REDCREST 2019: Roy’s Adjustments Were Key to his REDCREST Qualification
When you’ve been doing something for 10 years, you usually think you have things pretty well figured out. You have your routines; your way of doing things. So, making adjustments can sometimes be a difficult thing.
Just ask MLF pro Bradley Roy.
“It’s weird to think that after being a professional fisherman for 10 years that I would have to completely readjust everything I knew how to do,” Roy said about his first season on the Bass Pro Tour. “That’s exactly what I had to do, though. Basically, it was do it or get run over.”
Roy had a bit of both en route to REDCREST.
Adjusting on the Fly
Having never fished MLF’s format prior to the 2019 season, Roy admits he didn’t know what to expect. So, he tried to keep things as simple as possible.
“I wasn’t going out to win or anything, just to figure things out,” Roy said about the start to the season. “I didn’t know what weights it would take every day or anything. So I just wanted to stay consistent.”
That, he most certainly was. In fact, he proved to be a quick learner. After placing 44th at Stage One on the Kissimmee Chain, Roy continued to improve his finishes each of the next four events (29th, 24th, 21st and 12th).
While the results were promising, Roy admits they didn’t come without some headaches.
“I definitely think I could’ve made the Knockout Round in Stage One if I’d fished the format before,” Roy said. “I didn’t realize then that you just can’t get complacent in this format. I mean, it’s intense from start to finish. You have to keep pushing throughout the day, and I think I got better at it throughout the season.”
Failing to Adjust
Stages Six and Seven on Table Rock seemed to be a turning point for many pros this year. For Roy, they were where everything nearly turned in the wrong direction.
“I just didn’t adjust,” says Roy of his fishing on Table Rock, where he missed both cuts. “I’d been trying to figure things out with the new format for spring fishing, but those were the first events where you saw we were switching from spring to summer patterns. I didn’t transition with them, at least not for our format.”
Suddenly, after looking like a lock to make REDCREST, he was on the bubble, with his fate resting on his performance at Stage Eight.
Fortunately, as he had earlier in the year, he adjusted quickly on the fly, finishing 30th in Neenah, Wisconsin to punch his ticket.
“I was thrilled when I qualified,” Roy said of making it to REDCREST. “I wanted to be at this first one. It’s historic, and hopefully, we’ll be looking back years from now and I can say I was there. Plus, now that I have a better grasp and understanding of what it takes – how to keep an open mind and never stop pushing – the sky’s the limit.”