I’m excited today due to the fact that today we have Bernie Schultz.
Bernie is an indigenous Floridian with more than thirty years of experience completing at the highest level of competition fishing.
With 2 United States and 2 Canadian titles, he has actually won well over a million bucks in prize money.
Along with contending on the Bassmaster Elite Collection, Bernie Schultz serves as a consultant to most of the largest brand names in angling, including Shimano, Rapala, Mercury Marine, Power Post, Garmin, and also others.
He likewise serves as a columnist for a number of major angling publications, consisting of Bassmaster, Florida Athlete, Ontario’s Simply Fishing, as well as Inside Line.
Welcome, Bernie.
How you doing, Mike? Excellent to meet you.
All right, yeah. Great. Inform us, what are you approximately today?
Oh, I got a few improvements taking place at your house. I’ve obtained a little of a down duration in between competitions, as well as we’re doing a cooking area remod. That sounds pretty uninteresting, I make sure, to your listeners, but that’s what’s going on at our house today.
What’s your following tournament?
Following tournament gets on Lake Hartwell. It gets on the Georgia-South Carolina boundary. It’s right on the state line, and it’s a fabulous fishery. That’s in the initial part of April. After that we leave straight from there to Winyah Bay, which gets on the coastline simply north of South … what is it? Charleston.
Okay, gotcha. The length of time have you been fishing?
Well, I’ve been fishing tournaments over three decades. I’ve been fishing my entire life. Also as a really young child I got on the water. My grandpa as well as my mommy were kind of the inspiration for me. We resided on a lake in Sanford, Florida. That’s where I found out to … I imply, I discovered the essentials there.
Great. So it was your grandpa and also your mommy?
Correct, yeah. My papa didn’t fish, but daddy constantly saw to it there was water neighboring and that I had a boat. My grandfather was a fisherman, and also my mom was subjected to that early. That’s where I got it, was with them.
Wow. Inform us, how did you start angling competitively? From when you were a child and also you were simply doing it for fun, and then suddenly you made a decision to begin angling competitively?
Well, I sort of backed into it, Mike. I was a student at the College of Florida, as well as among my instructors was in a bass club. We found out pretty early on during the class that we both fished which we had an usual interest, and afterwards we started angling with each other. He motivated me to find to a bass club conference, and I did. As a visitor, I was welcomed to fish in an event, and my initial draw was Shaw Grigsby, of all people. That sort of hooked me then. I imply, I ‘d been fishing long prior to that, but that was my initial direct exposure to competitive fishing. Check out tips on how to adjust a baitcaster in this link.
Your first direct exposure to affordable fishing, and also you obtain collaborate with Shaw Grigsby.
Yeah. Pretty unusual turn of events, yet … As well as we have actually stayed good friends to now. Shaw was an excellent fishermen when I obtained involved with the club. I understood just how to fish, yet I really did not comprehend the mechanics of tournament fishing. It’s a totally different point. I suggest, fishing under the clock with the pressure of cash on the line, and at this degree, with enrollers and media and followers, it actually alters the whole way you approach the video game. Fishing for fun is … you know, that’s one point, but when you begin an occupation in affordable angling, you figure out pretty quickly that there’s a big transformation.
Well, let me ask you. This is constantly intriguing to our audiences, is, what’s the biggest trouble, or what’s the most significant challenge you discovered when you got into competitive fishing?
When you go fishing for enjoyable, there’s not a lot of pressure. When you’re fishing for survival, for your earnings, for increasing your family, or for the companies you represent, it places a great deal of pressure on you. I assume the greatest obstacle is keeping up with the fish and managing all those stress. Fish relocation. You recognize, a lot of competitions are multi-day occasions, so it’s not like you can go out there for someday, as well as whatever happens that day figures out the outcome.
A lot of events are 3 to 4 days long at the degree that I contend at. That sort of takes the good luck factor out. You have to be constantly efficient over those three or four days. With all the stress that I stated earlier, it comes to be an obstacle. Like I stated, fish walk around. You reached stay up with the fish, and points alter constantly.
