Three doors to the BFL All-American
Some things are pretty much a cinch: Green Bay will play in a Super Bowl, the Yankees will represent the American League in a World Series, and Adam Wagner will fish in a Walmart Bass Fishing League All-American.
Anything’s possible, of course, but of those three scenarios, Wagner’s is the most likely shoo-in. The Cookville, Tenn., angler already has at least two opportunities to qualify for the 2012 All-American, and likely three. He’s earned berths in the BFL regional tournaments of the Mountain Division (where he placed 2nd overall for the season) and the Choo Choo Division (where he finished 20th in the standings). This weekend he’s taking part in the last Music City Division qualifier.
If Wagner, who is currently ranked 1st in the Music City Division, does indeed advance to its regional tournament on Oct. 20-22, he will have done something that nobody else has done before to this point: qualify for three regional tournaments in one year as a BFL boater. Jeff Rikard, of Leesville, S.C., qualified for the Bulldog, South Carolina and Savannah River regionals in 2008 as a co-angler. David Spivey of Hamilton, Ohio also hit the trifecta this season. He qualified as a co-angler in the LBL Division (whose regional is Nov. 3-5 at Lake Dardanelle) and as a boater in the Buckeye and Hoosier Divisions (whose regionals are Oct. 13-15 at Smith Mountain Lake and Oct. 20-22 at Barren River, Ky., respectively). There might even be more “threepeats” to come, as results of the latest Walmart BFL Super Tournaments are compiled.
Advancing to three regionals in one year is a nice accomplishment in itself, but what’s more important to Wagner is that he qualifies for the 2012 All-American on the Potomac River. He knows it’s his best chance to attract the kind of attention that will help him become a regular in the Walmart FLW Tour ranks. He’s had a taste of the bit time before and wants another crack at it. In the 2009 All-American, Wagner blew away the rest of the field on the Mississippi River out of Davenport, Ia., to claim the championship. In the ensuing Forrest Wood Cup, Wagner placed 24th, but his 2010 Walmart FLW Tour debut season saw him finish back in the pack at 77th overall (though he made a top 10 cut at Table Rock, finishing 9th). That wasn’t good enough to attract the type of sponsors that would allow Wagner to realize his lifelong dream of being a full-time pro.
“All I can do is do my best,” says Wagner, an equipment operator who works on pipeline construction. “It’s hard to get sponsors help right now and, what with the economy being so bad, there’s no way I can afford to go it alone.”
Though Wagner has momentum on his side going into the Old Hickory qualifier, it’s still a bit too early in the fall for him to have much confidence in the shallow-water patterns that have been his bread-and-butter thus far. His best tournament in the Music City Division this year came in early April at Percy Priest, where he won with a 13-pound, 10-ounce stringer. He caught a limit doing what he does best, flipping jigs and soft plastics into shoreline cover.
Wagner would have to stumble badly to miss the regional tournament that the top anglers of the Music City Division will compete in, however. As for the other regionals he’s already qualified for, the Cookeville angler has reason to be optimistic. The Mountain Division’s best – including Wagner – will fish in the Wheeler Lake regional Oct. 13-15. The last time that Wagner fished a regional there, in October 2008, he was runner-up and earned a ticket to the 2009 All-American that he won.
Lake Chickamauga will host the Music City and other divisions in the Oct. 20-22 regional and that grass-lined lake should suit Wagner’s style of fishing. Finally, the Choo Choo and other divisions will compete Nov. 3-5 in the Lake Hartwell regional. The Savannah River impoundment astraddle the Georgia and South Carolina state lines is something of a mystery to Wagner, but, then, so was the Mississippi River at Davenport.
“Lake, river, clear, muddy – I’ve put in a lot of time fishing a lot of different kinds of water and I feel like I can be competitive anywhere,” says Wagner, who was introduced to fishing as a youngster by his father David. “Besides my experience, I think that one of my best traits is my stubborness; I don’t quit until the last cast.”
Wagner will need all the tenacity he can muster if hopes to compete in the All-American again. There are no guarantees, as Rikard knows well. Though he earned his way to three regionals in 2008 fishing from the back of the boat, he didn’t qualify for the All-American in any of them. Wagner will have more control of his own destiny, but winning a spot in the Walmart BFL’s championship tournament is never a cakewalk.
After all, every angler in every regional is just as hungry as Wagner to be the last man standing at the top.