Since David Mullins had just posted a photo of his graphs showing bass hanging around stumps, it was assumed he was out on the water keeping tuned up for a meaningful season finale.
Wrong.
“No, I don’t fish at home,” the seventh-year Bassmaster Elite Series pro said when contacted at his Mt. Carmel, Tenn., home. “Why would you want to? That’s why I get my brains beat in all the time, because I don’t fish enough.”
Not hardly.
Maybe he’s not fished enough, but he’s fished well enough to lead the Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings heading into the final event, the Toyota Bassmaster Texas Fest benefiting Texas Parks and Wildlife Department at Lake Fork, Nov. 5-8. The 38-year-old knows he has a shot to join 24 others who have held the coveted Bassmaster AOY title.
He’s approaching it rather practically, but not necessarily realistically, like it’s still too early to consider. After clearing up where he was, he inquired why the call: “What you got?”
“You know what I’m calling you about.”
“Yeah.”
First question: How has Mullins, who hasn’t finished among the top 20 in points until last season, gotten into position to win the 51st Bassmaster AOY?
“A lot of difference is I finally got through the Northern Swing,” Mullins said. “The first few years I would do well till I got in that Northern Swing, then I’d fall off the earth. Especially when you go up north and struggle to catch 14 pounds and everybody else is catching 20.
“It’s just more comfortable now. Just being in it six, or seven years, it’s time I should start getting more comfortable. This year I had a really strong Northern Swing, and that’s pretty much what’s made the difference.”
In this revised season because of COVID-19, Mullins stood 28th in the AOY points when the circuit was put on hold before heading north for three events. On the St. Lawrence River, Mullins’ 37th was his best by far in five shots there, but he actually dropped two AOY spots. He followed it with a fourth-place finish at Lake Champlain — an improvement of 103 spots from the 2017 Elite there — and climbed to 16th in the standings.
Then Mullins narrowly missed another Top 10 on Lake St. Clair, but his 11th shot him to fifth in points and seriously in the hunt for AOY.
Becoming more familiar and comfortable with the Elite stops has been a definite help, he said, especially since he never really traveled the country fishing before qualifying for the Elites. Mullins began fishing the series in 2014 after qualifying through the Southern Opens, which included a runner-up finish at his home waters of Douglas Lake, site of his best finishes and only B.A.S.S. victory.
“Before I made the Elite Series, the only thing I knew was pretty much Cherokee and Douglas,” Mullins said. “We don’t have grass here. We’ve got smallmouth, but they’re totally different than the northern strain. It was just a learning curve. It probably just took me a little bit longer. I don’t have it all figured out, but I do a little bit better every year. As long as I’m getting better, that’s all I can ask for.”
After falling to ninth in points after a 35th at Guntersville, Mullins scored an eighth at Santee Cooper to move up to third, 47 points out of the AOY lead. With the leaders faltering badly at Chickamauga Lake, Mullins moved into the lead with an 18th-place finish.
Mullins has 623 points to rookie Austin Felix’s 618, with Clark Wendlandt 16 back, and Jake Whitaker (29 behind) and Kyle Welcher (31) rounding out the top five. There’s a 52-point margin among the top 10, which includes 2019 AOY Scott Canterbury (572) and Rookie of the Year Drew Cook (584).
“Do I realize I have an opportunity to do something very special? Yes I do,” Mullins said. “But I also realize there’s about six guys within striking distance, and whoever catches them best at Fork is going to win the deal.”
Mullins doesn’t feel like he’s in the catbird’s seat, as the only time he’s fished Lake Fork was in last year’s Texas Fest. He finished 46th, which if duplicated this year would leave the door open.
“I didn’t catch them,” Mullins said. “I just learned that place gets an extreme amount of pressure. There’s guide boats out there every day, and the fish see a lot of lures. We were in a transition time last year when it was kinda tough. But I had the opportunity to make the top 40, not really do well. The big thing I can take away from that is how the lake lays and how you can run it.”
Other than study up more on Fork, Mullins said there’s not really any extra preparations he can do. If he simply does his best, he said there’ll be no reason to hang his head if he doesn’t hold on for the title. Yet Mullins has been fishing well, explaining he’s had a different feeling this year, one he experienced years ago when he and his partner excelled in team tournaments at home.
“When I blasted off, I never felt like I was in a tournament. I felt like I was just going fishing,” he said. “I’ve got that feeling again. I haven’t had it since I’ve been on tour. It’s a good feeling. I told (emcee Dave) Mercer about it. It’s not like I’m not fishing hard, it’s just I don’t feel like I’m in a tournament.”
Heading into Fork, he hopes that continues. Not knowing the famed Texas fishery that well, Mullins plans to see what he finds in practice, approach it like the rest this season and just go fishing.
The AOY certainly isn’t dominating his thoughts, but it’s in there somewhere.
“Dude, it’s so far away for me,” he said. “I never thought I’d win Angler of the Year. You don’t think about that stuff. I don’t even know how to speculate something like that.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever dreamed of that. I don’t know if … I don’t know. I don’t know how to approach that. Don’t even know how to talk about it. Obviously, I’m aware that it’s one of the most prestigious things in our sport, and I have a special opportunity to get it done.”