Story by Ken Duke | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Last Friday was “Quitter’s Day.” Seriously, you should Google it.
Quitter’s Day is the second Friday in January each year. Apparently, there’s research that shows it’s the most likely day for those with New Year’s resolutions to stop pursuing them — no more diet, no more trips to the gym, no more cold turkey on smoking or drinking or whatever.
Now, for the record, I think there are good and bad things about quitting. If you’re ditching a bad habit, that’s good. But if you’re giving up on something that’s obviously productive and helpful, that’s bad.
In this article, I’m looking at quitting from a different angle, and I want to pay tribute to an NPFL angler with the least quit in him in 2024 … the angler who persevered even when things weren’t going well, who made something out of nothing, and who battled his way into the 2025 NPFL Championship.
I’m talking about legendary pro Darrel Robertson. If you’re not familiar with him, you should be.
Robertson had a lengthy and impressive career with FLW. He qualified for 10 Forrest Wood Cup championships and won the prestigious title in 1999. He also qualified for a Bassmaster Classic in 1996 and fished the inaugural NPFL Championship in 2024 (he finished fourth), making him one of a very few anglers who have fished three of what I’ll call the “Big Four” championships. (The other would be the MLF Redcrest.)
The reason I say Darrel Robertson has no quit in him is because of his track record as a finisher in 2024. I’ve followed our sport for many years, and I’ve tracked the performance of hundreds of pros on every major circuit. Most have a similar tournament arc. Their Day 1 is a little better than their Day 2, which is a little better than their Day 3. In other words, they’re gradually running out of fish or failing to expand upon what they’ve found. Of course, since that’s the bulk of the field, it doesn’t look like an angler is slipping because the rest of the field is slipping, too … just a little.
When you have a multi-day tournament with cuts — like the Bassmaster Elite Series or Bass Pro Tour — you can see that some anglers lose heart when they think they can’t make a cut. They’re not “mailing it in,” but they may feel they have nothing to fish for if things haven’t gone well early.
You can’t afford to do that in a multi-day tournament with no cuts — like the NPFL. You have to keep your foot on the gas, or you’ll just keep falling further behind.
As a longtime student of the game, I can tell you that only the best anglers get stronger as an event goes on. It’s like the running back who gets stronger as the defense weakens. He may only have 25 yards at halftime, but late in the third quarter he’s going to break a few long runs and seal the game for his team.
Robertson was like that in 2024. On the first day of tournaments, he was less than stellar. In fact, he was exactly average. Over six events, he averaged catching the exact average of the field. He was … average.
But on Day 2, he got stronger, caught ’em better, and was 11% better than the average angler. Then on Day 3, he got better again — 48% better than average! While most of the rest of the field was looking for ways to maintain, Robertson was one of the very best in the league. It was as though he found a new gear.
That improvement over the course of the multi-day events may not seem like a big deal, but it is—especially in a sport where mere ounces matter so much. Robertson’s perseverance paid off. Despite a lackluster track record in the opening rounds, he stuck with it and got a little better on the second days and a lot better in the final rounds.
He never quit, and it paid off with a 38th place finish in the Progressive Angler of the Year standings and a berth in the 2025 NPFL Championship.
And he did it at the age of 74! Think about that for a moment. In a sport that keeps you outside and on your feet all day and in all the elements, Robertson—in his 70s—never quit. It’s a powerful message for anyone who loves tournament fishing or who aspires to a career of casting for cash.
When the field launches for the 2025 NPFL Championship on Lake Hartwell in November, Robertson will be 75—the oldest angler in the group by more than 14 years!
You’d better believe that the tournament will not be over until he weighs in on the final day.
Darrel Robertson – Angler Profile
