When Clark Wendlandt began his professional bass fishing career in 1992 on the St. Lawrence River, the Yamaha Pro never imagined he would end his career competing on the same river more than three decades later.
Wendlandt, 58, announced his retirement early last month, after finishing 44th at the St. Lawrence, the final event of the 2024 Bassmaster® Elite Season. “Over the years the St. Lawrence and adjacent Lake Ontario have become my favorite places to fish, too,” he laughs, “even though I never won a tournament on the river or the lake. I fell in love with that fishery, and I know I’m going to miss going up there each year as I have been.”
The challenges of finding his own fish and figuring out how to catch them on big water –the mystery of fishing -- are what the Texas-based angler has always loved most about tournament bass fishing, and he’s quick to point out how thankful he is to have had a career that allowed him to do that.
“During my high school years I became really involved in bass fishing,” remembers the Yamaha Pro, “especially after a friend showed me how to skip lures under boat docks and overhanging limbs. It was like the door to a new world opened for me. I really started studying bass after that, and I’ve never stopped studying them.”
The springboard that propelled Wendlandt into professional tournament competition came in 1992 when he won the Red Man All American on the Arkansas River in Muscogee, OK. He won enough prize money to finance his travel, and even gained his first sponsorships.
He entered the Bassmaster® New York Invitational on the St. Lawrence that September and finished 9th. His career path was set.
He continued to fish the Bassmaster® events, and in 1997 added the FLW tournaments to his schedule. In a truly remarkable show of skill and endurance in fishing both series simultaneously, that year he won the first of his three FLW Angler of the Year titles. The others came in 2000 and 2009.
“In 2002, I stopped fishing the B.A.S.S.® events and continued fishing with the FLW fulltime,” Wendlandt continues, “and I stayed with them through the 2019 season. I won four events, and was fortunate to qualify for 18 Forrest Wood Cup championships during the FLW years, but I’m most proud of the three
AOY titles.
“I was a far different type of fisherman in the beginning of my career than I am today,” he laughs. “I was good at finding fish because I covered so much water, but I wasn’t quite as good at finishing tournaments because I always wanted to go to my next spot.
“I know I took myself away from winning fish on more than one occasion because I always thought I could catch more or larger bass in another area. It took me a long time to figure that out. I fished two FLW events on my home lake in Texas, Lake Travis, and I had top-5 finishes in both, but I feel like I should have, or certainly could have, won both.”
In 2019, Wendlandt returned to B.A.S.S. competition fulltime, and the following year he won the B.A.S.S.® Angler of the Year title, his proudest career achievement and the individual title many consider the greatest in professional bass fishing.
“It was the Covid year,” he notes, “and after the first event on the St. Johns River in Florida in February, the entire schedule was postponed until June. During that time I fished nearly every day.
“I truly love fishing, and during those weeks of postponement, I just got back to the joy of fishing. Learning what bass are doing at any particular time absolutely intrigues me, and I was able to do it almost daily with no pressure whatsoever.
“That translated into a type of momentum when the tournaments resumed. I caught fish wherever we went, even though it seemed like we were on a different lake practically every week.”
Wendlandt’s legacy is one every tournament pro can admire. For more than three decades he dedicated himself to working hard and striving to improve himself, and as those who know him well say, “He did things the right way.”
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Wendlandt, 58, announced his retirement early last month, after finishing 44th at the St. Lawrence, the final event of the 2024 Bassmaster® Elite Season. “Over the years the St. Lawrence and adjacent Lake Ontario have become my favorite places to fish, too,” he laughs, “even though I never won a tournament on the river or the lake. I fell in love with that fishery, and I know I’m going to miss going up there each year as I have been.”
The challenges of finding his own fish and figuring out how to catch them on big water –the mystery of fishing -- are what the Texas-based angler has always loved most about tournament bass fishing, and he’s quick to point out how thankful he is to have had a career that allowed him to do that.
“During my high school years I became really involved in bass fishing,” remembers the Yamaha Pro, “especially after a friend showed me how to skip lures under boat docks and overhanging limbs. It was like the door to a new world opened for me. I really started studying bass after that, and I’ve never stopped studying them.”
The springboard that propelled Wendlandt into professional tournament competition came in 1992 when he won the Red Man All American on the Arkansas River in Muscogee, OK. He won enough prize money to finance his travel, and even gained his first sponsorships.
He entered the Bassmaster® New York Invitational on the St. Lawrence that September and finished 9th. His career path was set.
He continued to fish the Bassmaster® events, and in 1997 added the FLW tournaments to his schedule. In a truly remarkable show of skill and endurance in fishing both series simultaneously, that year he won the first of his three FLW Angler of the Year titles. The others came in 2000 and 2009.
“In 2002, I stopped fishing the B.A.S.S.® events and continued fishing with the FLW fulltime,” Wendlandt continues, “and I stayed with them through the 2019 season. I won four events, and was fortunate to qualify for 18 Forrest Wood Cup championships during the FLW years, but I’m most proud of the three
AOY titles.
“I was a far different type of fisherman in the beginning of my career than I am today,” he laughs. “I was good at finding fish because I covered so much water, but I wasn’t quite as good at finishing tournaments because I always wanted to go to my next spot.
“I know I took myself away from winning fish on more than one occasion because I always thought I could catch more or larger bass in another area. It took me a long time to figure that out. I fished two FLW events on my home lake in Texas, Lake Travis, and I had top-5 finishes in both, but I feel like I should have, or certainly could have, won both.”
In 2019, Wendlandt returned to B.A.S.S. competition fulltime, and the following year he won the B.A.S.S.® Angler of the Year title, his proudest career achievement and the individual title many consider the greatest in professional bass fishing.
“It was the Covid year,” he notes, “and after the first event on the St. Johns River in Florida in February, the entire schedule was postponed until June. During that time I fished nearly every day.
“I truly love fishing, and during those weeks of postponement, I just got back to the joy of fishing. Learning what bass are doing at any particular time absolutely intrigues me, and I was able to do it almost daily with no pressure whatsoever.
“That translated into a type of momentum when the tournaments resumed. I caught fish wherever we went, even though it seemed like we were on a different lake practically every week.”
Wendlandt’s legacy is one every tournament pro can admire. For more than three decades he dedicated himself to working hard and striving to improve himself, and as those who know him well say, “He did things the right way.”
Back to Blue Life
