Interestingly, though, immediately after I interviewed Aaron for the Outdoor Canada story, he won second place in the BASSMASTER CLASSIC, the most prestigious fishing tournament in the world!

Now, I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but then a year or two later, I interviewed another bass pro friend, Kota Kiriyama, from Japan.  I first met Kota at an ICAST convention in Las Vegas and we talked at length about all of the hot new finesse techniques that were coming out of Japan. 

At the end of our discussion, I thought the topic would make an interesting feature one day in Outdoor Canada Magazine.  So when I was given the go-ahead to write it, Kota was the first person I called.  I subsequently won a National Communications Award for the story, but get this, Kota immediately went on to win the Bassmaster Elite event on Lake Erie using the very techniques he had explained so carefully to me for the benefit of Outdoor Canada readers.

This is becoming more than a coincidence I started thinking. 

With an amazing two Bassmaster Classic crowns and four BASS Angler of the Year titles to his credit, Kevin Van Dam is currently in a league of his own.

Then, last year, I called another Bassmaster Elite friend, well known pro, Kevin Van Dam.  I was working on another Outdoor Canada feature, this time focusing on Kevin’s amazing exploits.  Super human feats that had propelled him to the number one position at the top of the BassFan World Rankings.  In fact, I chatted with Kevin only two days before the 2008 Bassmaster Classic.  He had sequestered himself at the time, at his brother-in-law’s house in North Carolina, where he could escape the media and crowds and practise in relative peace.  He gave me an exclusive interview. 

Well, guess what, four or five days after the interview, Kevin finished second in the BASSMASTER CLASSIC, just barely missing the win.  In case you don’t know it, the Classic winner takes home a cool $500,000 but the spin-off benefits, in the form of endorsements and product sponsorships are enormous - reputedly worth millions more.  Kevin, by the way, won the Bassmaster Classic in 2001 and 2005 and has four BASS Angler of the Year honours to his credit.  

Hmmm, I wondered.  There really is a trend here? Well, hit the fast forward button to two weeks ago.  

I am currently working on a feature for the upcoming Summer Edition of Outdoor Canada Magazine on fishing with soft plastic frogs in heavy cover for giant largemouth bass.  It is one of the most exciting forms of fishing - heart stopping really - and one of the best frog fishermen in the world is Brent Ehrler.  I first met Brent a few years ago when I was working on another assignment and we fished together on Lake Guntersville in Alabama.  (I know it is a dirty job but somebody has to do it!)

To make a long story short, Brent is one of the nicest, politest, most accomodating anglers you would ever want to meet and right off the bat we became friends.  We’ve kept in touch ever since and I was thrilled when not long after we fished together, Brent won the FLW Championship and the first place half a million dollar prize that goes along with it. 

Not a bad payday, eh? 

It is easy to see why Brent Ehrler is one of the best top water anglers on the planet. He caught this beauty on a Lucky Craft Gunfish while we were fishing together on Lake Guntersville in Alabama.

Well, Brent is such a phenomenal top water angler, he was the first name that came to mind when I started working on the upcoming frog story for the Summer Edition.  So I called him two weeks ago and set up an interview for the following Saturday.  But on the Friday night, I received a urgently scrawled text message from him on his BlackBerry while he was sitting in his boat bobbing on Lake Havasu, Arizona.  It read, “Gord, I just made the Top 10 cut for tomorrow’s Tour final.  We’re going to have to postpone the interview.”  

I laughed and hastily sent Brent a return message telling him not to worry about the interview.  I also related the above three previous incidents with Aaron, Kota and Kevin.  I went on to tell Brent he didn’t have a care in the world.  The FLW Tour victory was in the bag.  Well, imagine my surprise when I watched the final day weigh-in live on streaming video over the Internet.  I just about fell over when Brent plopped down one of the biggest sacks of the tournament and jumped all the way into first place.  He won the FLW Tour event and $96,000 in cash plus a $25,000 cash bonus from Ranger Boats.  

Brent Ehrler grabs a frog rod rigged with a Stanley Ribbit from his rod locker. Be sure to read the upcoming 2009 Summer Edition of Outdoor Canada Magazine to learn Ehrler's secrets for fishing a frog.