Matt Herren – A Much Needed Break Before Heading North

by Matt Herren

It’s still hard for me to believe that we are six tournaments in to the ’17 season. Life as a professional fisherman is like living in a vortex that never stops spinning. The tournaments themselves are the simple part of the job, but it’s all the other aspects of it and balancing a family and home life that creates the real challenge.

My job is no more difficult than anyone’s else’s that travels for weeks on end to earn a living but I bet mine is a whole lot more fun than most.  Here’s an example, we’re on a “break” in the Elite Series schedule, but I’m busy working. After our last tournament at Lake Dardanelle, I went to Texas for the Skeeter Owner’s Tournament and a Skeeter photo shoot and have finally returned home to regroup.

So, now that I’m home, it’s the time to really looking forward to a little down time for a couple of weeks and well needed break to kind of regroup and prepare for the Northern swing and the last tournaments of the Elite Series schedule. Outside of needing to reorganize, I also need a little quality time with family and friends and kind of shut the brain off so to speak.

We got the 4th of July coming up, and in the south it’s a big tradition to spend time with family and friends and celebrate the independence day of our country.

Windshield Time – My view for much of the last month

After that I’ll head to New York, and I’m really looking forward to going up north. It’s always like a breath of fresh air and head up there to catch those big smallmouth. Several years ago I used to dread getting to this point in the season because I really struggled with fishing deep clear northern fisheries but putting in some extra time up north has paid off in better finishes on the northern lakes. I’m by no means a smallmouth guru but I’ve gained a lot more confidence on those waters and confidence in professional fishing is everything.

Along with the fishing, the final reason I’m ready to head north is the weather. I love the summertime up there – it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s a really welcome break from Southern heat. The summers in upstate New York are absolutely beautiful and the fishing is awesome.

Need I say more? I’m gone!!!

Hope everyone enjoys their holiday, and I’ll check back in soon