(Editor's note: Here's another short feature from Alan McGuckin of Dynamic Sponsorships.)
March 14 marks the beginning of the 2013 Bassmaster Elite Series Season. And its a pretty sure bet that Gerald Swindle is the only pro with an Etch A Sketch toy in his boat.
Ironically, it has nothing to do with fun and games for bass fishings funniest pro. But instead, it's a means to erasing the past, forgetting about the bad and focusing on the next step toward success.
What most dont know is that Swindle is one of the most complex anglers that pro bass fishing has ever known. Beneath the boatloads of humor is a 43-year-old mind that thinks far deeper than his hilarious quotes on the weigh-in stage will ever reveal. And that can be a problem in a sport where success is largely played out between the ears.
So stuck with Velcro to the underside of his Tritons dry storage lid is a wallet-sized, red-framed Etch A Sketch toy with blue knobs that he turns to clear his mind about the past.
It all started when a guy asked me in a seminar how I became a junk fisherman, explained Swindle, in reference to his reputation for fishing numerous lures in a days time. I told him fishing was like an Etch A Sketch no day on the water is ever the same, you have to erase thoughts of what worked yesterday a lot of times, and start with a fresh approach. That leads to fishing and mastering a wide range of lures.
Swindle's wife LeAnn heard him telling that story and decided that shed buy Gerald an Etch A Sketch as a Christmas stocking-stuffer a few months ago.
Weve tried laminating and taping motivational quotes on his boat, and last year we used a stuffed animal we called Lucky George to help keep his mind right," she said. "This year I thought putting an Etch A Sketch in his boat would serve as a great reminder of the advice he gave that man in his seminar."
Said Gerland: When youre competing in an Elite Series event, you may have a day wedged among the 3 or 4 that aint good. And thats when Ill pull out the Etch A Sketch, draw a little sumthin, erase it, and remind myself to start over. It provides a clean slate to remind me of what Im gonna do and what I need to accomplish rather than allowing me to dwell on what happened yesterday or last year.
Im working hard on P.M.A. that stands for Positive Mental Attitude. Sometimes with all the demands of life and this busy career, staying positive aint easy, but the Etch A Sketch helps me to overcome bad days in fishing and in life."
Swindle knows about bad days in life. Ironically, on this day exactly 5 years ago, he had the worst day of his life, when pancreatic cancer took away his beloved brother Tony. They werent just brothers, they were buddies. They hammered nails in the Alabama heat together as house framers, and flopped 4-pounders into the boat as team partners at evening fruit-jar tournaments on Lewis Smith and Logan Martin.
An Etch A Sketch would have been handy during the 2008 Elite Series season, as the mind-distracting, heartfelt anguish he battled in questioning his brothers young death was reflected in his only failure to qualify for the prestigious Bassmaster Classic in the past 10 years.
With mental reminders like the spinnerbait hanging from his Tundras rearview mirror and a tattoo on his bicep, not only does Swindle honor Tony daily, but hes reminded that Tony is cheering him to move on. Four consecutive Classic qualifications have proven that, in fact, he has moved on in a positive fashion.
And so today, March 14 with an Etch A Sketch on board hell begin working to qualify for the 2014 Bassmaster Classic that will be held on his favorite all-time reservoir Lake Guntersville - located in Gerald, Tony and LeAnns home state of Alabama. The way Im wired sometimes you just need a little reminder, he concluded.
People got their way of coping oh, and I got mine. from Lee Brices song I Drive Your Truck
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