By TJ Maglio
February 19, 2012
Todd Faircloth is generally not the type of person that works himself up too much preparing for any given tournament. It’s that kind of calm that has led him to cash a check in 111 of 153 BASS tournaments, an unbelievable 72.5% of the time. It’s that kind of calm that has also helped him qualify for 10 of the last 13 Bassmaster Classics. Always one of the most consistent anglers on the tour, Todd’s even keel has allowed him to make a name for himself as a threat to win on almost any waterbody at any time of the year.
Faircloth hasn’t been a pushover once the Classic begins, either. He’s posted three top 10s and finished inside the top 20 three other times, so it’s safe to say that the Jasper, TX angler won’t be considered a long shot when handicapping the field in the coming weeks.
When asked if fishing the Bassmaster Classic ever gets old, Faircloth responds by saying, “It’s
definitely still exciting, and you can be sure it’s an event you don’t want to be on the sidelines watching. I’ve been there and it’s no fun at all.”
I recently caught up with Todd and picked his brain a little bit regarding the upcoming Classic, and how he hopes to add a victory in the tour’s premier event to the already long list of accolades on his fishing resume.
Red River Experience
In his last four tour level events on the Red, Faircloth has done pretty well, with an average finish of 20th. His highlight was a 3rd place finish at the 2001 Bassmaster Tour event. Unfortunately, his lowest finish on the Red occurred at the ‘09 Classic, a tournament where he says a couple of bad decisions the first day prevented him from having a much better showing.
In fact, he had found the area where the tournament was ultimately won in practice but guessed that “the amount of pressure in that area would cause it to fall apart” so he decided to go elsewhere. Looking back, he says, “I regret making those bad decisions that first day, but in an event like the Classic, you really have to go with your gut.”
The ‘09 event wasn’t all disappointment for Faircloth, though; he says he learned a valuable lesson about fishing big-time events. “You can bet I won’t be leaving an area if I think the fish to win are there, even if the whole field is sitting next to me.”
As far as his impressions of the river as a whole, Todd says there is a lot to like about the Red, explaining, “It’s kind of a meat and potatoes type river, you can leave the spinning rods at home and you don’t have to worry about any deep fish.” He enjoys that style of fishing and thinks that it takes a lot of the question marks out of the equation and allows him to “put a spinnerbait, a flippin’ stick and a crankbait on the deck and just go to work.”
Pre-Practice
Even though Todd has a lot of experience on the Red and expects it to fish pretty much the same as it did in 2009, he still made it over to Shreveport for a couple of days before the cutoff period, explaining that he would have felt guilty if he hadn’t, seeing as though its only a couple of hours from his house.
He didn’t do much fishing at all while he was there and didn’t see too much that he wasn’t expecting to see, but he did mention that he found “one or two areas that look better than they did in ‘09, which may play a role in this Classic.” Pre-practice aside, Todd feels that the anglers really won’t know what the fishing will be like until they actually get on the water for the official practice days.
How Red is the Red?
In the weeks coming up to the tournament, you’re going to hear lots of talk about the water condition and it’s not without reason according to Faircloth. “The Red River is notorious for fishing pretty small all the time, but if the river is high and muddy it’s gonna concentrate the anglers even more into the areas that do have clean water”.
If the weeks leading up to the Classic are relatively dry, it will likely give the anglers a chance to
spread out a little more, but don’t expect a main river bite to dominate, as Todd explains, “This time of year, the fish are starting to make their way into the backwaters to get ready to spawn and even with some clearer water, most of the fish are still going to be caught off the main channel.”
To Lock or Not to Lock
Considering Faircloth was one of the anglers that made the epic run to Venice during the 2011 Classic, Todd is not at all disinclined to make a long run in an effort to find the winning fish. “In an event like the Classic, you’re not fishing for points, so it doesn’t make any sense to play it safe. I’m gonna be fishing wherever I feel I have the best chance to win, whether that is 80 miles from the launch or 5 miles.”
He does admit that locking could be a potential pratfall, but it’s a risk he’s more than willing to take, considering the potential glory that awaits the angler that solves all the puzzles en route to the heaviest 3-day stringer of fish.
The Game Plan
As he previously mentioned, the Red doesn’t fish very complicated and it’s a simple approach that Faircloth will take when he heads up to Shreveport at the end of the month to compete.
So, what can you expect to see on the front deck of Todd’s boat when he blasts off for the first day of practice? “I definitely plan on having a flipping stick with a Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog, probably a jig with a Flappin’ Hog trailer, a spinnerbait and some sort of crankbait.”
His color choices for plastics on a river like the Red this time of year are also pretty simple, sticking to the darker colors. A couple of his favorites are black and blue or black neon and he mentions that in dirty water like that which typically flows down the Red “You don’t have to get too crazy with your color selection.”
What to Expect
Todd thinks the weights this time around will likely be pretty close to what they were in ‘09, though possibly a bit higher as “guys have already been there once this time of year and they’ll probably be a little bit more clued in this time around.”
If his guess is right, that should put the winning weight right around 55 to 60lbs, or an 18-19lb average. If everything goes right, Faircloth hopes to be the one hoisting the trophy on Sunday. About what a victory on the Red would mean to him, he explains that it “would be the ultimate lifelong dream fulfilled,” not just for himself but for his family and sponsors.
A cool head and dedication to his craft have already helped Todd Faircloth become a constant presence at the top in every event he fishes, but hopefully at the upcoming BASSMASTER Classic, they help him cement his legacy for years to come.
