Boyd Duckett: The Man Who Won the 2007 Bassmaster
Classic and How He Did It
How Duckett Planned to Fish the Classic
 Editor’s
Note: Boyd Duckett of Demopolis, Alabama, the 46-year-old
owner of a tank trailer leasing and repair company and
avid bass fisherman, never attended a Bassmasters Classic
until the one he won in February, 2007 at Alabama’s
Lay Lake near Birmingham. “I made a decision when
I started professional bass fishing that I wouldn’t
attend a Classic until I could fish in it,” explains
Duckett. How did Duckett win the 2007 Bassmaster Classic,
and what can we learn from Duckett? We saw other tournament
pros use this same tactic that Duckett did – not
fish for ghost bass. That’s why Duckett didn’t
practice on Lay Lake. Then he wouldn’t try to
catch bass in the same places where he’d caught
them when and if he pre-fished the lake. Actually Duckett
probably spent less time on Lay Lake this year than
any other tournament p ro
who fished in the 2007 Classic. But rather than telling
Duckett’s story, let’s let him tell you
how, why and where he won with 48 pounds, 10 ounces
and took home $500,000, beating out second-place Skeet
Reese, who had 48 pounds, 4 ounces and won $45,000 and
third-place Kevin VanDam, who won $40,000 with his 45
pounds, 4 ounces.
Phillips: How old were you when you first started fishing?
Duckett: My brother Earl and I started fishing when
I was about 6. We had a pond we used to walk to through
the woods and fish when we were small.
Phillips: Boyd, Demopolis where you live has two very-distinct
rivers that run together, the Warrior a nd
the Tombigbee. How did fishing those two river systems
help you fish the Coosa River’s Lay Lake successfully?
Duckett: The Warrior River in and around Demopolis has
lots of water willow grass just like Lay Lake has. I
learned to fish for bass in the water willow grass on
the Warrior River near Demopolis and used that knowledge
to fish Lay Lake. But I didn’t fish Lay Lake using
local knowledge. I went into this tournament with a
completely-open mind. I didn’t even practice on
Lay before the cutoff of December 1, 2006. I just wanted
to keep an open mind in this tournament and chase the
bass every day, according to the conditions I found
on the lake each of the tournament days. I fished many
places in this Classic that I’d never been to
before. I wanted to fish like this because I’d
learned that when you fished a tournament, if you fished
every day as though it was the first da y
you’d ever fished a lake, you could find and take
more bass than if you had a game plan and attempted
to work that game plan. I try not to get the mindset
that bass will do a certain thing or act in a certain
way. Instead I try to deal with the conditions as I
find them each day.
Phillips: When and how did you catch your big bass
on the last day of the Classic? When you caught that
6-pounder, did you think you’d won the Classic?
Duckett: I told my cameraman who was in the boat with
me this last day of the Classic after I had my limit
of bass, “If I get a 5- or a 6-pound bite, I’ll
win.” I knew about how many pounds of bass everyone
else was catching, and how they were fishing. I felt
if I could catch that one big bass I could win the 2007
Classic. Skeet Reese caught more bass than I thought
he would. He was a great fisherman, and I certainly
underestimated him.
Tomorrow: The Rest of the Classic
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