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2000 Tournament
Season
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This Page 2000 Tournament Schedule
Link to Pages
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My
2000 Tournament & Fishing
Season Recap |
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Any time you win a state
level event, it’s a satisfying
and memorable
day, but this
win would only be
2nd on my list of good
things that happened to me in the
2000 season. |
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The
year 2000 was my own personal ‘year of living dangerously’ – well not really
dangerous, but definitely expensive and busy as I put more miles on my old
pickup and RangerTrail trailer than I ever had before. Along
the way I had adventure I’ll never forget including many firsts… |
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My wife, in her infinite patience and
kindness, agreed to let me play gypsy tournament angler and head out on the
road to see what I could do. In retrospect, I should have had enough money saved
for two years of full time tournament angling, but I wouldn’t trade a minute
of it I believe looking back. I
was between jobs thanks to corporate America’s penchant for scrambling their
‘most valuable assets’ (the employees in case you forgot) every so often
giving them opportunity to seek fame and fortune elsewhere (and a severance
package if lucky)… National I
jumped right in with both feet starting New Years Day on a lake I’d never
been to before in a state I’d never been to either competing for the first
time in the Southeast EverStart Series… A
picture of my New Years Day 2000 below – a beautiful sight to greet me on a
morning much greener and warmer than the morning family and friends are
waking up to back home in Lansing Michigan. |
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I made the
2-day drive to Southern Florida’s huge Lake Okeechobee for the first time in
my life. It looks like a giant version of many inland Michigan lakes… only
with alligators. At least that’s what I’m told, but I haven’t seen any yet at
this point. I was on my way up to the famous Monkey Box area despite a good
ole boy from Georgia telling me I “probably wasn’t ust ta such big water and
might probably be lost ferever...” maybe eaten by gators?! It
didn’t take too long to find my first alligator though. I was fishing a deep
dynamite hole/pond off the rim canal, flicking a spinnerbait to the heavy
weed edge when a large patch of weeds exploded with – well if I had to guess,
I’d say – 2 megatons of force right back at me. |
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Turns out my
heart still is pretty strong (and I didn’t wet myself either), but the ticker
was thumping pretty hard. Cameraguy, who happened to have tagged along with
me, was laughing like this happens to him all the time. My first gator was a
REALLY FAT 10-footer. After I realized it wasn’t trying to charge and eat me, I
chased it all over that pond trying to get a picture – for the kids, you
know. I have to say I
enjoyed the look on cameraguy’s face when the gator – fatter than either of
us – got tired of being the chasee and decided to swim right to the boat. I
remember something coming out of cameraguy’s mouth like, “You know, the sides
of this boat aren’t really that high are they?” as he backed to the other
side. It was a little unnerving having something that big swim right under my
feet. Pretty cool though too for someone not used to it. |
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Okeechobee
was really high in winter 2000 and very muddy in many traditional places. I
checked the northwest, northeast and southwest parts of the lake looking for
bass. I’ve never been fond of fishing in large crowds so I wasn’t keen on
South Bay or the North shore areas. A lot of weeds were gone too due to high
water. The
Big O reminds me of St. Clair in the respect that everything looks good, but
a lot of it doesn’t hold bass. I had every map I could find and a lot of
general knowledge gleaned from pre-tournament research. I have always like to
explore around the next corner too – a trait that can be positive or negative
at times. I
found an alternative that really appealed to me while running around inside one
of the southern islands, which is cool in itself. In high water canals going
into islands like Ritta, actually flood over into field plots bring new weeds
and brush. I found one field way back in the middle of one island that had
quite a few flooded bushes. Everyone was fishing the shallow weeds, but no
one seemed to be fishing the brush. I
quickly found this wood cover were acting as bass magnets simply by flipping
lizards into them. The main drawback was the complicated route into this
field and that I found very little brush anywhere else. It felt more
comfortable to me though and the fishing was slow overall, so I went with
it. à |
I’d
tell you the name of the island, but I don’t remember it now. I just know it
was south of Ritta because Ritta didn’t produce much for us, but I clearly
recall the massive gator the cameraguy kept reeling a 10-inch plastic worm
over. We could only see the head and 2/3s of the body, but what a monster!!!
This beast’s head was as big as my torso. I did not want to pass it, but if
finally slowly sank into the bottom and I quickly shot past. I can’t even
imagine hitting something like that on plane (well, actually…). Tournament
day 1 opened the same as duck season so of course I ended up running right
through raft of decoys taking the narrow shallow channel that was the only
way I knew into the island at the time. Those guys in camo didn’t look fondly
after me. The next little trick was finding the wind had blown rafts of
hyacinth around inside the island. Everything looked different to me and you
did not want to run too much into the wrong opening or channel. There
were too many old fences, dead ends and shallow flats. After making only a
couple wrong turns that I caught on to before permanent damage or getting
stuck, I finally made it to the interior to my selected field. I almost
missed that entrance because it was now blocked by water hyacinth, but the
canal dead ends a short ways past so I figured it had to be the place. |
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There
was a bush just inside this field and I quickly caught and lost a keeper
there. I believe my co-angler got one there also. I was surprised to see 6
boats in there already, but they were fishing the weeds, not brush. I still
felt fairly confident. We
caught a few more, but they weren’t running big. Floating weeds had blown
around some brush and the water seemed lower – probably due to wind movement.
I got 1 more keeper pitching down shallow weed lines, but it became apparent
that something had changed and the field had slowed way down. I
ran to another large field that had almost no weeds, but a couple laydowns
and a couple flooded trees. I’d been getting a few bass to hit a green shad
War Eagle spinnerbait. I started flinging the to the sparse wood and with 20
feet of them or so. I got slammed by a nice 3+ that hit very hard and fought
like a demon. I noticed some Florida bass did that, but not all. There’s
a picture to the right of my 3+ Florida bass as I’m getting it into the bags
at weigh in while my co-angler helps. These bass seemed quiet all day
overall, but once we got back to the dock and put them in bags, they went
nuts and started jumping right out. à |
Unfortunately,
we were on floating docks, so we were entertained by anglers diving on their
bass before the bass leaped off the docks back into the canal. I thought it
was pretty funny until this bass did it to me. I had to tackle it twice, once
laying on it on the dock. We
had to roll the tops of these stiff bags down and pinch them tight to keep
these wild bass in the bag. These were the only 3 bass I weighed so I made a
decision that I wasn’t out of the cut, but I needed better bass and more of
them to have a shot. |
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I
tried variations in fishing speed and hookset, but something wasn’t right. I
thought I had it figured out when I got this bass here of almost 4 pounds. Right
about the time I caught this bass, everyone started setting the hook. Like a
switch was thrown, the bass just started biting all over a large area of the
flat. I had 5 hards bites and somehow missed every one of them after this
bass. Very frustrating and I even felt a couple them; they felt like they had
serious shoulders! Just
as quickly, the fast bite vanished and the fishing turned about as exciting
as watching the proverbial paint dry. One boat came through a caught 3 bass
while the occupants laughed at the rest of our struggles. I couldn’t
duplicate whatever they were doing, and I had lots of company in that
respect. After
about 6 hours of fishing this flat, I couldn’t take it anymore. I needed a
change and 4 more keepers. I was rattled by not getting any of |
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the
other bites I had even after having a couple on for a few seconds. I
remembered seeing some sporadic schooling action in an opening in the dike for
the Harney Pond Canal. The
bass were on the small side in practice, but it was a change nonetheless, and
not far away. I pulled up and started fishing a 10-inch plastic worm down the
inside edge of the canal. Neither of us were as enthused as we could have
been with about ½ an hour of fishing time left. à |
Suddenly,
straight into the canal from a wide opening, large shiners started skipping.
Water was about 8 feet deep. There were several large boils. I pitched my
worm to a boil and let it sink. It hit bottom and was thumped. I set the hook
hard and my rod doubled over. I pressured the bass right to the surface and
just as I got a look at a nice 5 to 6 pound bass, the hook popped loose and
flew back to me. I fished for a few more minutes and then began the long ride
back to Michigan. |
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Next up was
another new lake – Lake Martin in Alabama. Another challenging experience
with very cold, breezy weather including freezing rain at time. We had water
in the mid 40s all the way down to the high 30s. There were areas of cold,
muddy runoff too that is always challenging. The worst part
was the ramps in the morning with temps falling into the low 20s at night,
after 2 or 3 boats launched on the really long steep ramp, it iced over! I
had my pickup camper on my truck so I decided after sliding almost out of
control down the ramp one morning that I needed to be one of the first boats
to launch before it iced over. What a freaky
feeling – wondering if you would stop sliding before you became a
houseboat?!? The first tournament morning, my co-angler started my boat and
put it into gear the moment the boat hit the water to help stop a slide where
I started to go cockeyed. Whoa is not the word I used. It
was interesting when a supposed snowstorm was forecast, the locals almost
cleared out the Winn Dixie. I’m glad I shopped when I did. The lines went to
the back of the store. They closed school preemptively for a day and a half.
All we got was that really cold rain, but they do have very curvy and hilly
roads so I can’t blame them (and they don’t have the plow/salt truck fleets
we have either). à |
I did catch
some really nice stripers in practice, but struggled getting on bass. I
caught a big spot off a brush pile. Then I looked for deep spots with only
more stripers. Then I looked for places largemouths might move into if the
expected warming trend happened later in the week. I couldn’t find
any bass near them to speak of, but way down the lake I found a point that
had small groups of spotted bass moving into it with many of them going over
15 inches. I could catch them good too. The first
tournament day, I made the long run down the lake to this point despite
freezing cold wind and not liking to run a long ways to one spot when I have
nothing else near it. Of course there was one boat running out ahead of me
the whole way and he stopped right on that point (he did well in the
tournament too). I’d say what are the odds on a large complex lake like this,
but some of you already know the answer to that. I stayed close
to the launch ramp on day 2. I caught 1 keeper largemouth and lost a maybe
keeper spot by slowly fishing a suspending jerkbait. As a consolation, my 2nd
day co-angler (Tom Burks from IN/FL – a very nice guy) caught big bass on a
crankbait tossed at a stump I missed, and made the cut. For me, another long
drive back to Michigan |
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Much
warmer in March on Santee Cooper in South Carolina. Another EverStart Series
event on another new lake for me. I enjoyed Santee Cooper and had the most
success in the lower lake – Moultrie. I had a pretty good practice hammering
nice largemouths on a War Eagle 3/8 oz chartreuse buzz bait until the late
practice cold front. The bass really slowed down after that. Another
challenge was they had killed much of the vast weedbeds in the lake. If you
found weeds, you found bass; Either in the tiny amount of hydrilla left, or
tough viny water primrose.
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this
bay. It went on for about ½ an hour. We ‘hooked’ a few on jerkbaits by
throwing into these huge exploding schools of fish. They turned out to be
freshwater mullet like this one. They apparently come into certain pockets to
feed at night. (You can see my nice southern sun ‘tan’ in this photo too – I
should buy stock in sunscreen.) My
best spots for decent males on a few beds ended up being Black’s Camp and
several small pockets off the canal between the two lakes. I never got on
much at all in huge Lake Marion. Cameraguy was with me again and we caught a couple
around Cypress trees and in a couple small ponds on the south end of the
lake. Even
though one of the high finishers told me I was in the right area on Marion, I
never figured them out, so I decided to stick with visible bedding bass in
the pockets off the canal and northern Moultrie. I found that if I tossed
floating worms out from the beds over any cover, I occasionally picked up a
quality female bass too so it seemed like a good plan with everyone saying
the fishing was slow overall. Probably due to the loss of weeds and the spawn
just starting. I
started in the pocket I’d seen the most beds in. I had surprisingly little
pressure other than 5 alligators that showed up every morning around 10 AM. I
actually saw way more alligators, but averaging smaller, on Santee than I did
in Florida. Despite
only landing 4 keepers, I was 3 ounces out of the cut the first day and
feeling good. I should have had a limit but I let me co-angler toss first at
two beds and because he was anxious and highly ranked, I let him throw to one
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he
caught it to make sure he had some bass. He ended up with 3 despite spending
a lot of the day worrying rather than concentrating on fishing. I
fully expected to pick up a female or two anyway by throwing the floating
worm out from beds, but it didn’t work for some reason. I did pick up 1 over
4 pounds because I caught both the male and female from one bed. I
was pitching a full-sized black and blue Bacon Rind on a 5/16 oz head with 20
lbs test line. Those bass did not like that big hunk of plastic on the bed at
all. My co-angler was tossing a light tube on 10 lbs test line and we were
taking turns tossing at beds. These bass definitely preferred the bigger bait
– I caught all the bass from any bed we both threw at. I think my co-angler
was surprised that the opposite of finesse worked so well. The
floating worm got one nice male off a bed in Black’s Camp bay floating it
into holes in the primrose. Five other boats had gone down the path ahead of
me, and all 10 anglers snapped their heads around when I pulled that nice
bass out of the snarls. That stuff was tough! I
was checking my favorite bay late in the day and actually saw two pairs of
bass starting new beds. It was as late as I could stay so I figured no one else
would come in a stick the bass. I expected to be able to get enough bass for
the cut the next day. à |
I
don't have a clue about the 2nd day when I skunked. That was my closest
finish unfortunately. I went into my favorite bay and found lots of slimy
algae had been blown into the best bank leaving a 30-foot wide slime patch
from shore. I couldn’t get anything clean through it and definitely couldn’t
see any beds. But
even in the back where I’d seen the new bass bedding late the day before,
there was no sign of bass. After determining bass seemed to have vanished
from several bays in the north, I ran down to the refuge island in the
southwest corner of the lake. I had caught some nice bass in undercut marsh
banks and near openings into the rim canal. A
stiff breeze seemed to be messing up my best shallow pockets. A bunch of bass
were moving in late in practice, but seemed gone now. I tried stump fields,
current from side channels and slight dropoffs out from these areas. My
co-angler hooked and fought something big for a while, but it pulled off
before we ever saw it. It was real big! No
matter what I tried, I couldn’t find any keepers. That day probably threw me
as much as any day. Another long drive back to Michigan, but at least I had
caught a bunch of bass in practice and I had cameraguy to keep me company
down the highways. |
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My
last EverStart of 2000 and last chance to make something of the series was on
Kentucky’s huge Lake Cumberland. This April tournament saw heavy rains and
fast rising waters – sometimes several feet a day. Each morning, gully runoff
would wash tons of new wood into the lake, and whole trees were floating
everywhere. I
tried many things and actually got on some bigger bass by fishing specific
creek ends with logs near creek channels. I was thinking I might pull
something off since things seemed really tough even compared to Martin and
Santee Cooper. Unfortunately,
I failed to dodge one floating tree in practice and knocked my old outboard
off the back of the boat. It was totaled and I had small metal parts
scattered all over the boat. The motor cover actually sailed a long way
through the air before sinking into the depths. By
the time I got a tow and talked to insurance and water patrol, my entire day
was shot. I ended up switching to co-angler after finding out I wasn’t going
to be able to get another outboard on the boat in time. Luckily,
I met a really nice angler in the campground – David Williams from North
Carolina – who took me fishing the rest of the week and taught me several
things about fishing these types of reservoirs. He finished 9th in
the end I believe. à |
I
went on a long run all the way down the lake almost to the dam (~60 miles)
the first day. I was with a very experienced boater, but we never really got
on anything. He caught 1 nice smallie and that was pretty much it. We fished
hard. The
2nd day, I drew a boater who ran back up the river and spent much
of the day flipping tight to the riverbank, often in decent current. I didn’t
have a whole lot to fish, but I eventually found out he didn’t like pitching
into trash. I caught a couple bass by blasting heavy baits through matted
leaves. I think I caught 2 keepers and 1 dink all day. One
interesting occurrence, we were fishing down a very high, steep rocky bluff
bank and looked up to see 3 young boys about 25 feet up sitting on a log. At
first, it was a surprise because it didn’t look like they could get to that
log without being mountain climbers. After
further review, a narrow steep mountain goat path became apparent. Still I
couldn’t help wonder if their parents knew what the young boys were doing in
their spare time! The strange part was one other boat was up the river hop
scotching spots with us. It
turned out to be Ricky Shumpert and I found out why he reacted so weird when
he first glimpsed the boys on the ‘cliff edge.’ |
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During
the practice week, Ricky had become a hero by rescuing a severely wounded boy
off a boulder at the base of a long steep and very tall rocky bluff bank. The
teenager had ‘escaped’ from a home for wayward teenage boys by trying to
scale the bluff. He
ended up falling about 80 feet to a large boulder below breaking several
major bones. With the strong current along that long upriver bluff bank and
the near vertical height, the seriously wounded young man just lay on the
boulder waiting for help. After
a couple days, he started feeling hot so he slid off the boulder into the
water – half on, half off. The water was still pretty cold so it didn’t take
long for him to become hypothermic. They think he was there for about 4 days
before Ricky Shumpert finally came practicing along and noticed something
wasn’t right. à |
The
boy said he had weakly tried to wave at a few other boats during the week,
but no one came over to help. Ricky got him back to the boat ramp where a
life flight copter took him in serious condition to the hospital. Ricky ended
up getting an accommodation from the mayor for saving the boy’s life. What we
had seen on our practice day was Ricky spotting the boys on the log and
saying, “Oh no! Not again!” before he realized these boys weren’t in trouble
– just of questionable judgment. As
far as my first national tournament circuit effort, nothing earth shattering
in the end, but I learned many very valuable lessons and met a number of new
friends and great bass anglers. I also enjoyed or at least endured quite a
few adventures and new experiences that I don’t expect to ever forget
including having my homemade lucky spring spinnerbait bit in half by a 5-foot
alligator in Lake Marion. |
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Things
went better for me back home in Michigan BASS federation and BFL competition.
Derek Baetz and I won the first federation team tournament and $2,000 on
Mullett lake with 8 smallies weighing 31.42 pounds. These beauties filled the
weigh basket to the top. I had 10 lbs. in the Sunday draw to finish 11th, but
lost the big one, a smallie I found in practice that was between 5 and 6
pounds. We had such a good day on Saturday that I completely forgot about
this big bass on an isolated bed. I
had my most consistent year for sure with many limits including over 43
pounds |
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in
the 3-day Canadian Open. I really thought I had the win sewed up in the Saginaw
BFL. I found some ‘virgin’ smallies that would literally follow my boat
around. Of course, a strong North wind tried to ruin my plans. I broke 5
things in my boat (and my co-angler's kidneys, he claims) on a brutal 33-mile
run into its teeth. I wanted a BFL win bad and knew a lot of boaters would
not make the run. There
was a chance of a clear up in the wind later in the day, so I took about an
hour and 45 minutes to get to my little rock pile. I told my co-angler Phil
Conley that we both had really good shots at placing high if the wind hadn’t
scattered the bass. We got there to find the wind howling perpendicular to my
small rock pile. I had to throw out both windsocks and my large anchor with
all my rope just to slow us down enough to make about 3 casts before we shot
past. I
did land a 3-pounder right off the shallow rocks quickly, but only some
sheepshead in the next few passes. Pulling in all those lines and devices,
and then motoring back up for a fast drift, then doing it all again over and over
was wearing me out. The big rollers were actually breaking over the rock pile
to as much as double their size. One big monster wave à |
actually
washed over the entire back deck. I heard it coming and
hollered at Phil to hang on. He sat in the chair, lifted his legs and hugged
the seat. I was starting to think I’d made a terrible and possibly dangerous
mistake when we saw a break in the clouds and wave speed began to slow. Within
a half hour, I could actually start to hold just using the trolling motor,
but we weren’t catching any bass. I couldn’t believe they ran completely off,
although this was a new area to me. Instead of panicking completely and
starting back, I worked my way out around the rock pile. I was tossing tubes
and spinnerbaits. Phil started casting a light glider-rig tube on 14 lbs test
line. I was wondering how he could feel the tube at all in the rolling swells
when he set the hook. He said, “Man! I just got hit, but I missed him.” A
moment later I said, “Isn’t that your tube hanging from the corner of that
big jumping smallie’s mouth?” Like I say, it was hard to feel in those
swells. He reeled up and the fight was on with a 4-pound smallie. After his
2nd bass, I started tossing a tube behind his bass as I netted them. When I
lifted up, I had a 2+ smallie on. This happened 2 times with Phil getting 3
and 4-pound class bass, and me pulling smaller keepers from behind them. |
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I
kept trying to get Phil to bet me a dollar that he had big bass and a dollar
that he had 1st place wrapped up all the way in, but he wouldn’t bite either!
I think he was in shock. He kept asking me if he should bump his bass. He
kept asking me if I thought he had more than 13 pounds. I just kept laughing
and wondering how I was living so wrong to get my butt kicked like this. Of
course, this wouldn’t be the last time. Phil
ended up with 17-1 easily winning the co-angler side taking big bass too (4-9
smallie). In fact, he had the big bass and limit of the entire tournament. He
forgot about his kidney after that… and I took some serious ribbing from a
whole bunch of boaters let me tell you. I ended up with 3 keepers weighing
less than 9 pounds. Phil forgave me for the kidney and is actually still my
friend… and I got a free entry into the next BFL for having my co-angler win
the tournament. I loved that old rule! (Here’s one of my ‘whoppers’ above.) |
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I continued to catch limits
more often than not over the summer. I lost a spot in the Federation Classic
when I turned the corner in the Detroit River coming in only to feel an
unforecasted strong South wind at their last tournament. As hard as I tried
in the rough conditions, I was late and dq'd...a huge disappointment after
starting off ranked so high early in the season. Things went much better at
the first BFL Super Tournament in September. After running over 30 very rough
wet miles, I was faced with 3-footers at my spot. I let out my driftsock and
cast out my white Fat Free Fingerling crankbait. I already had a 4+ in the
boat I’d whacked on a quick rest stop at Windmill Point on the way up. My
partner said one driftsock was slipping free. The boat turned, I saw the sock
heading down-lake, started to reel in quick – I was going to snag the sock
with my crankbait – only to see my line now under the trolling motor and
apparently snagged, or so I thought. A big smallie jumped on the other side
of the boat, my crankbait deep in its mouth. After much excitement, I lost
the sock permanently, but gained a 4-13 smallie. We didn't catch many, but
they were all good ones. My co-angler had 4 after losing his 5th when it went
around the trolling motor. I felt I'd made the top 30 and regional for à |
sure.
Due to the rough conditions, I never really looked at my fish. When the
scales read 19-15 I was very surprised. I had told Ben Felton I thought I had
around 16 pounds. My co-angler had 16 with his four! My big smallie died due
the deeply hooked lure. The 8 oz. penalty put me at 19-7, good for 5th place
and a spot fishing the second guaranteed money day. I
ended up 6th with 1 tiny keeper smallie on Sunday. I made the long run to my
fish with Jeff Bishop, my practice partner, as my co-angler (funny because
Jeff told me the day before he had dream we would fish together on the money
day.) I went for the win in my run even though the wind looked to be much worse
than Saturday. It was. I saw the biggest waves around the St. Clair River
channel mouths I've ever seen. I decided it was unsafe to fish my spot. I was
fishing current and the waves from the strong wind blowing into the current
were tall steep choppers that made it hard to even stay seated on the deck. We
never put anything else together up in the channels. I did come away with
$956 to pay for my trips to Iowa and the Big Muddy. I think Jeff forgave me
for the poor showing on Super Tournament day 2 since he agreed to room with
me during the Regional in Iowa. |
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Regional I will never forget the
2000 BFL Regional. Ben Felton, Jon Bondy and I went to the mighty Mississippi
River for a week of pre-practice. I learned quickly I was too chicken to run
the long, shallow stretches of mud into backwater lakes. Knocking off 2
motors in one year was an unattractive thought. Bass boats were getting stuck
everywhere, often for hours (right Ben) and major motor parts were being left
on unseen stumps and rocks. Some of these backwaters just couldn’t be entered
idling or on the trolling motor. Still, Ben and I came up
with a rough pattern. In pool 18, I'd found a unique, small slough with tons
of wood, good depth and very little current to start in. Some decent
largemouths appeared to be wintering in it. Later in the day I would start
hitting wood on islands tips close to channels, but with protection from
strong current. This way, I could get in and out of my spots quickly with
less risk of getting stuck or hitting obstructions. I was throwing my 6A
Bomber dark green crayfish, a white Fat Free Guppy, and a customized
chartreuse/white 1/2 War Eagle spinnerbait with one #5 turtleback blade.
Water clarity was about 3 inches, so sound and vibration seemed to make a big
difference in solid strikes. I made the run North the
first day of the Regional to Pool 18 and locked through. When I got to my
small slough, a boat was already in there working along the good bank. I had
caught nothing on the other side, so I started a ways behind them and
followed along. I caught a bunch of small à |
largemouths
on the Bomber 6A along the slough drop, but no keepers. I switched to the
white Fat Free Guppy when I got back near the beginning of thicker laydowns
and brush. In practice, I’d been slammed hard and missed while throwing over
a large tree off the bank a ways. I made a cast and started a moderate
retrieve over part of this same patch of wood when I got slammed HARD again! The
fish fought a short, tough bulldog battle ending under the boat. I had only
gotten it close enough to the surface twice to even make a boil. My co-angler
Richard Dale scooped under the boat and came up with a bulge in the net.
Based on one boil and flash, I thought the fish was a 2-pound class bass that
had ate it Wheaties. Richard had a huge grin on his face and said, “Man, what
a hog!” He pulled it out of the net and my 2-pound bass inflated into a
BIG-headed TOAD! I couldn’t believe it. I
couldn't have started day 1 better than with big bass of the tournament, a 5
pound 6 ounce trophy. Though we caught a bunch of bass in there, no other
keepers. About 1pm, we locked down and pulled up to my first two island
spots. My spinnerbait got slammed and I fought a strong fish for several
minutes before losing it somehow. I did not want to come in with 1 big bass.
The next spot changed that. Richard and I quickly boated 3 keepers of a short
stretch of logs, 2 for me, then made the 25 mile run to the weigh in. I was
thrilled to be sitting in 6th place with 10-3. |
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I changed my tactics to
give more time to the island pattern below the locks on day 2. I would lock
through and hit my little slough early, then spend the rest of the day back
south fishing islands. Unfortunately, the lockmasters had other plans. I
tried to come back early, but barge traffic was heavy. I wasted a lot time
waiting to get through. I was very anxious too because when I was about 17
miles north of the launch ramp, my motor suddenly lost 700 rpms and would not
go back up. I had heard they did that right before they blew. Here I was
already in the morning wondering if I would get to fish, let alone make it
back down. I could only run about 50 mph. Luckily, the other guys
from the Michigan division were being GREAT to me. Ted Angers, Phil Borsa,
Dave Misaras, Todd Koehler, Ben, Jon, Kevin Vida and Scott Dobson just to
name the ones I can still remember off the top of my head (I’m probably
forgetting someone and I apologize). I told Ted and Scott what happened while
locking through. They both offered cell phone numbers and help if I needed
one of them to come get me and my fish later. Very cool! I decided to continue on
the few miles to my slough, but I was REAL nervous. I got some more small
ones on the 6A going back into the slough. About 2/3s back, I pitched my
custom spinnerbait back into a hole in a logjam. Three quick pitches to this
tiny opening about the size of a laundry basket and I pulled 3 largemouth
bass out. The last was a solid keeper. Like a switch was flipped though,
things died à |
in
the slough. I guess I expected that. There
had been 3 or 4 boats through there, so I went to my original plan to lock
back through early and fish the islands the rest of the day. That’s when we
all found out the lock had a long delay. You definitely don’t want to offend
those guys. I
told all my friends that I had 1 good one, but felt I needed 1 more. My motor
was still running only about 50, so I was just getting more nervous. I couldn’t
make up my mind what to do. We got a chance to talk to the Lockmaster and he
said it would be another 45 minutes. I made a real anxious decision to run
back to an island I’d been hitting by my slough. I had caught my 2 best bass
in pre-practice there – 1 about 3 1/2, but had no bites there on day 1. I was
leaving my safety net of friends, but Scott and Ted both said if I called
them, they’d come back and get me. Really really cool!!! This
time, conditions looked better. The water had cleared a little and the
current had slowed. This was the upstream end (that was my pattern) of the
island with large laydowns on top laying over 11 to 14 feet of water. I
slow-rolled the hot spinnerbait over a big log and a miracle 4-6 largemouth
ate it. I literally flipped her in the boat, much to the shock of my
co-angler partner who had the net in hand incredibly fast. I just wanted that
bass in the boat bad! I think I yelled, “YEAH BABY!” loud enough to be heard
in Illinois! |
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After finally locking
through near last minute, we made the run back. Then, I had to wait 'hours'
to find out I'd finished 5th qualifying for the All-American in my 2nd try. I
can't describe how really great I felt. Everyone was extremely nice to me.
George Liddle from Ranger was great along with all the Michigan division
anglers I mentioned above. On the third day, I wanted
to pull out all the stops to win the truck and boat, but the lock was so busy
with barges I gave up making it through. My VHF radio was broken and I was
yelled at when I called the lock number – told not to call the number because
they couldn’t lock ships if they were answering the phone. At least my motor
was running good again. I went to a different gas station after a service
tech found nothing wrong and suggested different gas. I fished my island pattern
all day plus a spot Jon Bondy gave me way south, but couldn't land any
keepers. I was a little surprised things got that tough, but I was so excited
to qualify for the All-American that nothing, even skunking on the final day,
wiped the smile off my face. Now off to another new lake
– Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs Arkansas. I decided a winter trip with the
lake at winter pool could be a real help for spring fishing. I started my
Internet and phone research. I found out when the lake would be at it low
spot – during December. My boat was down at Ranger
getting needed repairs from à |
when
my motor was knocked off in April, so Ben Felton was a great friend in
letting me borrow his boat for my scouting trip. I feel the trip was very
much worth it since I identified brush and rock piles on many key spots such
as ditches and points where this kind of cover could really produce in the
spring. I took pictures and recorded some GPS for things I wanted to pinpoint
exactly. I
started out slow, but found despite cold water that I could catch some decent
bass by burning a spinnerbait. This helped me get some confidence and locate
some fishy areas… plus it’s always fun to catch some bass. I spent most of my
time covering a lot of water though because I had seen how the lake held
large numbers of keepers, but not a lot of quality bass. I needed to find
something special. I
felt I identified some key spots. I had also been given some unsolicited help
from several locals on the water that actually turned out to be good
information. I cut my trip a day short after hearing about bad weather coming
to Michigan. I’m glad I came back when I did. The day after I got home, I
woke up to find I couldn’t open my front door. It had snowed so much on the
ground and overhanging trees along our street made it look like we lived on a
tunnel. I spent hours shoveling and snow blowing with drifts up to 3 feet
deep. I wish I had those pictures. They’ve vanished. Those pictures had to be
viewed to appreciate the extreme weather change I saw in a matter of only two
days |
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Snow
hadn’t been my real challenge though. I was running out of money having spent
much more than I won during the 2000 season. I was struggling with figuring
out how to make it from December until the actual All-American in the spring.
I knew I would need a job, but I had some large bills that needed some extra
cash in December, on top of needing to pay for the scouting trip to Hot
Springs. I
couldn’t really imagine how I’d start a job and immediately need a full week
off. Then, in steps a fortuitous MSU hockey game. I don’t normally feel lucky
with drawings and raffles having rarely won anything, but that night I had a
funny feeling that I should buy a 50/50 raffle ticket at the beginning of the
hockey game. With the thousands of fans, the raffle is fairly lucrative, but
I don’t normally participate. I
bought my one ticket and immediately KNEW I had won the moment I looked at
the number – 1094. Actually I think I knew the moment I touched the ticket! Kind
of crazy I know, but you’d have to ask the people who were there that day and
decide for yourself. I
think it was at the end of the first period; I went across the arena and sat
with my other fishing partner Derek. Derek left à |
me
with his wife while he went over to see the fishing partner I normally sit
with – Larry. My wife was back there too with Larry and his wife Sharon. I
had just made a short comment that I was going to win to my wife before I
left, but people say that all the time, right? I
told my friend’s wife – Lori – I had it won and she laughed. They announced
the number and I read my number just ahead of the announcer, “1094, I win.”
Lori laughed and said, “yeah right.” The guy sitting next to me said, “No!
Really, he has the winning ticket.” It took a minute, but she finally looked
and believed, despite the same lady (I’m pretty sure) jumping up and down in
her section that always does nearby – I think she just likes to get on TV. Meanwhile,
over in the opposite corner of Munn Arena, my other fishing partner’s wife
Sharon was telling my wife she better run around and find me. She said, “I
think Dan has the winning ticket. No, really. That’s the number he told me he
had and was going to win with.” My wife was having a hard time believing it
too. (She knows my luck!) She only hesitated a moment before the woman in
here thought SHOPPING!!! Okay, just kidding. My wife isn’t that bad. |
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She
was excited though. As soon as she showed up I ran down to the office and
picked up $1,199 of badly needed cash. That’s the kind of thing that makes
you wonder about all sorts of possibilities. Things were still iffy, but
better than they had been. I still had a ways to go to make it all the way to
the actual All-American, but I was in much better shape to put all my effort
into making the most of the All-American opportunity. |
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Date Event Description Mar 12 Lansing
Sportsfishing Show Bassmaster
CastingKids state championship scorer Mar 13-14 St. Mary’s School seminars Multiple class room and gym seminars to entire grade school |
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Date Event Location Jan 5-6 EverStart
Southeast Lake
Okeechobee, Clewiston FL Feb 2-3 EverStart
Southeast Lake
Martin, Alexander City AL Mar 1-2 EverStart
Southeast Lake
Santee Cooper, Manning SC Apr 4-5 EverStart
Southeast Lake
Cumberland, Somerset KY Jun 10-11 MBCF
Classic Series Burt/Mullett
Chain, Indian River MI Jun 24 Wal-Mart
BFL MI Div Lake
St. Clair, Mt. Clemens MI Jun 30-Jul 2 Windsor
Canadian Open Lake
St. Clair, Windsor ONT Jul 8-9 MBCF
Classic Series Muskegon
Lake, Muskegon MI Jul 15 Wal-Mart
BFL MI Div Saginaw
Bay, Bay City MI Jul 29 Wal-Mart
BFL MI Div Lake
Erie, Brownstown Twp MI Aug 12-13 MBCF
Classic Series Lake
Erie, Brownstown Twp MI Aug 19 Wal-Mart
BFL MI Div Lake
St. Clair, Mt. Clemens MI Sep 8-9 MBCF
State Championship Lake
Charlevoix, Charlevoix MI Sep 16-17 Wal-Mart
BFL MI Super Tourn Lake Erie,
Brownstown Twp MI Sep 26-29 Northern
EverStart Lake
Erie, Detroit MI Oct 12-14 Wal-Mart
BFL Regional Lake
Cooper, Fort Madison IA |
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Money Finishes This Year |
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Date Event Finish Description Jun 10 MBCF
Classic Series team 1st Mullett Lake, Indian River MI Sep 17 Wal-Mart
BFL MI 6th Lake Erie, Brownstown Twp MI Oct 12 Wal-Mart
BFL Regional Big
Bass 5 lbs. 6 oz largemouth, Lake
Cooper, Fort Madison IA Oct 14 Wal-Mart
BFL Regional 7th Lake Cooper, Fort Madison IA |
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