Seventeen points, perhaps one fish catch, is all that kept Brandon Lester’s fantastic Elite Series season from being the absolute best of 2022.
Lester, 34, started last year by winning February’s first St. Croix Bassmaster Open, then four months later he added his first Elite title. As the only pro to make all nine two-day Elite cuts, he finished second to Brandon Palaniuk in the Angler of the Year race, reciting his deficit of 16 points right quick.
“I think any guy would be lying to say (AOY) wasn’t always in the back of your mind,” Lester said. “It’s not something I go out every morning worried about. You take it fish by fish, day by day.
“At the end of the year you look back and it’s crazy what one fish can mean, but you can’t think about that throughout the year or you’ll drive yourself crazy.”
Palaniuk was atop the standings in the last five tournaments, losing ground at Lake Oahe, then struggling early in the Mississippi River finale. Palaniuk even lost the AOY lead on BassTrakk to Lester and Chris Johnston before finally catching two fish late and advancing to Day 3, where he climbed and secured his second AOY.
There were a number of fish throughout the season that Palaniuk estimated gave him 16 points, each monumental he said. Lester, who also could recall valuable lost fish worth just as many, entered the finale as Palaniuk’s closest pursuer at 37 points back. It was a long shot, but a shot just the same.
“My mindset going into Mississippi River was just to make Brandon have to earn it,” said Lester, who had trailed by 66 points before Oahe. “He was in the driver’s seat. He had a substantial lead, but I knew there was also still a chance.
“Make a Top 10 and if I did that, I’ve done my job. Shake his hand and the best man won. That’s exactly what I did.”
Despite a poor practice, Lester made good decisions and adjustments. He was the last-man in the Top 10 for Championship Sunday, where a frog bite helped him to the biggest limit of the event, 18 pounds, 7 ounces, and fourth place.
“It was a cool way to top off a really good season, for sure,” he said, adding it was awesome to make every two-day cut on the year. “That’s the only time I’ve even come close to that.”
“To be the only guy in the Elite Series field to do that all season long, that’s something I’m very proud of. Consistency is something I’ve always strived for my whole career. You make checks, and you go on down the road and everybody is happy.”
It was certainly a happy time when Lester left the ranks of the best to never win, which came on Florida’s Kissimmee Chain on Feb. 5, 2022. Asked on almost the exact date what he was doing a year ago, Lester said, “Winning a tournament, I think. It was fun.”
Fishing the Opens is always fun with less pressure, Lester said. He likes them as dress rehearsals before the Elites start, and he has great history in Kissimmee Opens, finishing third in 2015 and second in 2018.
“It kind of gives you a chance to make sure everything was right on the new boat, knock the rust off and get back in the swing of things,” he said. “Kissimmee was no different. It was good to finally win one there, especially where I had done well in the past.”
Four months later, Lester won his first blue trophy on Pickwick Lake, one of the Tennessee River fisheries where he learned to ledge fish. Afterwards, he said there is definitely something to the oft-repeated phrase learning how to win.
“I think you learn to realize when you really have an opportunity to win,” he said. “You don’t get in that situation real, real often, at least most guys don’t.”
“There comes a time in every tournament, ‘I need to buckle down. I’m on to something special.’ I think I kind of realized that late on Day 2 of that Open.”
Lester had been seeing a lot of fish on beds in his area and the water was stable. But he also knew weather was coming that would affect Day 3. By 8 a.m., he had switched plans, finding the winning bag in a different part of the lake in a different way.
“The first couple years of my career I would have probably come in with the old sad story, ‘Well, the weather changed and I wasn’t able to adjust with it.’ But I’ve learned over time that’s what you have to do,” he said. “I think I’ve learned, the last couple years and especially last year, if you have that chance to win, you have to go in that killer mentality and push it all in.”
Familiar with the ledges at Pickwick that were certain to hold groups of anglers, Lester went looking for an off-the-wall spot. He had no idea the spot he found would produce every day.
“I’m really surprised that it did,” Lester said. “I know how the Tennessee River is. There’s tournaments four, five nights a week. I really thought somebody would catch wind of it and go out there and rake my hole.”
Employing a stealthy, hit-and-run approach, Lester left his small patch after early exploitation to search for other fish that helped. He was the only angler to top 20 pounds each day, while also bringing in two daily Phoenix Boats Big Bass. He even saved the best the last, catching the VMC Monster Bag of 22-14 for a winning total of 86-1.
The $100,000 victory gave Lester, who began fishing Opens in 2012, membership in the B.A.S.S. millionaire club. He enters his 10th Elite season confident in knowing he’s proven he can be consistent and can close. His approach to tournaments won’t change much.
“You just try to keep learning and try to keep getting better,” he said. “I definitely think there’s something with learning how to win, how to adjust. I’ll keep doing that and keep fishing.”
Much of Lester’s off-season is spent honing his craft. He said one of his biggest missions this past year was to better learn forward facing sonar.
“It’s not going anywhere,” he said. “You’re going to see more and more tournaments won with (FFS) in the future. It’s kind of one of those deals, jump on the wagon and learn how to be proficient at it or you get left behind.”
Lester knows there are times to rely on it and times to turn it off. He said it shouldn’t be a huge factor for this week’s season opening SiteOne Bassmaster Elite at Lake Okeechobee, but the technology is not just for deep water. He’s found schools as shallow as 3 feet.
“I’ll bet there won’t be a single tournament where somebody in the Top 10 is not catching them off forward facing sonar,” Lester said. “It will tell you a lot of things if you let it.”
Perhaps it will give Lester the edge in this March’s Bassmaster Classic, back on the Tennessee River out of Knoxville. It marks Lester’s eighth championship and was the site of his best finish.
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I think it’s going to be really good fishing. It should be what I would think is one of the best weeks of fishing there is in east Tennessee.”
Although it’s a far piece from Lester’s home in Fayetteville, Tenn., it’s still the Tennessee River, where he cut his teeth. In the 2019 Classic there, Lester took sixth, the best among this year’s field.
Always looking to improve, a Classic title, or an AOY crown, would certainly help Lester top his previous best season of 2022.