CLEWISTON — What Justin Atkins accomplished last year wasn't exactly a leap of faith. To him, it was more like answering a calling.
The Florence, Alabama, resident won the Forrest Wood Cup, the Fishing League Worldwide Tour's year-end professional bass fishing championship, and with it one of the sport's biggest paydays, a check for $300,000.
And he accomplished the feat in just his rookie year.
Atkins is one of 187 bass pros fishing this week's FLW Tour presented by Evinrude season-opening event on Lake Okeechobee. The lucrative event will pay out a combined purse of $930,000 to pros and co-anglers, including $125,000 to the pro with the best combined weight over the event's four day run and a $25,000 top prize to the winning co-angler.
But Atkins isn't in Florida to cash a check. If he is in a bass tournament field, he is in it to win it.
"When I do my job well, I get paid," said Atkins.
This week, Atkins, 27, is beginning his sophomore season as a full-time bass tournament professional. After his magical 2017 season with the storybook ending, he knows it's time to get to work on what he hopes is a long and fulfilling career.
"Last year, my goal was to fish to make the Cup," Atkins said. "It was a big decision for me to commit to fishing full time as a bass pro. It was something I had always wanted to do, but I wasn't sure if I could make it."
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It meant dedicating himself to one plan: Failure was not an option. He wound up "cashing checks" in five of seven FLW Tour events, making top-10 cuts in two of them, and missing a sixth by just 4 ounces. That was enough to earn his qualification into the year-end Cup fished in August on Lake Murray in South Carolina.
It also meant choosing to skip the world's largest fishing tackle trade show in July, ICAST in Orlando. It's typically a spot where up-and-coming anglers need to market themselves in an effort to attract sponsorship deals. Those deals can mean the difference in meeting the costly expenses of tournament entry fees and travel expenses.
"I knew it was the last week I could practice on Lake Murray, so I chose to go there and fish instead of going to Orlando," Atkins said. "I think it really helped me learn the lake."
When he arrived for the tournament, the first two days went better than he expected. He was finding fish going toward submerged can piles and could dial in on them using his Humminbird Helix and Solix side-imaging fish finders.
He entered the final day with a narrow lead. Then, after a tough start, he decided to try a spot he knew had been fished over and over again by other anglers.
"It was just meant to be, I guess," he said. "I had missed a few bites and hadn't caught a fish after 10:30 a.m. all week. It was after 11 and I went to this spot, and the fish schooled up. At about 1:30, I had a 4.5-pounder, which allowed me to cull up a pound."
What followed next was life-changing.
"It took it a while for it to sink in," Atkins said. "But now I can fish this next season and not worry about a few things, just focus on the fishing. I've already qualified for this year's Cup with the exemption from winning last year's. But I really hope to win it again. And I hope to one day win the Bassmaster Classic, too."
First step is Okeechobee. For some, the big lake offers great rewards with big bag limits. For others, it can be an equalizer. Atkins had tough practice sessions early in the week, and that bore out Thursday as he managed only a 10-pound bag limit. He'll need to work hard and have a lot of luck to make it to Saturday and Sunday.
Remembering Nik
Video was shot from atop Herbert Hoover Dike in Clewiston, near lock from canal into Lake Okeechobee, about two miles from where angler Nik Kayler was recovered. ED KILLER/TCPALM
Nik Kayler's presence at the FLW Tour event is undeniable. The co-angler from Apopka who lost his life three weeks ago in a Costa FLW Series tournament after a boating accident, was registered to fish this event also, FLW president Kathy Fennel said.
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At the anglers' briefing Wednesday afternoon, black wrist bands that read "Nik Kayler 1.4.18" were bought by anglers with all proceeds, more than $2,000, going to Kayler's family. A GoFundMe page set up to benefit the family raised more than $100,000.
At the FLW Fishing Expo in Clewiston, there are more opportunities to help the fishing organization raise money for Kayler's family.
"Nik was simply a world class angler," said Spencer Howerton, of Melbourne Beach, competing as a co-angler this weekend.
Thursday morning before the boats took off, FLW officials and staff with Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marina in Clewiston performed a man overboard ceremony to memorialize Kayler. After the morning prayer, they announced "man overboard," then had three short blasts of an air horn followed by the shooting of a flare. After that, all 187 boats proceeded smoothly through the lock from the marina basin into the channel towards the open lake leading away from Clewiston.
Go big or go home
Bass pro Cody Hahner, of Wausau, Wisconsin, said it best during the weigh-in: "All that crying and whining about how hard the lake is fishing this week ... these guys are all sandbagging."
Hahner was pointing to the leaderboard. His catch of five bass weighing 13 pounds, 6 ounces placed him just outside the top 50 in the standings heading into day two Friday.
Pros need to make the cut by the end of Friday, placing in the top 30 in order to fish Saturday. The top 10 pros will fish Sunday. Final standings and payouts will be based on combined weight of up to 20 bass (a maximum of five each day). Pros can earn up to $10,000 through 60th place.
It took nearly 17 pounds to make the top 20 Thursday, and the top nine pro anglers have more than 20 pounds apiece. Bryan Schmitt, of Deale, Maryland, hauled in the day's biggest bag limit of 24 pounds, 11 ounces. Anglers with the most local experience on Lake Okeechobee staked themselves to good positions. J.T. Kenney, of Palm Bay, is 13th with 19 pounds, 3 ounces; Jared McMillan, of Belle Glade, is 14th with 18-15; brother Brand McMillan, of Clewiston, is 15th with 18-7; and Scott Martin, of Clewiston, is 17th with 16-15.
On the co-angler side of the tournament, Dustin Roberts, of Dardanelle, Arkansas, wowed the crowd with a five-fish bag limit weighing 23 pounds, 13 ounces including a 9-pound, 7-ounce whopper of a bass, Roberts' biggest ever. Co-anglers will fish through Saturday from the back of the boat.
FLW Tour presented by Evinrude
When: Through Sunday
Where: Clewiston
Takeoffs: 7:30 a.m. each day from Roland & Mary Ann Martin's Marina and Resort, 920 Del Monte Avenue, Clewiston
Weigh-ins: Friday beginning at 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday at 4 p.m., at the resort
At stake: $125,000 for the top pro; $25,000 for the top co-angler
Information or to watch the weigh-in live: FLWFishing.com