An ad in a fishing publication got me thinking. Featured was FLW Tour Angler of the Year Scott Martin behind the wheel of his Ranger, likely at a tournament blast-off. As he throttled forward, he stared not at one state-of-the-art GPS big-screen, but at three of them. So massive was his graphic dashboard that I wondered if Martin could really even see where he was going.

I mentally compared his approach to that of the AOY runner-up, John Cox. Cox recently became a household name in bass circles not only for his strong performance, but for his unique, simplistic approach, competing from an aluminum boat with no depthfinders whatsoever.

Such a night-and-day comparison required a more in-depth look, so I scheduled a meeting with Cox recently.

My relentless questioning, followed by a review of Cox’s answers, led me to an interesting conclusion. From what I can tell, Cox first gravitated toward his new approach out of necessity and reason. But it seems to now be paying off due to far less tangible reasons.

To begin, a look into the making of John Cox, bass pro, is vitally important. Cox grew up fishing the waters around DeBary, Fla., very near the St. John’s River, and a short drive from Florida’s other famed bass waters. And, as we’ve seen, to compete in Florida requires an intimate understanding of fishing aquatic vegetation and a very detailed, sight-based approach.

Cox reasoned that such an upbringing leads to his continued familiarity, and confidence, fishing shallow water. “I can trigger the fish on the bank,” he concluded in our conversation. Cox went further and mentioned that he occasionally sees the fish he’s targeting, or a sign of them, and can often make a subtle presentation adjustment to get them to bite.

During practice, evidently Cox does a lot of looking, making note of a location where he feels he can get a bite or two. Fishing those spots would be pointless, Cox claims, as he’d likely catch the area’s inhabitants when it didn’t count. Cox compared this method to the affinity of a deep-water specialist to idle and graph for extended periods during practice without ever making a cast.

In addition to his shallow-water upbringing, Cox also credited his comfort level with fishing out of lightweight boats for his success.

“I’ve won so much money out of aluminum” he claimed.

At one point in his career, Cox won a big fiberglass bass boat and, basically, used it until it wore out. At that point, he had no qualms about going back to aluminum. Cox also admitted that the idea to take an aluminum rig to bass fishing’s main stage presented a unique sponsorship opportunity; one that's worked out well.

Looking further into the nuts and bolts of the Cox approach sheds more light on the effectiveness of it. Cox’s boat of choice is a 19-foot Crestliner with a 150-horsepower Mercury four-stroke. The motor is rigged with a hydraulic jackplate, giving Cox the ability to access extremely shallow water but, more importantly, also allowing him to run in and out of shallow areas where other competitors must idle, saving valuable time.

Minn Kota’s monster 112-pound Fortrex trolling motor completes Cox’s set-up, again actually offering him an advantage. When he runs the trolling motor on high, Cox notes “it’s faster than idling with the big motor. Like 7 (mph).” Again, Cox feels this allows him to save time and cover vastly more water than competitors in glass boats.

All of these tangible reasons for Cox’s success look good on paper and they may very well represent a successful alternative method to tournament bass fishing. But I think other factors are in play, as well.

A lot of tournament anglers have attempted to take a single-minded approach to fishing, only to bail out when things get tough. But Cox has gone one step further: By removing all depthfinders from his fishing, he has completely removed even the temptation to waver from his shallow-water style. It’s not only that Cox won’t allow himself to fish another way; for the most part, he physically can’t.

Perhaps this is the only way to allow for such a pursuit with a clear mind.

Cox alluded to the same thought process in our interview. As he ran through the year, event by check-cashing event, he mentioned how he often thought of rigging a transducer. “But I thought it might screw up the plan” he reasoned.

Cox gave more details of his successful approach. In practice, he got away from talking to any other fishermen in any way, mentioning he didn’t even answer his cell phone very often, resulting in more than one ticked-off buddy. Cox usually fished by the seat of his pants without much of a plan, and often targeted new water each day of an event. His three most productive lures for the year were a Senko, a jig of some sort (traditional and swim-style) and a bladed jig.

Typical of most interviews with bass pros, near the end Cox reflected on ways to increase his incredible tournament success and perform even better. He mentioned the possibility of using sonar more next season, not unlike his friend Bryan Thrift, in order to open up new sectors of the lake when the shallow bite is fading.

I mentioned to Cox that he must be crazy. He had just completed a dream season, beating all the anglers on Tour but one. Why in the world would he switch things up?

Again, Thrift’s name came up as Cox was noticeably still admiring Thrift’s victory this year at Eufaula. Cox posted a Top-10 finish there as well, but it was Thrift’s flexibility to go shallow, then deep, then shallow that sealed the deal, while Cox’s approach left him with a small bag the final day.

I sit back and reflect how the best are never satisfied.

Perhaps John Cox is just lucky. Perhaps his success is the result of impeccable timing. Or maybe he’s incredibly gifted. In any case, the Cox method is likely to again set a trend in bass fishing, like Clunn’s awareness approach or KVD’s battery-burning run and gun. I’ll be anxious to see how many follow in his footsteps.

(Joe Balog is the often outspoken owner of Millennium Promotions, Inc., an agency operating in the fishing and hunting industries. A former Bassmaster Open and EverStart Championship winner, he's best known for his big-water innovations and hardcore fishing style. He's a popular seminar speaker, product designer and author, and is considered one of the most influential smallmouth fishermen of modern times.)