Log hauler turns to pro circuit

Sean Andrachick has parked his logging trucks, put away his chain saws, and replaced them with his other tools of the trade: fishing rods.

When spring road breakup comes around and the logging trucks are not allowed in the forests, that's time for Andrachick, 29, to hit the road in search of fish. During downtime in spring, this Marion log hauler is a professional fisherman, competing on the FLW Everstart Tour and the Bassmaster Tour. He's in California this week fishing an FLW tournament in the rivers near San Francisco Bay.

In just two years on the FLW tour, Andrachick has risen quickly among the ranks of pro bass anglers. He finished 110th out of 200 anglers on the FLW tour last year - a slow start he attributed to "learning the waters," but since then he's moved up to 24th - a spot that if he holds on to, will allow him to qualify for the $1 million FLW finals this fall in Alabama.

He was Montana's BASS Angler of the Year last year and is the only professional angler from Montana on the FLW or Bassmaster tours.

Prior to joining the FLW Everstart Tour, Andrachick fished the Montana Bass Federation tour for seven years, and this year is the top finisher on that tour.

With that kind of potential, two years ago Andrachick figured he'd test the waters on the pro tour. "I thought 'what the heck' and decided I'd see how I'd do going up against the big boys," he said in a phone interview from California this week.

"I'm a trout fisherman by nature, but I like the tournament fishing, I like the competition."

He's fishing in the FLW Everstart Tour's final event of the season this week.

The money's not as good as logging, but the payouts to the top finishers in an FLW tournament can be around $10,000. After two days of practice fishing on Monday and Tuesday, the anglers began the tournament in earnest Wednesday. On Friday the field will be cut to the top 10 fishermen who will go head to head, flipping, jigging and pitching their baits to the spawning bass.

"The practice session is all about locating fish, establishing a pattern," Andrachick said.

At this week's tournament Andrachick is working on "flipping."

This technique involves throwing an unweighted lure, such as a stick bait - a rubber creature that resembles a bait fish. Using a Texas rig where the bait is attached to hide the hook, making it weedless, you can throw it in heavy-cover conditions. "It's lots of fun and works pretty good," Andrachick said.

What Andrachick will be looking for this week are some "kicker" fish. These are the big guys that will put the two-day total over the top and the angler into the money. With colder weather moving in at the Everstart tournament, bigger fish will be harder to come by. This week it will likely take 25 to 30 pounds of fish to "take home a check," Andrachick said. He's hoping to pick up an eight- or nine-pounder to go with those twos and threes.

"You will catch two-pounders all day, but you need something bigger to put you over the top to win the tournament," he said. Some of the techniques he's using in California this week are similar to what Andrachick uses when he's fishing in Montana bass waters.

For bass fishermen, spring is like three months of Christmas. From now through June, bass will spawn in the warmer, shallower water. That puts the big fish in reach of anglers before the fish move to deeper water during the summer. In spring spawning mode, bass are territorial around their spawning beds and will strike at baits that come too close to home. This is called "reaction" fishing.

Good baits to use in this season are spinner baits and buzz baits that entice the fish to strike. When the fish have lockjaw and won't seem to bite, they'll pass on a worm placed in front of their nose - but they'll attack a reaction bait. "They're not so much hungry, they just have to decide right now whether they want

to eat it or not," Andrachick said.

One of Andrachick's favorite techniques - on the tour or in Montana - is drop shotting. This is a technique where you tie a palomar knot and a hook about 16 inches up from the end of your leader. At the end of your line, attach your weight. "You can just sit there and jig it," Andrachick says. "It's good everywhere." You can use this technique on bedded fish, spawning fish, even smallmouth bass.

Noxon Reservoir near Trout Creek is a favorite bass water in Northwest Montana. The waterway, an impoundment of the Clark Fork River, holds good populations of smallmouth and largemouth bass and it was on this lake that Chancy Jeschke of Kalispell landed a 6.29-pound largemouth in a Montana Bass Federation tournament last weekend.

At the tournament on Noxon last weekend, reaction and drop shotting were the tickets. The smallmouth and largemouth bass species - both of which are not native to Montana - use very different habitats. Smallmouth are found near rocky banks, boulders and moving water, while largemouth will concentrate in woody structures, slack water and warmer water.

Both species at this time of year will come into shallower flats to spawn. "If you want to catch big fish, now is the time to do it," he said. The hardest part about fishing for smallmouth, Andrachick said, is they're nomadic. "They're hard to count on."

Another favorite technique for Andrachick is to use a twin-tail Gary Yamamoto spider grub or a Sweet Beaver lure. This is a "creature bait" that has tentacles and ribs and imitates a crawfish. Thrown weightless and rigged properly, the bait floats away from you so you can get under docks.

The last technique in Andrachick's tackle box this week will be a spinner bait. These flashy lures with colorful skirts will entice fish to strike. Andrachick is fishing tidal waters, so the levels fluctuate.

When the water begins to flow over submerged points, fish will move out there to feed on what's coming by them. Andrachick says you won't catch big fish with this technique, but you'll stack up some solid three-pounders because "the big fish don't want to work that hard for their food."

All tournament fishing is catch and release, and no longer do you see the anglers weighing their fish in front of large crowds at the dock or tournament headquarters in front of television cameras. After being caught the fish are kept in live wells until they can be weighed on the water by tournament officials. They are then placed in a 500-gallon live well on a pontoon and released. "They take good care of them," Andrachick said.

In his two years fishing on the FLW tour, Andrachick has learned professional fishing is hard to break into. He's fortunate that he's able to take three months off in spring and hit the road in search of fish. "It costs a lot of money and you're gone a lot. You just don't start out and think you'll make a million dollars."

Entry fees are around $800 per tournament, plus there are travel fees and equipment to be purchased. Sponsors, however, help take care of that. Andrachick is sponsored by Skeeter boats, Yamaha motors and Edge performance products, and Snappy Sport Senter in Kalispell even helps him out.

His top finish this year was $5,000 for a ninth place. There are two major national professional bass tours: the FLW and the BASS (Bass Angler Sportsman Society). For years the BASS tour was the heavy hitter, providing the big payouts and the national television coverage. Now, even though ESPN has bought the BASS tour, the FLW tour is nipping at its heels.

FLW provides more in payouts, while BASS is all about promotion, Andrachick says. "If you're out for stardom, people knowing your name and you want to be on TV, go with BASS," Andrachick said.

"But if you want to get paid, FLW is the way to go." The FOX network is now providing television coverage of the FLW tour, and Andrachick says "a lot of people are starting to turn over" to the FLW. There are also many smaller regional tours for anglers to compete in. Professional angling is something he plans on sticking with. His goal last year was to make the Montana angler of the year, and he accomplished that.

This year his goal is to make the FLW championships in Alabama. "Now I just have to catch a couple of fish here and I'll make the championship," he said. "I'm doing really well this year. I'm getting better and better, I'm learning a lot more, and getting the confidence I need."

He does, however, realize that real life is not all about fishing. He needs to get back to his log-hauling business in Marion. "I was supposed to be back this week.

While the sport is competitive, pro anglers develop a certain camaraderie. "Most guys will lend you their boat if you blew up yours, but they're not going to tell you where to catch fish," he said.

Andrachick often fishes with John Kline, brother of Gary Kline, one of the world's top bass anglers. John Kline lives in Whitefish. "You have your group of people who are really tight, really close, and you can tell them something and know they're not going to tell everybody else. "It's that fishing thing."

On the Net: Flwoutdoors.com