Siloam Springs fisherman enjoys Bassmaster Classic

n Fishing wasn’t ideal, but everything else was an experience of a lifetime for Carl Svebek.

Courtesy photo Carl Svebek, far right, poses with some of his sponsors during fan appreciation day at the Bassmaster Classic in South Carolina on Wednesday, March 14.
Courtesy photo Carl Svebek, far right, poses with some of his sponsors during fan appreciation day at the Bassmaster Classic in South Carolina on Wednesday, March 14.

Siloam Springs professional fisherman Carl Svebek finished 47th out of 52 competitors at the 2018 GEICO Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell near Greenville, S.C.

Svebek hauled in 17 pounds, 7 ounces of bass in two days while Jordan Lee made history by repeating as classic champ with a three-day total of 45-8.

Despite the less-than-desirable result, Svebek was smitten after fulfilling a life-long dream to compete in what's known as the Super Bowl of bass fishing. The days leading up to the main event featured Svebek getting bused to interviews, meetings, banquets and a fan appreciation day, with dozens of autograph seekers clamoring for fishermen's signatures at each stop along the way.

"What an experience, man," Svebek said. "The fishing was kind of a crushing blow. I would have loved to have done better, but man, the experience of a little short fat guy like me from Northwest Arkansas of getting treated like a rockstar for two weeks, you couldn't beat it."

Svebek said he caught 14 keepers after a fast start to the first day, but he "just didn't have any good ones."

"I felt good about the situation," Svebek said. "I was eager, excited, but I didn't let the nerves get to me. Right off the get-go, I knew it was going to be great, but I lost a four-pounder in the first three minutes.

"I wanted to break the rod over my knee, then I ended up catching two more in the first five minutes and then I just flat out don't know what went wrong."

Rain on Day 2 resulted in anglers trying a variety of tactics to induce bites from bigger fish. Svebek caught a pair of two-pounders, bigger than any fish he hauled in on Day 1, and ended up weighing in more than nine pounds of bass.

"I knew it wasn't going to be enough," Svebek said. "With the rain, I figured the fish would roam a little more, so I tried to switch up everything because I knew I needed 17-18 pounds to even have a chance to move on (to fish with the top 25 competitors on Day 3).

"I knew it wasn't one of my better tournaments," Svebek said. "I said to myself that I can moan around and complain about it, or I can go and make the best of it because I still had a really good time.

"Driving home, all I could think about is my next tournament and how I'm going to approach it."

Up next for Svebek is a pair of team tournaments in April that will keep him closer to home. The first is at the Lake of the Ozarks followed by a stop at Table Rock Lake that he'll fish with his son, Christopher Svebek, a freshman at Siloam Springs High. He'll then head back to the East Coast May 10-12 to fish the 2018 Bass Pro Shops Eastern Open #2 on Lake Norman in Cornelius, N.C.

Fishing has even become more of a family affair. His daughter, McKenzie Svebek, is helping Svebek learn the ropes of social media, which has changed the landscape for professional fishermen since his last stint as a pro, which ended in 2009.

"I had to hire my daughter to head up my Facebook," Svebek said. "She was home from college for spring break and I had over 1,500 comments and 800 friend requests or whatever since the start of this whole deal. I consider myself a pretty humble ol' country boy, so this was all new for me.

"I had done a lot of videos over the past year and she's helping with everything like getting me hooked up on Twitter and all of that."

Perhaps the best part of Svebek's first Bassmaster Classic experience was getting to enjoy it with his family and sponsors. He also got a surprise visitor for the Day 2 weigh-in inside Ben Secours Wellness Arena in downtown Greenville, S.C.

"My high school coach, coach Watson, I hadn't seen in 33 years drove six hours to make the weigh in," Svebek said. "He kind of shaped me into the guy I am today, so when he showed up, it got kind of emotional because I was pretty excited to see my old high school coach.

"There was over 143,000 people that showed up over the three days, the largest crowd they had ever had at Classic, so it was a great experience.

"I've just got to figure out a way to get back in it."

General News on 03/28/2018