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TOP JOBS

Competitive women's bass fishing has been around for decades with some of the biggest circuits taking place in Texas. So in a way, it is fitting that BASS' Women's Bassmaster Tour is starting its most important season at Lewisville Lake, just north of Dallas, with a tournament on Thursday through Saturday.

Women have toiled in the shadow of more popular men's tours, competing for relative peanuts compared to the men's gold. However, there is a pot at the end of the rainbow. This year's WBT Angler of the Year qualifies for the 2009 Bassmaster Classic. That angler will be named after a five-stop tour that concludes in October on Arkansas' Lake Hamilton.

Before the women anglers can look ahead and pack bags for Shreveport and the Classic, their eyes are on the $51,000 cash and prizes that will go to the winner on the angler or boater side of the Lewisville tournament. Competitors include Tyler's Diane Phillips, Lisa Craig and Beverly Graham of Chandler, Pam Ridgle of Brownsboro, Cindy Van Horn of Athens and Karol Whitehurst of Winnsboro.

Whitehurst is crossing from a non-boater to the boater side for the tournament after three wins last season, including the tour championship on Lake Keowee in South Carolina.

Whitehurst began her career at the last tournament of the WBT's inaugural 2005 season. She finished 27th on Arkansas' Lake Dardanelle. She fished every tournament last season with wins on Guntersville Lake, Ala., and the Red River out of Shreveport.

As a co-angler she has earned $88,000, most earned from three first-place boats. Her potential payday climbs tremendously as a boater. Arkansas' Tammy Richardson has won three events from the front of the boat and earned $168,930 in cash and prizes

"I am very excited," Whitehurst said of her first outing as a pro. "I am nervous, but excited at the same time. I don't know which is more so, but I think I am more nervous because it is new being on the front of the boat."

An x-ray technician at East Texas Medical Center's Mount Vernon hospital, Whitehurst said she plans to attack the tour just as she did a year ago - go out to win and have fun.

The 51-year-old angler grew up fishing with her father and grandfather in her native Arkansas. She honed skills over the last decade fishing tournaments on East Texas lakes with her boyfriend, Steve Bennett.

After encouragement, Whitehurst went out on her own.

"I like the idea of tournament fishing anyway. Just the excitement. I especially like this one fishing with women with similar interests," she explained.

Like a lot of beginners, she opted for the co-angler role. Timid, she mirrored the style of the angler in the front but without success. She then came to the point where she started to trust her skills.

"I am used to team fishing and used to fishing in the back. I know I may be fishing a different bait, but I still can be catching fish from the back. From the back, you usually don't fish with the bait. I fish with what I am comfortable with," Whitehurst noted. The angler said she has been successful on Lewisville.

Already a difficult lake, Lewisville, now risen and murky, could be especially challenging this week.

Whitehurst's goal is to be among the top 20 on Friday qualifying for the final day. Although a rookie, she has bigger goals.

"Angler of the year would be nice. That is what I am going to aim for. I would really like to be up in the top, but I am aiming, like everyone else, for angler of the year," she said.

Whitehurst's success earned her a sponsor's boat from Arkansas' Legend boats even before she became a tournament boater along with Lake Fork Trophy Tackle and Ocean Waves sunglasses.

While the prize package awarded to the winning woman is equivalent to the cash prize offered in the Bassmaster Elite series, Whitehurst doesn't complain.

"To me it is very well organized. I am surprised with as much as there is to do that they are organized as they can be. Everything is set up just right," she noted.

The angler also likes the on-water education she has received.

"I fished with my boyfriend for 13 years. I got used to him as a partner. When you fish with the other women, it is like a whole new type of fishing. Fishing with the same person so long is like fishing with yourself," Whitehurst explained.

In contrast to Whitehurst, Tyler's Phillips has fished almost every WBT and, with the exception of one tournament, competed from the front of the boat.

"My first tournament I went as a non-boater to see how the (tournament) was. My husband asked me if I learned anything and I said, 'Yes, never go without the boat,' " Phillips said.

A Tyler native, Phillips took up bass fishing when she married 25 years ago at age 18. She and her husband, Ronnie, lived near Lake Palestine and, at the time, fishing was a way for the struggling newlyweds to supplement groceries.

Over the years, they began to fish more recreationally and, as her husband left town more often for his oilfield job, Phillips learned to operate the boat to take her children fishing.

Although she hasn't had the financial success Whitehurst has, Phillips has been climbing in the standings. Her first year, she finished the season 53rd. She improved to 38th last year, and had a 16th place finish on the Red River, the last regular season tournament.

A self-described competitor, Phillips said she hopes to pick up the pace even more this year.

"This is the year I am going to win a tournament. I am very confident this year. I actually never stopped fishing over the winter. The more you fish the more confident you get," said Phillips, who along with her mother runs a home decor booth at Canton's First Monday when she isn't on the lake.

The angler said she found the tour to be harder than she thought because the women are a competitive group. However, she added they are also a good group, helping one another learn the nuances of bass fishing. In her case, Phillips expertise is shallow water fishing, but with tips picked up from others, she is becoming more skilled in deeper water.

Unlike a lot of others on the tour, Phillips is a one-woman team.

"It is a lot of work. I travel by myself. I have had to learn a lot. I knew how to drive the boat, but I had to learn how to repair props, rewire a battery, to become a mechanic," she explained.

Her primary sponsor is her husband. She has received assistance from East Texas Marine in keeping her aging Skeeter running and has a small sponsorship from StayNCharge.

"You have to learn. It turns into a job when you fish 10 days before the tournament, fishing from daylight to dark. You have to love it. I enjoy every bit of it," she said.

Steve Knight is the outdoor writer for the Tyler Morning Telegraph. He can be reached by calling 903-596-6277 or by e-mail at outdoor@tylerpaper.com.