K Short Q&A on Winning Streak

Yeah, that’s right, winning streak. With his semi-recent win of the Table Rock Central Open, Kevin Short has one B.A.S.S. win in each of the last three years. He also won the 2010 Pickwick Elite and 2009 Mississippi River Elite.

Stats-crazy folks will note that that puts him in pretty rare air: KVD, Denny, Nixon, Clunn, Roland, those kind of guys.

WTH is going on? To find out, I chased the K-man down for a serious-as-dirt interview. Well, some of it’s kinda serious. He talks about closin’ the deal, poo not stinkin’, sleepin’ with a HydroWave, that type o’ stuff. Here’s part 1 of 2.

BP: What’s going on here? Eating any of Sherry VanDam’s cookies? Sleeping with a HydroWave?

KS: I think it’s the $13 I’ve been hauling around in my wallet for a while now. Two 5s and three 1s. It showed up on one of those days when I put 13 pounds, 13 ounces on the scales, finished in 13th for the derby and might even have been boat number 13 that particular day. Crazy stuff.

No SVD cookies – I saw one, though.

Yes, I have to admit, I am sleeping with a HydroWave, but it’s strictly for fun. Nothing serious.

Seriously – what’s happening here?

After the win at Iowa, I had a long-time sports reporter tell me that he’s seen guys in every sport who were closers and guys who just got close. He seemed to think I’m a closer. I thought he was crazy at the time.

After Pickwick, though, I started to think about that. And after T-Rock, I’m thinking he might be right, not so crazy after all.

Every multi-day tournament is won by getting to the last day. Most guys are just “thrilled to be here.” How many times have you heard that. I was the same way the first 2-3 times I made a Top 12 cut.

After getting close a couple of times, though, I realized that just being there wasn’t good enough – didn’t really get the job done.

In Iowa, I fished my ass off the last day in an area that I’d already pulverized for 3 days – and still caught ’em. Same thing with Pickwick, and caught ’em bigger than anyone had all week. Ditto at Table Rock.

So what does the ‘closing’ part mean?

You have make it to the last day while putting yourself in position to win. Then it seems like you have to shift gears to overdrive and floor it – all out, all day, and don’t let off the gas until you pull up the MotorGuide at the last minute to come in.

Don’t. Let. Up.

Nice plug. Ever get a feeling beforehand or on one of the competition days you’re going to win, or is it a surprise?

Every win has been a little different. In Iowa, it was a total surprise. I knew I’d done the best job I could possibly have done in the area I fished. I knew I caught a decent limit on a day when most guys would struggle. I didn’t realize until the last bag hit the scales that I’d actually won.

At Pickwick, I knew that all 12 of us the last day could have a shot, but within 2 hours of leaving the dock I’d sacked over 20 pounds – and still had 3 hours to fish. At that point I was pretty sure one of the other guys would have to beat me for the win.

At Table Rock I felt pretty sure during the day I was going to definitely move up, but I was over 4 pounds out of the lead. After I put 4 fish in the boat, I started doing the math and realized it might be close. Then I bagged another 4-pounder and realized I might have just squeaked ahead of some of the other guys – if they stayed consistent, which they didn’t.

– End of part 1 of 2 –