Our Featured Angler for September is Region 7's Rob Wilkinson

by Pete Robbins
(Who is Pete Robbins & what else has he written?)

Region 7’s Rob Wilkinson knows the value of teamwork.

Along with partner Bobby Clarke, Wilkinson is the reigning Region 7 angler of the year. He is also a friend and confidante of touring pro (and former Virginia Federation member) Curt Lytle, working closely with the touring pro to hone techniques.

Raised in the Philadelphia area, Rob was introduced to fishing by his grandparents, who owned a small pond on their property. Every chance he got, he was in the pond, or the creek connected to it, looking for something to bite. Perhaps fearing that they’d never see the young fishing fanatic again, his other set of grandparents introduced him to saltwater fishing on the Jersey shore; he took to it with equal passion.

Rob has been in the Navy for 17 years, and is currently a Petty Officer First Class, serving as an electronic warfare technician. It was a Navy buddy who introduced him to bass. Although he had spent many hours and days fishing as a youth, it was not until a 1990 trip to Conowingo Reservoir (on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border) that Rob caught his first bass…..and he didn’t catch just one. He and his friend caught over fifty fish in three hours, and Rob was quickly enamored of the sport.

Moving to the tidewater region of Virginia a short time later, Rob joined the Little Creek Bassmasters, and in his first tournament was paired with Curt Lytle. Subsequent to that, he was with the Blue and Gray Bassmasters. Currently, he is a member of both the Hampton Roads Anglers Anonymous, with whom he fishes region events, and the Great Bridge Bassmasters, with whom he participates in some club events as time allows.

Wilkinson says that when he and Bobby Clarke paired up to fish Region 7 events, both were already "good fishermen." In the first year in particular, though, they fished as two individuals. There was, he says, "a feeling out process" before they could truly become a team, and gradually they learned to "trust each other."

Last year, the partners won a tournament on Danny Joe Humphrey’s circuit on Buggs Island. This year, they won a region tournament on the same lake, in addition to being the top team in the region.

Rob says that his teamwork with Clark builds upon the experiences he’s had working with Lytle. From their very first tournament together, the Rob and Curt realized that they had "similar viewpoints" on a lot of different topics. This enabled Curt to fully trust Rob’s opinion, and occasionally his advice.

Now, Rob says, the pair are like "chosen family," and he notes that he even introduced Lytle and Lytle’s wife.

In terms of fishing, Lytle is so busy fishing across the country that in some instances he depends on Wilkinson’s honest feedback to hone a new technique. He will often recommend a technique to get better at, and the pair will compare their conclusions, " and usually we reach the same results."

Lytle’s first win on the Bassmaster circuit was an Invitational on Lake of the Ozarks, where he utilized a suspending jerkbait pattern that Wilkinson had worked on extensively back home at Kerr.

Not surprisingly, Kerr is Rob’s favorite body of water. "I love it," he says enthusiastically. "There is just phenomenal flipping there, and in the summer it’s a great structure lake." He notes that he is not a great structure fisherman, and Kerr gives him a chance to work on those skills. Although Kerr is his favorite, he is quick to add that enjoys the "wealth of bodies of water we have in Virginia…..the Potomac, Pamunkey, Gaston, the James, I like them all."

Most of all, Rob just likes being outdoors. At Lytle’s recommendation, he recently took a survival course from Tom Brown Jr.’s Tracking and Survival School. "I know it helped my fishing, he says." One exercise involved walking in a single file line down a path. The students were then told to turn around, and their instructors showed them numerous animal tracks that they had missed. "Sometimes we just don’t open our eyes to the telltale signs of nature," he says. Since the course, he has become much more aware of the movements of baitfish, of hawks hunting, and other clues that may impact or reflect bass activity.

Like many Federation fishermen, Rob’s goal is to make the state team for the Eastern Divisionals. Two of his best friends have made the team. Rob himself has come extremely close: one year at the Six Man he was leading after the first day. At the start of the second day, he caught a six pounder, but his pattern fell apart and he failed to make the team. Still, he knows that he has "been knocking on the door" for a while now, and feels confident that the lessons he has learned from others and shared with others put him in prime position to eventually represent our state on a larger stage.

If you would like to contact Rob Wilkinson, he can be reached at wilky@exis.net