What Truck, Boat and Outboard does Matthew run?

Z71 Silverado

Bass Cat Eyra 

Mercury Pro XS 250

My Sponsors

Scenko Stix

Gambler Lures 

Simms Fishing 

Bar Fly Palm Harbor

 

What Matthew does for a living:

First Mate on a Private Yacht

What you should know about Matthew:

Bass fishing and especially tournament bass fishing encompasses my entire life, everything I do revolves around it and I put everything I have into becoming a professional angler one day, it has been my dream since elementary school and nothing has changed in over 20 years. 
 

if you draw me in a tournament chances are you going to have a great time, I tend to say what I think and let the good times roll, but I still keep it very serious and I know when to put it into overdrive when I need to to get the job done out on the water.

How Matthew started fishing

I have been bass fishing since I was in the 1st grade, have been hooked ever since. 
I got the tournament itch fishing the broward county junior bass tournaments out of a jonboat. 
I got my first bass boat in 2014 and have been full throttle tournament fishing ever since. 

Aspirations or goals with fishing

Win an ABA National Championship, Make the Bassmaster Elite Series, or MLF BPT and make a living doing the thing I love the most. 

Favorite way to fish

Power Fishing a Frog

Most exciting fishing experience

Catching almost 40 pounds by myself on a drop shot in 20 feet of water using hummingbird 360, was an incredible day and is my biggest bag to date. 

Catching over 36 pounds in an event on a swim jig, and catching another bag over 37 lbs fun fishing on Topwater frogs. 

How Matthew preps for a tournament

I try to at least get one day of practice for a one-day tournament such as an ABA open.

 I really try to use as much information as possible before getting out on the water, looking at seasonal patterns, time of year, weather patterns, water level, and historical information pertaining to the body of water.  I then look for a part of the lake that's really going to suit my style or that I think will win the tournament for me. In practice I tend to fish fairly quickly, my trolling motor rarely going under 60%, cover lots of water and try to learn how to take two or three big bites and turn them into a full-fledged pattern. Try to formulate a strong base area or plan, but pay attention to secondary bites and try and formulate a plan B or C, or even a back up area, even the best well thought out plans can fail. 

Three favorite search baits

Spro Poppin Frog

Chatterbait

Gambler GOAT Swim Jig with a Burner Craw trailer

Best tournament finish and what you did that day when you were fishing.

1st place in 2019 Aba Florida south on Okeechobee. 
It was my 1st major tournament win,at over 29 lbs it was my biggest bag solo, I had no co angler that day and I drove my boat with only a 33 gallon fuel capacity around the entire rim of Okeechobee to get to the south end of the lake by myself and then after I had my weight I had to stop at Roland Martin Marine Center and fuel up and then run back. It was an incredible day and one I will never forget.

Most challenging part of tournament fishing

Figuring out the fish every single tournament and getting out of a bad slump or bouncing back from a tough finish. Momentum is the biggest thing in the sport and those experiences really knock you back but when you can get on a good roll of momentum and confidence you can be unstoppable.

When tournaments don't go my way

I really try to analyze what went wrong and I look into how the tournament was won or how top finishers did well and go back out on the water and try to learn the fish and figure out what I did wrong.

Advice to give to an aspiring tournament angler:

Try to exhaust every single Avenue of information of learning the behaviors of fish, new techniques, different ways of thinking, thinking positively, and absolutely never giving up on your goals and passions. I say that because while success may come quickly and natural for others it may take you some time to develop your style as a fisherma, but once you figure it out for yourself you will really start to see your success soar. 
figure out who you are as a fisherman, identify your strengths, and really try and make it work for you wherever you go. Always try and learn new techniques and new ways of fishing in your downtime but when it comes time to fish in a tournament, really focus on doing the things that you truly know how to do. 

Some shared general bass fishing techniques for people just getting into the sport

Utilize information avenues such as Bass U TV,  Bassmaster Live, YouTube channels of top tournaments anglers such as Todd Castledine, Edwin Evers, or even a channel like mine, Matt W Fishing.

work on identifying the basic stages of fish movement and seasonal patterns, identify weather patterns and changes and what you think it will do to the fish, and really really try to be an accurate caster. 

Focus on Efficiency, If you know what baits you're most likely going to use for the next day, have them in a separate tacklebox, set aside in a small corner or in a small compartment in your boat so it is easily accessible and you will not waste time.

Weigh your fish on a digital scale and use numbered culling systems to accelerate your culling procedure. 

 

If you are very green and just getting into the sport than highly consider becoming a Co Angler for at least one season before making the jump to becoming a boater. Lots of lessons can be learned by drawing high caliber anglers that are competing in the heat of tournament fishing.