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Norman,
OK – South Dakota’s Jami Fralick has finished between 62nd and 70th in each of his three Elite Series campaigns, which means he’s never been in serious contention to make the Bassmaster Classic through that route.
But the Elites aren’t the only road to the big show. Between Federation Nation, the Bassmaster Opens, the Weekend Series and now even the WBT, BASS has created a system where an angler who fails to make it one way is well within his or her rights to take a second shot at qualifying.
Fralick is living proof that if one door is closed, it often pays to look for another entrance. He qualified for the 2005 Classic in Pittsburgh through the Federation route and this year, thanks to a 3rd place overall finish in the Central Opens, he’s made it back to the sport’s biggest stage.
“I want to make the Classic through the Elites,” he said. “But just getting there is all that really matters. Once you’re there, you have a one in fifty-one chance of winning. It can change your whole career.”
Elite Struggles
Through the first seven of the eleven 2008 Elite Series tournaments, Fralick earned three checks, but never finished either in or out of the money twice in a row. At that point he sat in 81st place in the Angler of the Year standings, with little chance of making the Classic through that circuit.
But then he strung together back-to-back-to-back money finishes at Kentucky Lake, Old Hickory and Erie, including his sole top twelve appearance of the year, an 11th place finish at Old Hickory. His mini-streak wasn’t enough to move him up into Classic contention, but it was a confidence booster nonetheless. He sat in 58th place overall after Erie, before dropping to 62nd after Oneida.
He claimed that he still hasn’t completely figured out how to catch pre-spawn and bedding fish. “I’m just a better post-spawn fisherman,” he said. “I never got to do a lot of that before I fished the Elites. In South Dakota it warms up so quickly that they go from not feeding to spawning right away. But in the summertime I tend to do pretty good.”
He felt that he let several opportunities to make the cut to Sunday slip through his grasp, including at Amistad, where he finished 19th. “I just didn’t have enough big fish to last for four days,” he said.
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Perhaps his greatest disappointment was at Falcon, where he ended up a disastrous 101st overall. “I’d like to redo Falcon,” he said. “I went down there last fall after the Open at Amistad, then again in February. I camped with Matt Reed and I spent the whole time in practice flipping. But I knew that they were catching big bags out deep. (In the tournament) I tried to do too much. I should have concentrated on one thing. I spent the whole time on the south end of the lake and that north wind wiped out a lot of stuff.” |
He admitted that he’s still learning at every event, and added that such continual improvement is necessary “just to get competitive.” He added that the key to improving his Elite Series status in the future is not only to capitalize on the opportunities to fish all four days, but also to avoid the bombs. In addition to the 101st place disaster, he was 96th at the season-opener at the Harris Chain and 90th at Wheeler. Additionally, he was 77th at Clarks Hill and 75th at Oneida.
“It seems like when I don’t get a check I’m always below 75th,” he said. “You need to be in the fifties or sixties when you don’t get a check to make Classics. That’s what helps you survive when you’re doing poorly.”
Open Ticket
Despite his difficulties on BASS’s senior circuit, he was a consistent force in the Central Opens, chalking up high finishes at all three events – 13th at the Red River, 8th at Kentucky Lake and 17th at Texoma.
“It was just a year when in all three tournaments I got a break that went my way every time,” he said. “At the Red River, on the second day I only had one fish at 1:30. My dad had told me about a bank where I could get a limit of 14-inch fish. I went there and within an hour and a half I had 19 pounds.
“Then at Texoma, I only had three fish 20 minutes before I was due in and I was a five minute ride away, but I caught three more keepers,” he added. “When things go your way like that, it’s meant to be.”
Those few extra fish at Texoma enabled him not only to improve his standing in that particular tournament, but also to edge out a hard-charging Terry Butcher to claim the final Central Open Classic spot, along with points leader Michael Burns and four-time Classic champion Rick Clunn.
Red River Rewind
Fralick finished 38th overall at the Pittsburgh Classic and points to his lack of seasoning at that time as the reason for his struggles.
“Being your fish one, coming through the Federation, you just get so caught up in it,” he said. “You lose some of the focus on your fishing. But this is my second one now and I know more of what to expect.”
The Red River will be a familiar venue for Fralick, who fished the 1999 Federation National Championship on the lock and dam system as well as four Opens/Invitationals (including this year’s event). But his past there is checkered. In addition to the 13th place finish in 2008, he notched a 24th in 2000, but he has also had disappointing 131st and 140th place results.
“The Red River is tough to figure out,” he said. “They don’t always stay where they’re supposed to be.”
He spent a lot of time there prior to the 1999 tournament, including a December visit as well as the official practice period in March, but says that all that he learned nearly a decade ago “is no good now,” but characterized the overall fishery as “a lot better.”
He spent five days on the Red River before Thanksgiving, but again cautioned that a lot can change between now and February. “It all depends,” he said. “If they get a bunch of rain in north Texas and Oklahoma, it’ll fish pretty small. I’d like to see a normal spring without floods. If we can spread out, it will take 19 or 20 pounds a day to win, but if it’s muddy it could take as little as 15.” |
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His desire to earn Classic immortality is enhanced by the fact that life on the Elite Series has been a hand to mouth existence. “I’m not in real good shape,” he said of his sponsor commitments. “But I’ve been in this position the past two years and each time I find a way to get to that first tournament. Once I start fishing, I’ve been fortunate enough to cash enough checks to keep going.”
No matter what it takes, he knows that a Classic victory would change his career, although he admitted that he can’t even begin to comprehend what it would mean for him until it happened.
”All I know is that to be world champion, that’s something you’d have with you your whole life,” he said.
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