Herren's reason?
by:  Bassfan     1/15/2008

FLW Tour stalwart Matt Herren, as noted yesterday, is fishing this week's St. Johns Bassmaster Southern Open. It's not the Alabama pro's first dabble in the Opens by any means – he fished two of three last year, and full runs back in 2003-04, as well as several Invitationals back in the '90s. But he will fish a full season this year, which means he could qualify for the Bassmaster Classic and/or the Bassmaster Elite Series.

BassFan asked him his objective in the Opens. In other words, is he merely filling out his schedule, or would he like the option to fish tour-level BASS events next year? Remember, he runs a Skeeter, which puts him outside the fold for any of the lucrative FLW sponsor-team deals.

He said: "I'm just keeping my options open, and trying to get my sponsors more exposure. I'm not sure if I qualified for the Elites that I'd go. But I'd like to have that option. What I'd really like is to qualify for the Classic."

He scooted out of Florida for a meeting at Skeeter headquarters yesterday, but will be back at practice tomorrow. He noted the St. Johns field is "pretty loaded - as deep a field as you'll see in any event this year, with several key locals in it." That's compounded by the fact that the St. Johns is a tidal river, where he thinks the local advantage will play big-time.

"It's just a fickle tidal river. When you grow up fishing it, you understand how the tide affects those fish, so it's one of the few waters where local water's huge.

"My goal is just to kind of be steady through these events," he added. "We're going to Guntersville again this year (for the Opens), which I have a little knowledge of – I'm familiar with it – and Santee Copper should fit my style a little bit. So I'm just trying to stay in the game (at the St. Johns). My goal is to stay in the Top 25. You never know what your chances are. We'll just go see what happens."

> Herren ended last season ranked 36th in the BassFan World Rankings presented by Tru-Tungsten, down from 8th at the start of the season. He did notch the first significant win of his career, though, at the Dardanelle Eastern FLW Series.