork during the time he was in college. His last two years were largely spent in the back of the boat as an FLW Tour co-angler – he competed one full season as an amateur and part of another. However, while he soaked up as much first-hand fishing knowledge as possible, Gagliardi said the most important aspect of that experience was finally getting a birds-eye view of life as a bass pro.

“That was the first time I was exposed to the travel and the tournament scene at that level,” Gagliardi said. “I got to talk to a lot of people, and what I talked to my boaters about was not tactics but what all was involved in being a professional fisherman.”

What Gagliardi learned transformed his dream from a vague notion to a crystal-clear vision. Consequently, upon graduating from college, he registered on the FLW Tour as a pro.

“I didn’t plan for it,” he said. “I went to school and thought maybe I could get into fishing down the road. I thought about trying to get into the fishing industry somehow with a tackle company, a boat company or whatever. I thought down the road I might be able to fish, but it worked out to where I was able to jump on it.”

Thus began the road that would transform him into the No. 1 bass pro on the FLW Tour. His first year as a full-time pro, he fished only five of six events but still ranked 74th. During that same season, he finished as high as 23rd twice. Since then, things have just gotten better and better for Gagliardi. Every year, his place in the standings has improved, finally culminating this year with that elusive No. 1 ranking.

Ultimately, Gagliardi attributes his constant improvement to a long, slow learning process that has resulted in remarkable versatility.

“I never feel like I stop learning,” he said. “I’ve been able to put what I’ve learned to use the next year. You learn from your mistakes, and that’s what I’ve really done. I’ve just gotten better at a variety of techniques over the years and I’ve never focused solely on one technique. It was a slower process to become a better fisherman because I was using so many techniques, and eventually it started to gel. Now I feel like I’m proficient at a lot of different things.”

With that said, it’s no surprise that 2006 was Gagliardi’s year, since he came so close to taking the title last year, eventually settling for third in the final rankings. This year will mark his fourth consecutive championship appearance. And with the stakes raised even higher this year for the Forrest L. Wood Championship, Gagliardi has made winning it his next goal.

“I have achieved an awful lot at this point in my career,” he said. “I never would have thought I would be where I am right now. I definitely always want to do the best I can. If I had to take one thing and say, `That’s my goal,’ I’d want to win the FLW championship. I have reached a point where I’m happy to be here, and I just want to continue to do well, make a living and do everything I have to do to support my sponsors and just see where it takes me.”

Where his career has taken him so far has certainly been the scenic route. He came out of the gate swinging, scoring a top-10 finish in the first event of his second full-time season as a professional. He has since scored four more top-10s, two of which were wins.

His first win came in 2004 at Kentucky Lake, when he defeated the likes of Greg Hackney, his AOY predecessor, in a close match that was ultimately decided by an 8-ounce penalty. Almost two years later, Gagliardi was holding the trophy again, this time on his home lake in his native South Carolina. While he was at it, he broke the final-round weight record during a slugfest like no other.

“Kentucky Lake was my first win, but there is no comparison,” he said at the time.

Wins, trophies and big checks are fun, but all pale in comparison to ending the season with a No. 1 ranking and the chance to hold up a very different kind of trophy. After all, lots of anglers have walked away with a tournament title, but very few can claim angler-of-the-year status.

“I felt like it was my turn up here,” Gagliardi said as he accepted the AOY honors. “I am pretty young to win this, but I think it’ll make it easier for me to fish in the future, having this under my belt.”

Gagliardi may be at the top of the heap in 2006, but for him, the story is only just beginning.

Related links:

Gagliardi wins coveted Land O’Lakes Angler of the Year title