Back Story: Sonar Goes Solo

Miles Burghoff’s nickname is “Sonar,” which suggests that he’s some sort of offshore angler who knows a thing or two about fishing deep water. But that would be a misconception.

Burghoff’s nickname is a takeoff of his famous father Gary’s stage moniker, Radar O’Reilly, who was a star in the movie, Mash, and the long-running television series that followed it. Radar earned his nickname because of some sort of mental detection system that enabled him to anticipate visitors or events before others around him even knew what was going on. His son hopes his nickname is equally well-earned because of an instinctive ability to find bass.

Burghoff is among the anglers who’ll participate in the National Guard FLW National College Fishing Championship on Kentucky Lake April 10-12. As it turns out, the 24-year-old Burghoff IS the University of Central Florida (UCF) team, since Leonard Gordon had to drop out because of a national academic test he is taking. Burghoff will go solo, but the 20 other two-person teams he’s fishing against are only allowed to bring five bass to the scales, so Gordon’s absence might not be the disaster it would seem to suggest.

Catching some good keepers out of Kentucky Lake shouldn’t be a problem for Burghoff, who’s became hooked on bass fishing at an early age. Born in south Florida, Sonar spent the early part of his life in California, and fished his first tournament, on Lake Oroville, when he was 12. Though he also fished deep Lake Shasta in northern California on a regular basis, he’s more at home in water less than 10 feet deep. Nowadays, Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River chain are second homes to this aspiring bass pro.

“I’m a shallow-water flipper and if he fish are in the brush than I feel that I’ll be absolutely in contention,” says Burghoff. “My other strength is power fishing, but my weakness is deep cranking. If I have to fish ledges I’m definitely going to be at a disadvantage. If I have to go offshore, I’ll probably be fishing football jigs.”

Chances are Burghoff won’t have to worry about Kentucky Lake’s famous ledges. This time of year, the lake elevation is often in a state of flux, and more on the high side than the low. Most bass are on the move between the depths and the shorelines. Some resident bass are already shallow. Rumors of 9- to 10-pound egg-laden bass being caught from flooded bank cover by collegians practicing for the tournament probably are true, and no doubt more will have moved in by the time the tournament cranks up.

Heading north while other spring breakers were going south, the UCF junior used part of his spring break to visit Kentucky Lake, though he didn’t spend a lot of time fishing. Instead, he rode the lake and tried to find the places where he thought his flipping technique would pay off during the tournament, and other places where secondary patterns for staging bass might work.

“From what I’ve seen and heard, Kentucky Lake is a very dynamic fishery where things can change in a hurry in early spring,” says Burghoff. “When I was up there the shallow bite was pretty consistent even though the lake level wasn’t. That surprised me, but I still think that the Championship is going to be won by those who are adaptable and can locate and catch staging bass as well as the shallow bank-runners. There will have to be at least one big bass in the bag everyday, too.”

Pretty astute for a young man with limited time on Kentucky Lake, but, then, extrasensory perception runs in the family.