Capital gains

On the verge of financial and emotional collapse, Texan Carl Svebek finds his way to the top of the tour

Carl Svebek III has filed away some fond memories during his relatively young career as a professional bass angler. But perhaps the most bittersweet of those recollections dates back to that fateful day in September of 1996 when he and Ol’ Blue rolled into Washington, D.C., on Interstate 95.

Ol’ Blue was the 1990 Chevrolet van Svebek called home away from home at the time. With an odometer reading pushing 141,000 miles, scarred paint and a tattered interior, the van was far from pretty. But it was reliable. And that’s what matters most, particularly when you’re 1,000 miles from home with a $30,000 bass boat in tow and nothing but a maxed out Visa and a sack full of Beanie Wienies to carry you the distance.

Svebek’s purpose in the nation’s capitol was business – serious business. He’d anted up $1,500 to test his bass catching prowess against some of the country’s top anglers in a competitive fishing event – the B.A.S.S. Top 100 tournament on the Potomac River.

That would be reason enough to light a competitive fire in most bass anglers. But for some odd reason, Svebek’s heart wasn’t in it. He’d lost his mental edge several tournaments back amid a whirlwind of mixed emotions that had seemed to compound as the months went by.

Financial strains have a way of doing that to a man, particularly one with a conscience.

Svebek, then 29, had aspirations of one day being able to look people in the eye and tell them he earned his living as a professional bass angler. But the mental anguish of knowing he had left a wife and newborn daughter at home in Jasper, Texas, to chase a life-long dream was at times more than he could stand.

Svebek remembers the night he arrived in Washington as vividly as if it happened yesterday. He was en route from Minnesota’s Lake Minnetonka, where he’d totally bombed in his first B.A.S.S. Top 100 appearance.

With six tournaments remaining, bills due at home, and hardly any money in his bank account, he cruised down the busy freeway looking for a familiar exit that would lead him to the river so he could begin practice fishing the next morning.

Problem was, none of the signs were matching up with the ones on his road map. Everyone seemed to be headed somewhere, but Svebek perceived himself as being headed nowhere except down a dead-end street. The fact he was lost in a big city only magnified the huge mental barrier before him.

“I’ll never forget that night,” Svebek says. “I felt like a homeless orphan. When I realized I was lost, I pulled off on the shoulder of the highway and was literally in tears. All I could think about was what I was putting my family through. I knew my wife was behind me 100 percent, but that couldn’t take away the guilt I was feeling. My mind just wasn’t in it. I knew I didn’t have a chance in that state of mind.”

Svebek’s performance on the Potomac and throughout the remainder of the season mirrored his stagnant mental state.

Seven tournaments. One check. Although the single payday was a good one – $10,000 for a sixth-place finish in the Georgia Top 100 – the glory faded quickly in lieu of the $25,000 he’d spent to win it.

“That first season really humbled me,” Svebek recalls. “It wasn’t that I questioned my fishing ability, though. It was the mere fact that I literally lost my tail and was wondering how in the world I was going to support my family.

“I wouldn’t wish that kind of bad stuff on anybody,” Svebek adds. “But on the other hand, I’m glad things happened to me the way they did. If I hadn’t gone through the tough times, I honestly don’t think I’d have what I have now. It definitely has made me appreciate the good times a whole lot more.”

Svebek, now 33, hasn’t come full circle as a bass pro by any means. But he has made some big strides up a ladder that could eventually lead to fame and financial security if he continues to play his cards right.

But make no mistake about it. The climb hasn’t been an easy one.

A native East Texan who claims to have caught the bass fishing bug at the ripe age of 5, Svebek began his tournament fishing career when he was only 16. He started out fishing small, local tournaments and later progressed to larger semi-pro circuits like Angler’s Choice, Bassin’ America and Bass-N-Bucks.

Svebek’s fishing skills progressed during the formative years and so did his confidence. He worked during the week as a salesman for a local oil company but lived for the weekends when he could jump in his bass boat and go casting for dollars.

By the mid-1990s, a nagging itch to test the water on the next level began to surface. Problem was, it would mean quitting a stable job and forking over $2,000 to cover the entry fees for four B.A.S.S. Central Division Invitationals.

Svebek saw it as a big gamble. But in looking back, it was a gamble that was meant to be taken. Otherwise, he never would have become friends with Mark Clifton and Don Collins.

Clifton, an avid angler and prominent Nacogdoches, Texas, excavation contractor, saw that Svebek had promise and vowed to pay his entry fees on the B.A.S.S. tour for one year. Shortly thereafter, Svebek met Collins, who eventually offered him a position as manager of the Piney Point Plaza tackle store on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. Benefits included a monthly salary, the option to guide out of the shop and, more importantly, plenty of time off to compete on the B.A.S.S. tour with no strings attached.

“I never could have done it without those guys,” Svebek says. “They were great. They really helped me out a lot.”

Financially, the 1996 Central Division tour wasn’t that lucrative for Svebek. But it was a stepping stone career-wise – or so he thought. He finished consistently high enough throughout the season that he qualified to move up to the next rung on the highly-competitive B.A.S.S. ladder – the Top 100 Division.

“Being qualified to fish the Top 100s was too big of an opportunity not to take, so that’s when I really hit the road,” Svebek recalls. “At the time those tournaments cost $1,500 to enter, plus the $2,500 MegaBucks. The full season cost us $11,500, which is a pretty good chunk of change to come up with when you have to pay for it out of your pocket.

“When I look back, I don’t know how I did it, but I somehow managed,” he adds. “I guess you could say I winged it. I pretty much spent the full year living out of that van, sleeping in roadside parks, bathing in shower houses and eating lots of Beanie Wienies. Tons of Beanie Wienies.”

In the process, Svebek took a literal thrashing from veteran pros who were more familiar with tournament waters and didn’t have the same financial burdens to contend with. By May 1997, he was exhausted – both mentally and financially.

“That’s when I finally started to accept the fact that my dream of becoming a professional fisherman was going to come to a dead halt,” Svebek says. “Even though I still had the support of my wife and some outside financial help from Don, I couldn’t see it continuing much longer.

“I felt guilty because I didn’t feel like I was providing for my family the way a husband and father should,” Svebek adds. “I pretty much put tournament fishing out of my mind and went back to work at the tackle store in hopes of making ends meet until the guide business picked up the following spring.”

Several months had passed when Svebek got a phone call from Shane Allman, a colleague and friend. Allman called to tell him about a new national tournament trail set to get cranked up the following spring.

The circuit – the Operation Bass EverStart Series – would be a sister tournament trail to the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, a pro tour that has rewritten the standards for professional bass fishing paydays.

The first tournament of the year would be held on Sam Rayburn in March 1998 and the winner would win $34,000 plus gain an automatic berth to fish the $4 million FLW Tour the following season.

“Neither of us knew much about the deal, but we entered it anyway,” Svebek says. “Shane called it in on his credit card, and I didn’t think about it until January. That’s when I started guiding a whole lot and got on some pretty good fish.”

They were real good fish – lots of them. So many, in fact, that they enabled Svebek to wacky worm his way to his first major payday. Not only did the $34,000 in prize money help the struggling angler whittle his way out of debt, but it left him with a $10,000 nest egg to invest as he saw fit.

After discussing the options among themselves, the Svebek’s concluded that there was no question as to where the money would be spent. A year’s worth of entry fees to the FLW Tour would cost $12,000 – mere chump change in comparison to the lucrative doors that could be opened should he pop a $200,000 payday or two.

“We talked it over and decided it was way too good of an opportunity pass up,” Svebek says. “I knew there was lots of money to be won on the FLW Tour. But I also knew I wasn’t going to put myself or my family through all that stress again. I went into the first season with the idea that my presence there would be short lived if I didn’t do anything in the first two or three events.”

Svebek didn’t break the bank his first year out, but he did sack up about $40,000 in earnings by finishing in the money in three of six events. His best finish in 1999, a fourth, came on Beaver Lake as he fished from the Land O’Lakes sponsor boat.

“Good things have been happening ever since,” says Svebek, who just walked away from the 2000 FLW season with six money finishes in seven tries, equaling more than $72,000 in earnings. “I’ve made lots of new friends in the industry, got some sponsors who pay me to fish and cultivated some relationships with some really good people.”

One of those people is Jerry McKinnis, host of the popular FLW Tour television show. McKinnis, an icon in the freshwater fishing industry, approached Svebek in June and told him he was among the 10 anglers who had been selected to compete in the new wave ESPN Great Outdoor Games on July 21-23 on Lake Saranac in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Svebek finished fifth in the ESPN bass fishing event – not bad considering he competed against the likes of Guido Hibdon, Randy Blauket, Peter Thliveros, Randy Howell and 2000 FLW Tour Angler of the Year, Clark Wendlandt. He also finished sixth at the 2000 Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship against an equally talented field.

“It gave me instant chill bumps when he (McKinnis) told me about it,” Svebek says. “I see it as a real honor being given the opportunity to compete against some of the best fishermen in the world on national television. Plus, the exposure was invaluable.

“Four years ago, I never dreamed I would be able to do something like that,” he adds. “But it sure makes me feel good. For once I can look at somebody and say that I’m a professional fisherman – that this is what I do for a living.”