Tharp’s perfect timing

Economic crunch catalyst for full-time fishing career

Being at the right place at the right time: It’s one of bass fishing’s oldest adages – and many times it’s the difference between loading the boat or going home empty-handed.

Actually, the very same thing could be said for launching a professional fishing career. Picking the right time to shuck the day job and go full-time tournament fishing is critical. Many elements – including family, finances, skill level and experience – need to be right when the opportunity to jump into bass fishing’s big leagues comes along.

With the nation’s financial struggles of late, many would agree that launching a pro bass-fishing career during the current economic climate would constitute bad timing – unless you are Randall Tharp of Gardendale, Ala.

Ironically, the economic crisis could not have come at a better time for Tharp, one of Alabama’s hottest regional pros, who began his rookie campaign on the Walmart FLW Tour in February.

If you are wondering how large-scale economic fallout could constitute “good timing” for anybody, consider that Tharp’s job over the last decade has been his own construction business where he built custom homes in the greater Birmingham, Ala., area.

And just about the time the housing market really headed south at the beginning of 2008, Tharp began burning up tournament fishing’s AAA leagues, notching three regional-level wins in eight months.

“I hope it’s a case of one door closing and another opening,” Tharp said. “My construction business actually began to slow up in 2007, and I think I would have had to shut the doors in 2008 anyway due to the severe decline in the housing market. So it made my decision to go ahead and fish full time a little easier.”

But if you think Tharp simply traded in his construction business for a Ranger boat along with a dozen rods and then began winning big-time bass tournaments, be assured that’s not the way it went down.

Truth is, since 1998, Randall Tharp has been putting together a long-term plan to fish professionally. He became a keen student of the game and has meticulously stalked this very career opportunity for some 10 years.

“Oh, I would love to have jumped out here six or seven years ago and started fishing professionally,” Tharp said. “But I knew I was nowhere near ready financially, skill-wise or experience-wise.

“I fished one BFL (Walmart Bass Fishing League event) many years ago, when they were still draw events,” Tharp continued. “The guy I fished with finished third, and I caught one little fish. I knew right then I had a long, long way to go if I was going to compete at the pro level.”

Tharp’s down-to-earth demeanor and strong desire to be the best at what he does provided a reality check about being a big-time bass pro early on.

“If I had jumped into this level even five years ago, I would have been lying to myself about my abilities and my financial position to do it,” he explained. “I would have been setting myself up for failure right out of the gate.”

So instead of blindly plunging into a bass-fishing profession with little more than a fistful of credit cards, Tharp began to chart a long-term course to his ultimate goal.

“I knew it was going to take a while,” he said. “But I’m a very competitive person; I can’t stand not doing well at something I set out to do. I wanted to do this right, from A to Z. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to win tournaments. I didn’t want to enter professional tournaments just to see if I could get a check. I can’t function that way.

“When I set out to do something, I go all out – I don’t want to worry about not having enough money to pay bills, or have enough gas money to make a 45-mile run, or wonder if I’m going to be able to make it to the next tournament.”

Tharp has spent the last 10 years running his own construction business while saving money, paying down debts and fishing every free moment on some of Alabama’s greatest bass lakes.

During that time, he made two rules about tournament fishing that he has followed closely: One, never take on the next level of competition until proving himself at the current level; and, two, only use income from fishing to pay for fishing.

He set his first foot forward on the ultracompetitive BFL leagues in the Choo-Choo and Bama divisions in 2002. There he became a quick study of BFL icon Andy Morgan of Dayton, Tenn.

“Andy is a great fisherman and a great person,” Tharp said. “He probably does not even know what kind of influence he has had on me. When I first started fishing BFLs, Andy would beat my brains out, but through that he inspired me to be a better fisherman.”

And Tharp took a page out of Morgan’s playbook in terms of BFL domination.

In 2006 Tharp finished second in the points in the Choo Choo Division, then he came back in 2007 and won the points title in both the Choo Choo and the Bama divisions in the same year. In 2008 he won the Choo Choo Division points title for the second year in a row. In clinching those titles, Tharp won two BFLs on Lake Guntersville.

“My goal all along was to save up enough money to try the upper ranks of fishing for two years,” Tharp said. “I wanted to have enough saved up so that even if I fished for two years and never made a check, my wife and I would not have to touch any of our retirement or other savings. I wanted to fund my fishing with only my fishing.”

And after banking roughly $30,000 in BFL winnings from 2005 to 2007 (which does not include other winnings from team tournaments around home), Tharp was ready to try the next level.

Almost never was

By 2007 Tharp was ready to take the next step in his fishing career and entered the Southeast Division events of the Stren Series.

In January 2007 he headed to one of his favorite lakes – Lake Okeechobee – for the season opener, ready to prove himself in his first regional-level event.

But Tharp hit more than a stumbling block at the Big O; he hit a solid brick wall that nearly caused him to quit fishing altogether. To this day, the easygoing pro does not like to relive his 2007 Lake Okeechobee nightmare.

“I really don’t like to rehash it,” Tharp said candidly. “I’ve tried to erase it from my mind; it’s still too painful to this day – I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.”

Essentially Tharp survived the first two days of the challenging event (due to ultralow water and high winds) with a two-day total of 19 pounds, which put him in about 25th place.

On day three, one of Tharp’s best areas finally cleared up and a massive wave of giant female bass moved in – fresh off the main lake and ready to eat.

“I had over 30 pounds in the livewell, and my co-angler had at least 24 pounds,” Tharp recalled. “During my time on Guntersville, I’ve caught a couple of 10-pounders and several 28- or 29-pound bags. Well, this catch dwarfed anything I had ever caught in my life. My biggest fish was definitely over 10 and my five-bass limit would not even fit in my livewell – it was surreal. I knew I had plenty to make the top 10, and the place I was fishing was loading up for the final day.”

With two huge sacks of fish secured in the wells by 1 p.m., Tharp saw no reason to risk getting back and decided to go in early. Then the unthinkable happened: He turned the key to start the boat, and there was only silence.

Tharp, however, never panicked when the motor refused to start.

“I was prepared,” he said. “I had jumper cables, tools and plenty of time. I figured it was something simple like a loose terminal or weak battery that could be easily fixed with some pliers or jumper cables.”

Three hours later, Tharp and his co-angler had torn both his boat and motor apart trying to find the problem – with no success.

“Once we realized we were not going to make it in on time, we released our fish – that’s the sickest I had ever been,” Tharp lamented. “I really felt bad for my co-angler too.”

But Tharp’s nightmare was still not over. He was stranded on the Big O until well after dark when friend and fellow competitor Marshall Deakins finally found him and towed him in.

“You should see the gators that come out on that lake at night!” Tharp exclaimed. “I’ll never forget those hundreds of glowing eyes staring at me with every sweep of the flashlight.”

The next morning Tharp began his long journey back to Alabama just as the top 10 were idling out of the Kissimmee River.

“When I crossed that bridge and saw those guys going out, I was even sicker than when I had to let the fish go,” Tharp said. “Driving home for the next 12 hours, I seriously contemplated giving up. When something that inexplicable happens at your first big event, it makes you wonder if you’re doing the right thing.”

Learning curves

Tharp finished out the 2007 Stren Series season, but with little success; he never made a check and finished the season 112th in points.

“The Okeechobee disaster certainly haunted me in the Strens that year, but I think the bigger issue there was going from one-day tournaments in BFLs to three-day tournaments in the Stren Series,” Tharp said. “That was a huge learning curve. Finding enough fish for a one-day tournament is completely different than finding enough fish for three days – it’s a world of difference and took some getting used to.”

While his 2007 Stren Series record was not much to write home about, Tharp continued to make his mark on the BFLs at home that same season, winning both the Choo Choo and Bama divisional points titles.

“At end of 2007, the gap I had to jump was clear to me,” Tharp said. “I had to get a much better handle on multiple-day tournaments. I was doing fine in one-day events at home; I just had to adjust my practice and approach to multiple-day events – in essence, finding fish in different areas of lakes so I had places to fish when the conditions changed.”

With lessons learned, Tharp gave the regional-level AAA leagues another go in 2008 and put himself on competitive bass fishing’s radar screen in a big way by winning a Stren Series event on Lake Eufaula in March, a BASS Open event on Santee Cooper in May and another BASS Open event on Guntersville in October. Those three victories gave him combined winnings over $150,000 and earned him a ticket to the 2009 FLW Tour season, which he decided to take.

“That’s more money than I was going to make in the construction business in 2008,” Tharp said of his financial windfall. “And those winnings have helped fund this year on the FLW Tour and (Walmart FLW)Series.”

To add to Tharp’s impeccable timing, he happens to be joining the FLW Tour on a year that favors his style of fishing much more so than in years past.

And if you’re wondering what that fishing style is, look no further than his three wins: Eufaula, sight-fishing and swimming a jig; Santee-Cooper, floating frog; and Guntersville, floating a frog and punching heavy vegetation.

“Those four techniques are absolutely my favorite ways to fish,” Tharp said. “It’s all power-fishing: big rods and braided line. Needless to say, I’m not that big on fishing with spinning rods.”

Tharp agreed that this year’s FLW Tour and Series schedules were a big factor in his decision to step to the top level: “I like big-fish lakes – Guntersville, Okeechobee, Eufaula – the kinds of lakes where it’s possible to fish for just five or six bites a day, but they’re all 4- to 5-pounders. And when I saw the 2009 schedules of the Tour and Series were going to Guntersville, Table Rock, Kentucky Lake, Okeechobee and Eufaula – man, it was right up my alley.

“I’m a little nervous about Beaver Lake and Norman though. Spotted bass and spinning rods are big on both those lakes, and that’s not really my cup of tea.”

Rookie revelations

Since stepping up to the FLW Tour, Tharp has noticed a few differences between Stren Series-level competition and FLW Tour competition as well.

Similar to bridging the BFL-to-Stren Series gap with the multiple-day learning curve, Tharp has found a different challenge on the Tour: much stiffer competition.

“I used to hear those Stren guys say, `Man, those FLW Tour guys are no different than us on the Stren level,'” Tharp chuckled. “Well, I’ve got news for them: These guys out here on the Tour are on a completely different level – they are here to take your money. I’ve watched guys like David Walker, Clark Wendlandt and Luke Clausen – total machines. Their efficiency rating is 100 percent – there is not a second wasted. Every single thing they do has something to do with finding the next fish, and they always find a way to get a check – no matter where we go, no matter the conditions.

“In the Strens, I used to pride myself on getting up early during practice, being the first one to the ramp and the last one to take out in the evening,” he continued. “Out here (FLW), the ramp parking lot is already full before daybreak, and it’s still full at dark-thirty – these guys bring their A game, 24-7.”

Tharp has also been especially impressed with the Hibdons, which he mentioned even before Guido Hibdon’s recent win on Eufaula.

“That whole family is dedicated to the fishing cause,” Tharp pointed out. “The wives, the kids, they all work hard to help keep Guido and Dion up and running. It’s like a family business that operates day and night. The way I see it, if you don’t have that going for you out here – that total commitment and dedication from your family – you’ll get eaten alive.”

Which brings Tharp to the single downside of the fishing business: being away from home and his wife, Sara.

“I’m very fortunate in that Sara is committed to this as well – I wouldn’t even consider doing this if she wasn’t,” Tharp said. “Ultimately, our main goal is to make enough money through fishing, where she can travel with me most of the time. But she has a good job in Birmingham right now, and we can’t give up that security just yet.”

As for Tharp’s 2009 rookie campaign in the Series and on Tour, he says he is “pleased” so far.

“I just got back from the accountant’s office,” Tharp said the week after his seventh-place showing in the FLW Series event on Lake Eufaula, “and my records indicate I’ve won $35,000 so far in 2009. Basically, the way I see that is my entry fees are now paid for in 2009. One more good check or two this year and the whole year will be covered expense-wise; that makes you breathe a little easier. So I’m pleased with that, but I’m not really going to be happy unless I win.”

Tharp’s winning ways have also garnered him attention from sponsors. Despite a harsh economic environment, Tharp has signed on with Ranger, Yamaha, Falcon Rods, Host RV, Spro and Rat-L-Trap.

“Winning three major tournaments last year has helped tremendously with the sponsorship side of things,” Tharp added. “I’m pretty sure that if I had not had that kind of success, those deals would have been much harder to come by. And I know things have been tough economically for the country as a whole recently, but in a strange way, it’s created a kind of perfect timing to start the career I’ve always dreamed about.”