No Rest for the Weary
Posted by Pete Robbins on Jan 11th 2021
Back in the days when it was comprehensible for a bass pro to fish both the Bassmaster and the FLW Tours, with a sprinkling of PAA events for good measure, I thought that Ish Monroe was the hardest-working man in the bass biz. The job of a tournament fisherman, he repeatedly said, is to fish tournaments. If that’s the case, then John Cox makes old-school Ish look like he was lying on the couch eating bonbons.
Much hay was made of the fact that Cox – after one year on the Elites – was decamping for the opportunities at the Bass Pro Tour. I assumed that meant he’d be leaving B.A.S.S. behind, but now it appears that he’ll be fishing both tours. That may not be politically ideal for one or both of them, but it gives Cox many chances to win, and that’s what he does. As long as he can remember which state and jersey he should be in on any given day, past performance tells us there’s no reason to believe he won’t kick butt on both trails. As long as he’s driving that much, he might as well fit in a few Wild West Bass Trail events and two shifts a week at Red Lobster for good measure.
It’s not his first brush with being an iconoclast. Recall that for several years Cox excelled among the big boys without any electronics. He still runs a Crestliner, making him an outlier on the trail. But this road warrior season – if/when he pulls it off – will make our friend Steve Kennedy look like he has a “normal” practice routine. I think that’s exactly the point. Some anglers work best when they cross every “t” and dot every “i.” Others do better when they’re making decisions on the fly. The hardest part of fishing at any level is not following the herd, not following the path you think is “supposed” to work, but finding the one that actually works for you. It’s what made Rick Clunn and Larry Nixon so good for so long, and the earlier you figure it out the easier it makes the highway miles.
