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For the second consecutive season, R.J. Bennett is the “kid” on the CITGO Bassmaster Tour — this time at age 22. The second time around, though, the young California pro entered the season considerably wiser.

“Last year was a real good experience,” Bennett said. “Last year I did fair. I cashed two checks, and I should have cashed three.

“It wasn't quite what I wanted, but this year I'm looking for revenge.”

For Bennett, being the youngest pro on Tour last season was an eye-opener. Nevertheless, he says that the other, older pros never treated him like a youngster.

“I think everyone who qualifies for this level can catch bass, and everyone else knows that and realizes you know what you're doing,” Bennett said. “Everybody was great to me last year.

“This year I’m definitely not staring at my competition. I'm not afraid. I'm ready to come out and fish. I've got a little bit of experience on some of the waters this year, and I'm more ready to catch them.”

So far, Bennett has seen some improvement from last season when he finished 102nd in the Tour standings.

“My rookie season was about as tough as I expected it to be,” he said. “I thought I'd have a couple of tricks up my sleeve, but nothing really paid off. This year, it's starting to pay off a little bit. Some of the stuff that I do out West is starting to pay off out here for me.”

The fresh-faced professional angler was asked the biggest lesson he learned last season.

“My biggest lesson was not to get suckered into what everybody else is doing,” he replied. “You know, you have to fish for your own fish and find your own type of fishing. Just because everybody says you should throw a Rat-L-Trap, it doesn't mean you have to do it. You can go out and find your own thing.”

Currently, Bennett is 81st in the CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings with finishes of 30th, 153rd, 44th and 94th.

SWITCH HITTERS. The non-boater field in the Lake Guntersville Tour event included a pair of highly accomplished walleye pros.

Mike Gofron of Illinois was the 1999 Professional Walleye Trail Angler of the Year and part of the gold medal-winning team in last summer’s ESPN Great Outdoor Games. Wisconsin’s John Kolinski was the 2002 PWT Angler of the Year.

Gofron, who fished with Davy Hite and Brett Hite, finished 70th with a shared weight total of 29 pounds. Kolinski, who partnered with Jimmy Mason and Brooks Rogers, placed 111th with 18-4.

“I had such a great time fishing the Great Outdoor Games with Denny Brauer, and right now – back in Illinois – we have about 16 inches of ice on our lakes,” Gofron said. “So I decided to come down and fish as an amateur. It was a lot of fun.”

“I always wanted to see what the other side of the world is like,” Kolinski said. “I fish walleyes as a pro, and I wanted to see how they do it on the bass side. It’s a lot different from walleye, that’s for sure. I’ve enjoyed doing it.

“Part of my intention was to see if I could do it and see if I could compete against these guys in bass tournaments.”

GREAT ANGLER DEBATE. Two-time CITGO Bassmaster Angler of the Year Jimmy Houston was one of the 35 candidates for the ESPN Outdoors’ Greatest Angler Debate presented by John Deere. Inside BASS asked him whom he would vote for as the best of the best.

“I’d vote for Roland,” Houston said. “He’s just been the best fisherman ever. Nobody’s come close to the kind of winning that he’s done. Nine-time Angler of the Year – nobody’s come close to that in BASS or any other organization for that matter.

“I don’t think there’s any comparison. Nobody dominated the game like he did, and I doubt anybody will ever dominate the game like he did. Of course, Roland is 65 and still catches them pretty danged good. I think he’ll probably win the debate hands down. A lot of the younger people might not really realize what he’s done. It’s like some of the great old athletes. A lot of the people who didn’t see those guys play might not appreciate how good they really were. A lot of them that were not around when Roland was in his heyday don’t really realize what kind of record he’s got.”

From now through March, fishing fans will have the opportunity to cast their votes for the top angler on Bassmaster.com/vote. In April, Greatest Angler Debate programming will begin on ESPN2 as part of BASS Saturday. The programming will feature biographical shows on the top 10 anglers as well as debate programs featuring fans, the media and professional anglers. Fans will find stats and stories in the pages of Bassmaster Magazine, BASS Times, Bassmaster.com and on the weekly ESPN Outdoors radio show. In June and July, the debate will heat up again as the fans choose between the top two anglers during a second round of voting on Bassmaster.com.

The debate will conclude in Pittsburgh — at the 2005 Classic — when two champions are crowned. One will be given the Classic trophy and the other will be hailed as the greatest angler of all time.

WEIRDEST CATCH. Former Classic champion Paul Elias puts a new definition on the term rat fishing.

“I once caught a dead rat on a spoon,” the veteran Mississippi pro said. “It was in the finals of a MegaBucks event in Guntersville. I had some flowing water coming out of a pipe. I was seeing a lot of fish, but I couldn’t get anything to bite so I tied on a spoon. I threw it out there, jigged it one time and hooked a dead rat.”

DID YOU KNOW? There have been six wire-to-wire winners in past Classics: Rick Clunn (1977 and 1984), Hank Parker (1979), Bo Dowden (1980), Stanley Mitchell (1981) and Jay Yelas (2002).

PRO BIRTHDAYS Florida’s Chuck Economou will celebrate his 49th birthday on March 27th, while Curt Lytle of Virginia is 35 on March 28th.

IF I HADN’T BECOME A BASS PRO… Veteran Texas pro Zell Rowland would likely be a fishing guide. “I was guiding back in high school on Lake Conroe,” he said. “I guided with Rick Clunn and Randy Fite for a while.”

THEY SAID IT. “I’m a little superstitious. Today, I was boat 131. The worst bull I ever rode was called 131.” Texas pro Cody Bird, a former professional bull rider, explains his dismal catch of a lone two-pound, one-ounce bass in the second round of the Tour event on Lake Guntersville.

BASS is the world's largest fishing organization, sanctioning more than 20,000 tournaments worldwide through its Federation. The CITGO Bassmaster Tournament Trail, which includes the Bassmaster Elite 50 series, is the oldest and most prestigious pro bass fishing tournament circuit and continues to set the standard for credibility, professionalism and sportsmanship as it has since 1968.

Sponsors of the CITGO Bassmaster Tour include CITGO Petroleum Corp., Toyota, Busch Beer, Purolator, Triton Boats, Mercury Marine, Berkley, Lowrance Electronics, MotorGuide, Bass Pro Shops and Cialis (tadalafil).

Inside Bass, Courtesy BASS

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