LIVETARGET today announced it has added 2014 Forrest Wood Cup champion Anthony Gagliardi to its pro staff.
“Anthony is a highly proven angler with 17 years of experience at the pro level and both an FLW Angler of the Year and Forrest Wood Cup titles to his credit," said Gary Abernethy, marketing manager at LIVETARGET. "We’ve talked to Anthony over the years, and with our ongoing growth at LIVETARGET, it was the right time to add Anthony onto our team.”
Abernethy believes Gagliardi's fishing style will pair nicely with LIVETARGET's new Swimbait Series that was introduced last summer.
"We also like the fact that he is involved with the selling side of the tackle industry via his rod brand Level that he operates," Abernethy added. "He will be able to effectively coach anglers on what rod actions and types work best with specific techniques and applications for all the LIVETARGET lure products.”
Gagliardi is excited about the new relationship with LIVETARGET.
“I’ve been looking at LIVETARGET for a good while and as a Tour angler we face conditions that require a full portfolio of lure products to match the forage types and fisheries we visit in a season and LIVETARGET definitely has that depth of product line," he said. "I’m so impressed with their degree of detail in lures and unique offerings that I look forward to using them for the over the full fishing season. The new Swimbait Series has some very unique and appealing designs.”
So how does a recent Forrest Wood Cup champion gauge what a successful season is just one year after his career-defining achievement?
Some may think Anthony Gagliardi’s idea of a successful tournament season may have gotten skewed after he won the Cup in dramatic fashion to cap off his 2014 season. He’s been around long enough to realize that that was a rare opportunity in which the stars aligned in his favor at his home lake for a 4-day period. He wasn’t so naïve to think anything short of another Cup triumph would be deemed a failure. He knew it would be hard to win at a game of “Can You Top This?” during the 2015 FLW Tour season.
He held his own by posting two Top-20 finishes and finishing 16th in points, his best showing since 2009, all the while handling the duties that come with being the reigning Cup champ and trying to get his new rod company off the ground.
“It was successful,” he said. “I had a pretty good year. When you end a year like I did (in 2014) and I think this is true for anyone after an Angler of the Year or Cup win, the biggest thing was to make sure I didn’t have a let down.
“It’s the same as football where a team comes off a big win they let off gas after that emotional high and then has a letdown against a team they shouldn’t lose to. I wanted to have the same focus and have a great year and I felt like I did that for the most part. I had a couple tournaments that got away from me, but I still wanted to finish as high as I could.”
Looking back, he was mostly pleased with how his year as the reigning Cup champion played out.
“I didn’t put much thought into what I expected it to be, but it was good,” he said. “I guess I could’ve used it to my advantage more in certain ways, but I’m pleased with how the year went.” Read more
So how does a recent Forrest Wood Cup champion gauge what a successful season is just one year after his career-defining achievement?
Some may think Anthony Gagliardi’s idea of a successful tournament season may have gotten skewed after he won the Cup in dramatic fashion to cap off his 2014 season.
He’s been around long enough to realize that that was a rare opportunity in which the stars aligned in his favor at his home lake for a 4-day period. He wasn’t so naïve to think anything short of another Cup triumph would be deemed a failure. He knew it would be hard to win at a game of “Can You Top This?” during the 2015 FLW Tour season.
He held his own by posting two Top-20 finishes and finishing 16th in points, his best showing since 2009, all the while handling the duties that come with being the reigning Cup champ and trying to get his new rod company off the ground.
“It was successful,” he said. “I had a pretty good year. When you end a year like I did (in 2014) and I think this is true for anyone after an Angler of the Year or Cup win, the biggest thing was to make sure I didn’t have a let down.
“It’s the same as football where a team comes off a big win they let off gas after that emotional high and then has a letdown against a team they shouldn’t lose to. I wanted to have the same focus and have a great year and I felt like I did that for the most part. I had a couple tournaments that got away from me, but I still wanted to finish as high as I could.” Read more
I’m used to fishing blueback lakes and chasing the bass that are chasing them. In the winter, though, blueback lakes sort of fall back into line with non-blueback lakes. That is, the bite reverts to a shad-type of bite as the bait and bass become more stationary and bottom-oriented. If the fish you catch spit up anything, it’s likely to be shad. For me, it becomes prime time again for jigging spoons. Spoons used to be a lot more popular as winter baits in shad lakes, but there doesn’t seem to be as many people fishing with them these days. They’ve sort of gone out of fashion, but that might be one of the best reasons to use them now.
Most of the time when I’m fishing a spoon I’m looking for bait – in creek channels, ditches, along deep points or on flats next to creek mouths – anywhere you might find bait schooled up. I graph and look for balls of shad. Then I just lower the spoon down to the same depth as the shad and start working it up and down; snapping it a foot or so and letting it fall back. If the line jumps or stops, I set the hook. I also fish spoons in brushpiles and the like because this is where some of the biggest bass hang out. Here, I just work the spoon right down in the middle of it. The spoon will hang up sometimes, but it’s usually fairly easy to jiggle out.
Although there are all sorts of jigging spoons around now, as far as I’m concerned it’s hard to beat a ¾-ounce Hopkins Little Shorty in hammered silver or gold. The bass like it, so I like it.
You’ve heard about Chevy pro Anthony Gagliardi’s storybook season, and the techniques he used to win the 2014 Forrest Wood Cup.
Beyond that, we thought it was time to get to know the South Carolina pro himself. Read More
Anthony Gagliardi didn’t even have time to savor his Forrest Wood Cup victory on Lake Murray before the naysayers started showing up. He isn’t a good sportsman, say some. His victory should be nullified, say others.
The smear campaign started soon after an alleged incident on the water that was reported on a couple of Web-based bass forums. People jumped to conclusions without knowing the facts, but these days that’s pretty standard operating procedure for some who have nothing better to do than put a negative spin on everything. Read More