Only One Way To Go
After '06 AOY, Gagliardi Was Prepared For
Tougher Season
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
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Photo: FLW Outdoors/Jeff Schroeder
Anthony Gagliardi's 2007 season didn't
get off to the same type of start as his '06 AOY campaign.
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Anthony Gagliardi's 2007 FLW Tour season wasn't as good as his 2006
campaign. He fully expected that would be the case.
"I only had one place to go, and that was down," said the '06 Angler
of the Year (AOY). "I don't think anybody's ever won it in back-to-back
years, and I'd pretty much prepared myself for a fall.
"What I wanted to do was limit how far I did fall. My main focus was
to make (the Forrest Wood Cup) and put myself in position for a chance
at that million dollars. I was able to do that, so I still feel pretty
good about my year."
He ended up 32nd in the points – his lowest placement since 2003, but
still easily within the Cup cutoff. But after notching Top 50s in all
six regular-season events in '06 – including a win at his home lake
(South Carolina's Murray) – he accomplished that feat just twice this
year. His best showing was 16th at Fort Loudoun-Tellico.
"There were a couple of times this year when I knew I made the right
(on-water) decisions, but things just didn't work out. That's the
difference between an AOY year and a normal year.
"I gave myself some good opportunities, but I either didn't execute
or didn't catch a break. Things just didn't come together as well as
they did the year before."
Strong Start is Key
Gagliardi's '06 season began with a 30th-place finish at Okeechobee,
followed by the win at Murray. That put him 2nd in the AOY race, just 7
points out of the lead, and he took over the top slot at the next event.
He was never lower than 2nd the rest of the way.
This year started with a semi-bomb at Travis (82nd). He bounced back
with the 16th at Fort Loudoun-Tellico, but that left him only 32nd in
the points. At that juncture, he knew a second straight AOY was an
extreme longshot.
"Anytime you win the second tournament, especially if it's a $200,000
win, you're going to fish differently the rest of the year," he said.
"You fish with more confidence and less pressure because you're not
worried about money.
"This year I could tell pretty early on that the AOY was probably out
the window, so I had to buckle down and try to have the best year I
could. I changed my focus to making the (Cup)."
He accomplished that with a bit of room to spare, so his season can't
be termed a disappointment. Still, he made it clear that he expects to
be back near the top of the points in 2008.
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Photo: FLW Outdoors/Jennifer Simmons
Gagliardi is putting the finishing
touches on a new house and is set to become a father this
winter.
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"I want to have an even better year than I did (in '06)," he said. "I
like to set my goals pretty high, and I think next year is going to be a
good year.
"It'll be another year when I've been to every lake we're fishing
beforehand, which is how it was when I won the AOY. I'll at least be
familiar with every body of water, so I feel like I should do better."
No Net Loss
Gagliardi said he probably lost as many fish in '06 as he did this
year. The difference was that in his AOY year, he had so many
opportunities that a few that went unfulfilled didn't cost him.
This year, some of those escapees would have made a big impact on his
finishes.
"The year before could have been really, really good," he said. "I
lost some good fish that year, but it really didn't hurt me in the AOY
because I had so many chances.
"This year those opportunities weren't as plentiful, so the ones I
missed hurt me more. There were two or three fish on the second day at
Fort Loudoun that would've put me in the Top 10."
He also noted that his practices in '06 weren't demonstrably better
than this year.
"If I didn't have a great practice that year, sometimes I could make
something out of nothing. It just didn't seem to work out that way this
year."
Willing to Slow Down
Gagliardi said one thing that should help him in 2008 and beyond is a
newfound willingness to fish more slowly. He'd still prefer to have an
extensive milk run where he can pick off a fish or two from each spot,
but he's now determined to stay put if that's what conditions warrant.
That tactic helped him garner a decent finish (29th) at the Potomac
River. If he'd ran around a lot there, he's certain he wouldn't have
made the Top 50.
"I kind of waited the fish out in that one," he said. "I found an
area and kept going through it and fishing it thoroughly, and that's
something I can carry with me. It's not something I'd normally do.
"It made me think of the Dardanelle tournament on the (FLW) Series.
If I'd done that there, I probably would have ended up finishing really
well (instead of 176th). I was fishing an area that ended up yielding a
Top 5, but I didn't capitalize on it because I didn't give it enough
time."
Notable
> Gagliardi is putting the finishing touches on a new home on Murray
and is set to become a father this winter. His wife, Kristin, is
scheduled to deliver daughter Laken on Feb. 26. "Kristin's a first-grade
teacher, and that was the name of one of her favorite students she had 4
or 5 years ago," he said.
> He had disastrous finishes (151st at Okeechobee and 176th at
Dardanelle) in the first two FLW Series events, but turned that around
in the fall when the circuit resumed after a 4-month break. He was 15th
at Champlain and 13th at Pickwick.
