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Orlando,
FL. – Orlando, FL – FLW Tour pro Art Ferguson describes himself as a “fish out of water.” On a tour where there are substantial incentives to run certain products, he chooses to remain with long-term sponsors. And at a time when most of the title sponsorships on the FLW Tour are team deals, he continues to fly a solo flag for Marathon Oil. But despite those differences, he achieved a high level of comfort with his fishing this year which in turn led to a personal-best 14th place finish in the points standings this year.
At the start of the 2008 tour season, you would have been hard-pressed to convince anyone that Ferguson was on the path to such a high finish. He started off with an 85th at Toho, where he guides, and followed it up with a 100th place effort at Alabama’s Smith Lake. But then he went on a tear, notching money finishes in the last four regular-season events, including a 9th at Lake Norman and a 3rd at Ft. Loudoun.
The Smith Lake debacle he can understand. He said that despite multiple visits he still has no confidence there, owing perhaps to the fact that the water level has been different each time. But at Toho, he was on “pretty good stuff, similar to what Kevin VanDam found a few weeks later. Offshore stuff.” But he failed to make the adjustments necessary to earn a better finish. But then the schedule moved north and so did his bank account.
“I don’t like to take credit for anything,” he said. “By the time we got to Norman, I was as financially tight as you can get as a fisherman. Every time my life gets that way, I start to fish well, ever since I turned my life over to the Lord. In 1999 and 2000, I had a phenomenal year when I first gave my life to God. Then things got real tight and in 2002 and 2003 and I won the BASS Northern points and made it to the Classic. Just about every time, it works out that way.”
Comfort Zones
Ferguson’s comfort level has expanded in multiple ways with respect to the tour he fishes, his sponsors, his colleagues on the tour and his own fishing style. He believes that the choice to stick with FLW over BASS, where he had a great deal of success, has proven to be the right move, despite his “non-conforming” sponsors.
“I’m not getting the (financial) incentives from Ranger, Evinrude and Yamaha,” he conceded. “But the incentive to me was fishing a circuit I feel comfortable fishing. The final factor is my faith and I just fit better here.”
He’s been asked numerous times why he hasn’t pursued sponsors more closely aligned with FLW, or even a team deal, and each time his answer is the same: “I’ve been with Mercury for 21 years and I’m totally satisfied. I’m running a product that I truly want to promote. Same with Triton Boats. I just like the way they run. So it has all worked out for me.”
He has gone from being something of a loner to embracing the support and occasional help of his peers on tour, notably Jay Yelas, Mark Rose, Greg Bohannan and Chris Elliott. They don’t share a lot of information, but he says that they’re all “guys (he) can trust and that goes a long way.” He noted that their cumulative success is owed at least partially to the fact that they’re all “different kinds of fishermen.”
With respect to his own fishing, the biggest key to his success in 2008 was to look away from the bank. He’s always liked to fish structure, particularly with a Carolina rig, but in recent years the addition of a football head jig, dropshot and shakey head to his arsenal have made him even more successful. “Every year I learn something new, change something about my style,” he said. “But offshore fishing is my strength and a lot of these tournaments are going that way. With my Lowrance electronics and Navionics chips, I’ve become so confident, so conditioned to it. I anticipate that bite. I love it. I live for going offshore.”
Indeed, even where the offshore bite wasn’t dominant, he worked it into his rotation to eke out a few extra fish. For example, “at Norman I was bed fishing, but I also caught some spots offshore. At the Detroit River, I didn’t do great, but it was all offshore. At Beaver it was all away from the bank.”
Past, Present, Future
With three consecutive FLW Championships under his belt, along with four Bassmaster Classic appearances and two BASS wins (a 2000 Top 150 at Wheeler and a 2003 Northern Open at Oneida), Ferguson has seen his share of high points in the sport. He’s also suffered some lows, times when he didn’t know how he’d get to the next tournament. With those lows hopefully firmly in the rear view mirror, he still could not immediately identify specific goals he wants to achieve.
“I guess I’m different from a lot of guys,” he responded. “I hate to say it but I don’t have any specific goals.”
But upon further consideration, he added that he does have general goals that have evolved over time: “I want to represent God as best I can. I guess I started off like most guys do. I was addicted to fishing and I was such a competitor that I always wanted to place. Then I got to where it was just about the money. But as I go through my career, I realize that it’s now a mix between all of them. I want people to be able to look back in 20 years and recognize my longevity and also that I’ve been successful. When I’m done, I want people to be able to say he was a heck of a good fisherman.”
Then he provided a slight addendum. “If I do have any goal, it’s to win an FLW Tour event. I won a couple on the Bassmaster Tour and I have three top tens in my last 11 or 12 tournaments. My confidence is built up right now.”
But he also stated that in order to win, rather than just place, everything has to go exactly right. “When I won, it wasn’t me,” he said. “It’s his grace. Timing is everything in this sport and when it’s your time, it’s your time, but he’s in control.”
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