By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

John Cox is one of Keith Carson's best friends on this planet. Cox is also the reason Carson will not be competing in next year's REDCREST Championship at Lay Lake.

The DeBary, Fla. residents, buddies since childhood and former co-workers in a painting business owned by Carson's father, claimed the Nos. 1 and 2 positions in the MLF Invitational at Lake of the Ozarks in May. Cox beat out Carson by just over a pound, took the trophy and the top paycheck and was awarded the REDCREST berth.

The irony was that Carson had directed Cox to the area of the lake that held his winning fish. Coming off the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Santee Cooper, Cox got only about a day of practice at Ozarks and didn't figure out a whole lot. Carson, who'd practiced for three days, told Cox that he needed to come along with him.

"I gave him the spot and then he goes and wins it," Carson said with a chuckle last week. "When it was over, he asked (an MLF official) if he could give me the REDCREST invitation, but the guy said, 'Nope, you gotta take it.'''

Although Carson won't get to compete in the Bass Pro Tour's championship event next March, he will be on that circuit in 2024. He ended up 4th on the final Invitational Angler of the Year (AOY) points list, with a 72nd in the finale at the Mississippi River being his only finish in six outings that was below 34th place.

He credits his consistency this year with keeping an open mind going into each tournament.

"In years past I sometimes had 'tunnel vision', where I thought I knew exactly what was going to go down," he said. "A lot of times that was when I'd bomb the worst. As far as studying before practice, I use YouTube videos and maps, but I don't watch a YouTube video and say that's how I'm going to catch them. I just consider it a possibility."

Regarding the use of forward-facing sonar, Carson doesn't consider himself a guru. However, he's got a big leg up on his pal, who notoriously disdains electronics in his shallow-water, power-fishing program.

"I feel like I'm pretty good at it, but I don't necessarily enjoy using it a lot," he said. "I don't like to rely on it, although a lot of guys who do are fishing very well. I still prefer to be in water that's less than 5 feet (deep)."

Even he's wondering how long Cox can hold out before taking a plunge into it. Cox finished 12th in the Elite Series points, but posted finishes between 47th and 60th in the three events on the Northern Swing, where FFS in considered critical for locating smallmouth of the size that are needed to be competitive.

"I was actually talking to his wife about it just a few days ago," Carson said. "I said I was going to practice with it quite a bit for the next few months and she said she kind of wishes John would put it on his boat, at least for the smallmouth tournaments."

They'll be on opposing top-level circuits next year. Carson isn't sure whether that's a good thing or a bad one – at least from a competition perspective.

"It's hard to say," he said. "I do enjoy staying with him and stuff like that, but sometimes I think I do better figuring things out on my own. I've won (a Bassmaster Open and a National Professional Fishing League event) and he wasn't fishing either one of those.

"Then there's other times when one of us will get on something and we'll help each other."

He hasn't yet defined any goals for his first season on the BPT.

"I've been thinking about it some and I want to keep them attainable and somewhat realistic," he said. "I guess a basic goal would be to win the Rookie of the Year."

Notable

> A 6-handicap golfer, Carson spends a lot of time on the links in the fall and winter months but puts his clubs away once the high-level fishing tournaments get under way after the first of the year. "I'll start playing now and shoot an 85 or an 88, then gradually go down one or two strokes each round."

> He still does occasional work for the painting business, which is now operated by his brother. "He has enough guys to run it, but if he has a really big job he'll call me in."