Flipping the Spawn

Click on the image below to download article in PDF.

Virginian Consistent, But Sees Room To Improve

By Jonathan Manteuffel
Special to BassFan

Anytime an angler can look back on his Bassmaster Elite Series season and see the kind of consistency that Virginia’s John Crews demonstrated in 2011, he has to feel pretty good about it. He easily qualified for his sixth Bassmaster Classic with a 30th-place finish in the Toyota Tundra B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year (AOY) race.

His best tournament finish was 16th at Lake Murray, and he didn’t have any serious bombs all year. He turned in respectable 17th-place showing at the Bassmaster Classic. All in all, he was “Crews-ing” on all cylinders.

“I was consistent, that was probably my biggest accomplishment last year,” he said. “I fished well, but at the same time I lost some key fish in a number of tournaments that probably cost me some Top 20s and even Top 10s. That’s what I need to improve most on this year.

“It comes down to focus and dialing in on a few details. There are a lot of small things that add up. You have to make sure you execute 100 percent of the time, and don’t get distracted. I was putting myself into situations where I had opportunities to do better, and I need to capitalize on those this year. So that’s my biggest goal now, to execute well all the time.

“That, qualifying again for the next Classic, and winning a tournament,” he continued. “The Red River Classic next month would be a good place to start.”