Finding “true north” might be among the most overlooked successes of Dustin Connell’s rookie Elite season, but it’s among his proudest.
His win on Ross Barnett was huge, as was making seven cuts in nine events, but Connell, 27, of Clanton, Ala., had never fished up north. That was a concern in his hopes of reaching the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship as well as the 2018 GEICO Bassmaster Classic, yet his finishes on the four northern fisheries were key in reaching both the aforementioned as well as winning the Bassmaster Elite Series 2017 Rookie of the Year title.
“To come out my first year and do good up north is a big accomplishment for me, because I had never been there before,” he said. “It just feels good to end the year on a really good note.”
On the final day of the season in Minnesota, Connell needed a decent climb and a precipitous fall from leader Jamie Hartman to win ROY. The chips fell exactly as Connell needed, giving him the title by one point.
“It wasn’t a bad little week,” Connell said. “That is pretty crazy, but I was so happy for it. Jamie, he had a good lead coming in and I knew he would have to slip, and sure enough, that happened.
“I had to work my butt off to get that Rookie of the Year. That was one of my goals starting out this year. I wanted to win Rookie of the Year – you want to win Angler of the Year – but there’s some pretty stout rookies this year, some great fishermen. Jamie’s a great fisherman. Jesse Wiggins. Mark Daniels. All those guys.”
Those four stood out from the 2017 rookie class of 11. Connell had 764 points to take 12th overall in the AOY standings. Hartman, who went back and forth with Connell for the lead much of the season, was one point and one place back. Daniels scored 723 points to finish 18th overall, and Wiggins had 657 for 37th. All will be fishing the Classic.
Top-notch showings on the four northern fisheries put Connell in position for the ROY. After making cuts in the first two events at Cherokee Lake (37th) and Okeechobee (26th), Connell barely missed at Toledo Bend with a 56th. His win on Ross Barnett and 24th on Sam Rayburn put him in the top 10 in AOY points, but a slip at Lake Dardanelle (85th) knocked him back to 17th.
Connell sailed north into uncertain waters but excelled, taking 21st on the St. Lawrence and 22nd on Lake Champlain. He squeaked inside the cut at Lake St. Clair (49th) then was middle of the pack on Mille Lacs (24th), but it was just enough.
“This is my first professional year of fishing,” he said. “I didn’t come from FLW. I fished local tournaments, so really traveling to these lakes I’ve never been before and doing good was huge for me.”
In 2015, Connell won a Bass Pro Shops Southern Open on the Alabama River. It was his second Open, after fishing in the Carhartt Bassmaster College Series with the University of Alabama. There he competed in the very first College Bassmaster Classic Bracket in 2012 against Jordan and Matt Lee, which Matt won. Amazing to think that three of the four anglers competing in that tournament are now Elite pros. In 2016, Connell earned an Elite invitation fishing the Southern Opens. He’s now fished 15 Bassmaster Elite and Opens tournaments – he’s won two and has cashed in a dozen, for a success rate of 80 percent.
“That ain’t too bad,” he said when told. “I’m happy with that. I just need to keep it going.”
Connell received some early season exposure on Bassmaster LIVE when he allowed winner Jacob Wheeler to share his boat on Cherokee Lake. He then made a giant leap with his win on Ross Barnett, where he held off Kevin VanDam in a pressure-cooker. His soliloquy doubting if he had enough fish to win while on LIVE shined a huge spotlight on him.
“After Ross Barnett, I really started catching my stride and getting used to how these guys fish. They’re the best in the world,” he said. “I always want to fish to win. That’s my mentality on the year, but sometimes you’re just not on the fish to do that.
“If you go out and fish to win, you can slip up and have 28th, a good finish anyway. I learned that making a top 50 against these guys is an accomplishment.”
Pre-fishing was among the things that helped Connell this season, as was fishing his strengths at every fishery.
“My plan next season is do the same: work my butt off, pre-fish every lake that I can before the cutoff and try to fish to win,” he said. “This is my job, and I see it that way. I’ll always pre-fish lakes. I went to every lake this year to pre-fish and look around. I didn’t get any help this year. That’s just how I fish. I don’t get waypoints. I’m actually happy with that rule next year.”
Whatever works. It was fortuitous that Hartman faltered – one more fish would have given him the points to win ROY. At Mille Lacs, Connell entered 23 points behind Hartman and needed to beat him by 24 places. Hartman maintained a lead but only had three fish on Day 3 and fell from 37th to 48th. Connell ended exactly 24 spots ahead and won by the narrowest of margins to join the likes of Jacob Powroznik and Brent Ehrler.
“As far as Rookie of the year, that’s a big accomplishment,” Connell said. “Looking on the past ROY guys and their success, it really looks good and tells that you do have a future in professional fishing. I’m happy to have that title.”