Before I focus on my New Years Resolutions, it's time to take a look back at the 2016 tournament season - the successes, failures and lessons learned.
I have already published a separate post on the first tournament I participated in for 2016, the River Bassin' season opener in the Florida Panhandle, as it turned into a longer adventure.
So we'll start the official year-in-review with the KBF National Championship.
1. Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship and HOW Big Bass Brawl, March 17-20, Kentucky & Barkley Lakes
As a result of finishing 7th in the 2015 Reel Krazy Kayak Fishing Tournament Series standings, I qualified to fish in the 2016 KBF National Championship. As a rookie tournament angler in 2015, this was a big honor for me and I did not take my preparation lightly. I decided to focus on Kentucky Lake. I archived 15 years worth of fishing reports, watched every video, and read every book I could find. My goal was to show up, have fun, and catch a limit each day to at least prove I deserved to be there at my first bigtime tournament. This was to be a gathering of 230 of the finest kayak bass anglers in the nation, and I needed to prove to myself that I belonged.
On Wednesday March 16th, I worked half a day and took off toward Paris, TN. I had only seen Kentucky Lake in pictures and videos before that day. I scouted several spots I had marked on maps, tossed a few casts from the bank here and there, and made my best educated guesses as to whether to keep spots on the list or eliminate them. Luckily, at one of those spots, I caught two bass from the ramp. After initial scouting, I made my way into Paris proper, grabbed dinner and headed to the Reel Krazy HQ, an old restaurant converted into a fishing lodge located on the highway between the city of Paris and Paris Landing State Park.
The Big Bass Contest entry was a donation to Heroes on the Water, and the prizes were donated from tournament sponsors, the grand prize being a fully rigged Wilderness Systems ATAK 140. The contest ran from Thursday 3/17 to Sunday 3/20, so you were eligible to score bass during both pre-fishing and the actual Championship, which was 3/19-3/20. (There was also the KBF Open during this weekend, held on Friday 3/18, as a last-chance qualifier for the Championship). A fellow Georgian, Rok Ly, would win that prize for a giant he caught during pre-fishing.
On Thursday the 17th, I chose to pre-fish with a big group of Reel Krazy buddies rather than pre-fish some of the spots I had mapped out. We were going to fish a creek that ran into the lake and take out at the mouth of the creek where it met the lake. Leave it to us river rats to drive 90 minutes to find moving water to fish when there is 160,000 acres of flat water at the doorstep. We slept late, ate breakfast, and decided we should consider changing our club name to Reel Lazy instead. Eventually, we made our way to the put-in, and the water was clear-turquoise and beautiful. It took forever to find the correct road to the takeout ramp, which turned into an off-roading adventure itself. Furthermore, we would later learn that we were fishing a trout stream, and didn't find any bass until we made it out to the lake. I questioned my decision to abandon pre-fishing the places I had so carefully mapped out, but eventually we did find a few bass, and I broke off on a good one near the end of the run. This spot had potential to produce, and I kept it in my mind for tournament day.
For Friday the 18th, I talked fellow Reel Krazy angler Chris Padgett into going with me to the spot where I landed a couple from the bank during my scouting run. We caught some fish, but no really big ones. While fishing there, a local told us about another spot just a few miles south of where we were. That turned into another off-road excursion, complete with wading with our kayaks from a small spring all the way to its confluence with the lake. Our efforts were rewarded with a few more fish - enough to at least give us confidence that we could fill a limit.
Day 1 of the tournament arrived. While we had mild weather for pre-fishing, it was no such luck on tournament day. The mercury dropped below 32º that morning, and there was a breeze to accompany it. It was nothing unbearable, though, as it warmed into the upper 40's. Padgett and I repeated our Friday trip and both easily caught our 2-fish limits. Mine, however, was very small at only 24.25", (reduced by judges to 24" because of a 1/4" open-mouth deduction), good enough for 145th out of 230. We decided that while we could fill our limit at this place, we would switch up locations on Day 2 to look for bigger bass.
The morning of Day 2 was below freezing again, but calm and comfortable and the sunrise was stunningly beautiful. It was one of those mornings when you realize you're out for much more than just fishing, and you're beholding God's work.
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| Kentucky Lake sunrise, March 20, 2016 |
I tacked on a 13.75" and rounded out a 3-fish limit of 44.75" by 9:45 a.m. At 10 sharp, a cold front moved in and brought Hell with it. Sustained winds reached 25-30 mph with gale force gusts. Even though we were in a relatively protected area, I was relegated to parking my boat on different sandbars and basically bank fishing out of my kayak. I caught a few dinks and a couple of drum, but could not cull after the cold front hit. When it came time to paddle back to the ramp, it was more than either Padgett or I could do to make headway into the wind. So we had to wade the shoreline into the wind while dragging our boats, then fight the crosswind to get back to the launch. We made weigh-in on time, and my Day 2 limit got my total to 68.75", bumping me up 54 spots to 91st overall - a top 100 finish!
At the awards ceremony, we all hit pins and needles when we started realizing our Reel Krazy club-mate Clint Henderson was in the running for the win. We knew it was going to be down to the wire, and the tournament directors, Chad Hoover and Nik Brown, did not spare us any drama when announcing the winner. When it was all said and done, Matt Ball of Ohio edged Clint's total by 1/4" (as a result of two 1/4" open-mouth penalties to Clint) and claimed the first ever KBF National Championship for a total of $32,700.
Last year, for each tournament fished, I applied one lesson. The lesson learned from the KBF National Championship is that kayak fishing can change your life. Aside from the obvious of Matt's $32k check and Clint's handsome payday for 2nd, there are other ways that can't be counted like money. The camaraderie, the sense of community, and experiencing things like that Sunday sunrise that you don't get by sleeping in. A getaway with the guys where we all have the same goals and it's clean fun. The burning desire to get back and do better in 2017...
2. The Reel Krazy Season Opener - Brushy Branch, April 2
The one good thing about Day 2 of the KBFNC? It prepared some of us for the wind at Brushy. Deep in the backwaters of the Coosa River, on the Georgia side, there's a bay called Brushy Branch. It's aptly named, littered with brush, winding channel bends, docks, riprap and all sorts of other fun stuff bass fishermen dream about. It was the perfect setting for a 47-angler turnout, a club best.
Problem was, we didn't have a spring in 2016. Winter basically lasted until Memorial Day, then we had 50 straight days of 90º weather. At least it wasn't raining, but it was still disgusting out.
The lesson? Fish when it's nasty out. Condition yourself for bad conditions. I caught plenty of fish, but one little bass didn't reach the 8 inch mark, and others were hybrids and crappie. I lost one bass at the boat that would have put me in the top 5. The wind was slamming me into a dock while I was fighting the fish, and I was trying to stiff-arm the dock with my left hand while trying to play the fish with my right. I never got the net down in time to get under the fish, and she said goodbye with a quick left turn. However, I did manage two bass, one of them a solid 18 incher, and I finished 16th out of 47 anglers. Not terrible, but it was just a few seconds away from being so much better. That fish still haunts me.
3. Reel Krazy Stop #2 - Rocky Mountain PFA, April 30
This is the event that turned the season around. We actually did have decent weather for this one. In February I had fished Lake Heath, the trophy managed impoundment that only opens from the 1st-10th of each month, and didn't get but one bite. This tournament was held outside those dates, so only East and West Antioch Lakes were eligible water. I had never fished them at all, but did lots of research and picked out a few good looking spots during research, most of which were near the banks.
We launched and I started throwing topwater along riprap near my launch point and didn't get a bite. As I was paddling out to my second spot from the map research, I noticed fish on the Lowrance. It wasn't in the plan but I couldn't pass up a few casts. It paid off, as I reeled in a 16.75" largemouth, my best of the day. It was a good start to the morning, which brings me to lesson #3 - trust your electronics. It was obvious there was a school. There was no need to go anywhere else until that school moved on. This clued me into an offshore pattern and I landed four fish that day out of six total bites. Some of the best anglers in our club were skunked that day, and most of the newbies were beating the banks. It was slow, but the offshore bite was there, and I got a 48.25" limit and my first tournament win. There were 53 anglers, so it was the biggest payout in club history! I was just 1/4" away from tying for big bass, which would nearly have doubled the earning.
4. Soddy Creek with Chattanooga Bass Yakkers, May 7
There were two tournaments this day that I could've chosen from. One was in middle Georgia and could've gotten me points toward the state championship. But I'm familiar with Soddy Creek. I decided this would be the only CBY tournament I would fish in 2016, and I made the most of it. Fresh off the win at Rocky, I went in confident, already knowing what spots and what technique I was going to use. I threw one technique all day and got 2nd place out of 19 anglers with a 49.25" limit, and took home some cash.
Lesson: Confidence is key! While riding high off the win at Rocky, I picked a place where I felt I could keep the ball rolling, catch good fish, and have momentum going into my next event.
5. Reel Krazy Stop #3 - Weiss Lake, May 14
Rarely do I fish tournaments on three consecutive weekends, but I had a good streak going, and this was a Reel Krazy event. I was focusing on the Reel Krazy tour as my avenue into the inaugural Georgia State Championship and the 2017 KBF National Championship. I drove to Alabama after work the Wednesday before the tournament to pre-fish, and got plenty of bites. I grew up fishing for crappie on Weiss and had caught bass from there, but had never fished solely for bass there. I was still confident that I could get a limit and place in the money. The morning started out great, as I picked up a 17.5" largemouth off the junction of a seawall and a dock. Instead of repeating this pattern all day, I fished flats, points, ditches and islands where I had gotten bites pre-fishing. The only other bass I caught was on another seawall-dock junction, and I was still too dense to repeat the pattern. I did not get a limit, and turned in my two fish for 13th place out of 32 anglers. The lesson here: Don't be to stubborn to follow a pattern when it's staring you dead in the face. The fish can move from day-to-day.
6. Reel Krazy Stop #4 - Etowah River I (Joint tournament with Peach State Kayak Anglers), June 11
Finally - warm weather and river fishing! Eligible water was from Allatoona Dam down to GA Highway 20/411. Going on knowledge from older trips and a bit of pre-fishing, I decided to fish two different sections of river, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I fished closer to the dam in some slack water in the morning and caught a limit by lunchtime. I left, grabbed lunch, and launched again at Hardin Bridge so I could end my day at the weigh-in at Hwy 411. My plan came together fine, but I just didn't get the big bites I needed. I finished 8th out of 19 anglers. It was blazing hot that day, and the tournament was 11 hours long. I want to give an unsolicited shoutout to my Yeti 36 oz Rambler Bottle. It was 95º that day, and I still had ice water at the weigh-in. The lesson is that a quality thermos pays for itself very quickly on a 95º day. Also thanks to Craig at the Dugout for tying me a couple of finesse football Chattahoochee Jigs. The spots loved them!
7. Yb3 Kayak Anglers - Upper Chattahoochee River, June 18
The second deviation from the Reel Krazy tour took me to the valleys of Hall about which the poet Sidney Lanier waxed poetic. This was familiar territory to me, but not from fishing. The Upper Hooch is a great place for beginner whitewater kayakers to learn their river chops, and I was no different. For the tournament, we put in just below where we took out on whitewater trips, but there was still the occasional rapid - a perfect habitat for micropterus cataractae, the hard-fighting and Georgia native shoal bass. Spots and largemouth are also numerous in these headwaters of Lake Lanier. There were only 17 anglers in the tournament, but the competition turned out to be fierce. In the end, I would post my personal best tournament total of 51.75 inches, only 1 inch off the winning mark of 52.75", and still place out of the money! The top three places paid out, and my total tied for 3rd, but I lost on a double tiebreaker. My competitor and I had the same biggest fish length of 18.75", but his second biggest fish was 17" and mine was 16.75". What a bizarre finish! And I did get my first shoalie from the kayak - it hammered a Bandit 100 series squarebill. The lesson - never assume anything. I thought my shuttle partner Jon Hummel and I had finished 1-2. No doubt. Jon finished second.
8. Reel Krazy Stop #5 - Coosa River/Neely Henry Lake, Gadsden, AL, July 9
The preparation for this tournament was like most. Pick out some various spots, pick a time to fish them, and hopefully find a pattern. The plan was to snag some big Alabama spotted bass. It did not go as planned...it went better. By the time I caught my first spot of the day fishing a deep diving crank on a long, tapering point, I had already racked up 56" in largemouth throwing a combination of shallow cranks and plastic worms.
I had picked 11 spots with varying features on the map to fish in a more-or-less clockwise order until I found a place where fish would bite. There were 3 points, a seawall, a chunk rock/riprap bank, an old bridge piling, a narrow slough, a culvert, an island, a large bridge, and a row of docks.
By the time I got to the fourth feature, I had a limit but it was small. So instead of staying where I caught the small ones, I decided to keep going along my progression and eventually it paid off. It turned out that my small limit came on a secondary pattern. My first cull was a straggler and the only one caught off that particular feature. Eventually I found the right spot, and I hit absolute paydirt and scored two giants within 15 minutes of each other. It was 11:45 and I just wanted the weigh-in to happen ASAP. No lead is safe when Clint Henderson and Seth Lassitter are on the same body of water as you are! A storm came about an hour before weigh-in. I waited it out under a picnic shelter and ate lunch. I caught the spotted bass off the point after the storm, and that was the last fish of the day. I held off Seth and took home first place and big bass for my second win of the year.
My lesson from this tournament is a lesson for dissecting any unfamiliar water. I had never fished this location, so my strategy to pick lots of different features was completely on purpose. An important part of locating fish is eliminating the 90% of the water the fish aren't inhabiting. Points, manmade structure, cover, and other irregularities are what to look for first.
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| The winning stringer at Gadsden |
9. Yb3 - Chestatee River, July 16
Lake Lanier is fed by two similar rivers, the Chattahoochee and the Chestatee. A month prior, I was involved in the double-tiebreaker craziness on the Upper Hooch. The Chestatee is sort of a smaller version of the Hooch, but still holds quality shoalies and spots. It was a chance for me to redeem myself and finish in the money and grab one of those good looking plaques that Mike and the crew give away to the top finishers. As a bonus, I didn't have to drive as far. This stretch of the Chestatee was between Dahlonega and Dawsonville, and easily accessible from GA Hwy 400. My personal best shoalie came out of this section, fishing from the bank. So, hopes were high. There were only six fishermen in the tournament, partially because of the threat of storms that day. However, we had a good, fun day on the water as a small group and I got myself a 3rd place plaque and a little spending money. We heard thunder toward our home stretch to the takeout, and we got out just before the storm hit. We timed it perfectly. The lesson here is to keep an eye on the radar if you want to go fishing and there are storms in the forecast, and if it's a river run, go with someone familiar with the stretch. Know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em.
10. Tennessee Valley Kayak Anglers - Chickamauga (Possum Creek), July 23
This was the second time in the summer that I fished tournaments on three consecutive Saturdays. Possum Creek is essentially my home water, and I couldn't pass it up. The morning started well, and I picked up a couple of largemouth and a dink spotted bass in the shallows near the creek channel. When the sun got overhead, I got into a bit of a slump, but that was snapped when I landed my personal best smallmouth of 16.75" dredging a channel bend just off a deep grass edge. I was excited to have not only caught a nice smallie, but it rounded out a solid limit that would put me in the money. I took a quick selfie with the smallmouth and texted it to my wife, then readied the fish on the Hawg Trough. What happened next will be another moment that would haunt me for eternity - especially when my buddy Ryan Lambert logs onto Facebook...
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| My current personal best smallmouth - 16.75" |
Before the main part of the story, let me preface it by noting that Possum Creek is sort of a haven for PWC's and wake boarders. There are a series of narrow creek bends that come off the Tennessee River and wind back to a deep and wide expanse of water perfect for that type of recreation. I happened to catch this particular smallmouth in one of the narrow creek bends, and I could not escape the churning waves for long. I would make a cast, work the bait back, and wait for a boat or jet ski, making sure I was visible and could handle the wake. Then rinse and repeat.
Smallmouth and shoal bass are a bit of a challenge to keep laying still on a Hawg Trough. No matter how long you let them settle down on the fish grips, you never know when they will throw the next thrashing fit and send you into a panic. That happened here. I didn't realize it at first, but the smallie stayed on board and came to a rest under my kayak seat. My iPhone wasn't as lucky. As I lunged to stifle the fit the fish was throwing, my iPhone slipped out of my hand like it was greased, and went flying overboard into 12 feet of MasterCraft-churned water with 3 feet of hydrilla growing off the bottom. My phone and my limit were gone in an instant, and my heart sank into my stomach. I sat there in bewilderment, almost wanting to give up and just go back to the ramp and go home, but I quickly decided that's not my M.O. I turned to grab the backup camera (yes, I carry a backup), from my Pelican box, and lo and behold, that 16.75 inch smallmouth was laying there under my seat. I quickly photographed, revived, and released it. My entire limit wasn't gone after all. I still had my best fish and there was a little over an hour left in the tournament. I paddled all the way out to the Tennessee River and caught another small spotted bass on a ledge, but couldn't manage a "second" third fish to round out my limit. Turned out it was a tough day for some of the other anglers, and my decision to hit pause, collect my thoughts, and reset earned me a 6th place finish out of 14 anglers. (My original limit would have earned me 3rd).
Bonus: there are three lessons here. First - Otterbox/Lifeproof may be waterproof, but they still sink. Since then, I have invested in a couple of Chums Floating Wrist Lanyards - $6.50 on Amazon. This debacle will not happen again. Second - When Murphy's Law strikes - and it will - take a few minutes. Grab some water and a snack, pull up on a beach, and reset. Cool off, look back at your strategy sheet, and try your damnedest to finish the drill. You may miss out on five minutes worth of casts, but your mind will thank you. Third - Carry a backup camera. Mine is a waterproof Pentax point-and-shoot I got on clearance at one of the big box stores. Keep the battery charged.
11. Reel Krazy Stop #6 - Etowah River II, August 6
With my new camera lanyard, I set out for the second Etowah River event on the Reel Krazy schedule. Eligible water was from Hwy 113 in Cartersville to the Grizzard Park Soccer Fields on the Rome bypass. I chose the stretch I was most familiar with, Hardin Bridge to Macedonia/411. My tournament result was just average as I finished 9th out of 20 anglers, but I had a couple of bonehead moments that probably costed me some upgrades. Here's the lesson - if you use fluorocarbon line, check your knots after every fish. This is especially important with lighter pound-tests. Experiment with different knots and find one that works best for you. Many prefer the Palomar knot with flouro, but personally, it's not my favorite. I love it on braid - just not flouro. My favorites are the double clinch and the double Pitzen. Both are super strong but still need to be retied occasionally, especially after a good fish. Shaw Grigsby has a couple of good videos on the double Pitzen. Stop breaking off on hooksets.
12. Reel Krazy Stop #7 - Terrapin Creek, August 20
This is my favorite tournament on the Reel Krazy circuit. I look forward to fishing it all year because you can catch good bass in skinny water, and there's almost zero chance of seeing a motorized watercraft unless you're on the stretch near the river (which actually ended up being the section from which the winning limit was taken).
Everyone caught fish, which is generally the case at Terrapin. I caught over 20 myself, and finished 8th out of 25. I also discovered the effectiveness of the weightless fluke.
The cotton belt had a drought in 2016, however, and it was a brutally taxing day on both the anglers and their kayaks. Everyone at some point found themselves wishing there were even just a couple of more inches of water in the creek. Rocks were exposed everywhere in the shoals, and even the best creek runners with the shallowest-drafting boats had a hard time. Multiple boats sprung leaks. One angler had a panic attack causing him to be late for weigh-in, and a couple of our guys paddled through a storm in the dark to make sure he was okay.
What I learned that day was the unselfish nature of the anglers in this club. Several of our guys put aside their personal success in the tournament, and risked their own safety to ensure that everyone else arrived home safe to their family. In addition to having some absolute sticks, I believe moments like these are what makes Reel Krazy one of the premier clubs in kayak bass fishing, and why our tournaments have such good attendance in such a short history. Word gets around about the nature of your group, its leadership and the people who comprise it. And that reputation can make it or break it.
13. Reel Krazy Stop #8 - Guntersville season finale with TVKA, September 3
Entering the final tournament, Seth Lassitter held a fairly comfortable lead at the top of the Angler of the Year standings. I was a sitting duck at 3rd, having been ousted from 2nd by Jason Hopper at Terrapin Creek two weeks prior. The gap from 2nd to 5th was narrow with some breathing room between 5th and 6th. I needed to finish in the top 5 to advance to the Georgia State Championship. So, if I caught a limit, even a small one, I'd have my spot locked up. The top 10 qualify for the KBF National Championship, so for that tournament, I was in a comfortable spot already knowing I'd be Kentucky Lake bound in March of 2017.
This was my first trip to the Big G, and as a result, my first time seriously throwing a frog/toad. I always thought it looked exciting getting those big blowups, but I just never took the time to learn it much and develop confidence in it. That changed at Guntersville.
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| A Guntersville Bass on the Zoom Horny Toad |
My first bass came at first light, within my first ten casts. I was using a fluke. It was a good sign to have some early success, but I remembered what happened at Lake Weiss. I got another strike or two on the fluke but never hooked up again. It was about 9:30 in the morning when I decided to tie on a Zoom Horny Toad. I rigged it on an Owner 5/0 EWG twist lock hook, and started working it across the surface along the grass edges. It didn't take long before I learned the lesson of the day - this was what the all the hype was about. In the next hour, I would watch bass violently strike my bait repetitively, to the point where I was laughing out loud every time it happened, even when I missed the hookset. This was fun. The frog bite lasted about an hour and I was able to fill out my limit before the fish made a move deeper with the midday heat. I added another fish from down in a creek channel with a shakey head, but it was not a cull. I turned in my small limit and claimed my spot in the inaugural Georgia State Championship. There were 28 anglers in the tournament, a good turnout for Labor Day Weekend. I actually did not see the final standings, so I do not know what place I got. It didn't matter; it was time to get ready for State, for which the location was soon to be announced.
14. Georgia State Championship - Lake Sinclair, October 1-2
I did not fish much in the month between Guntersville and the Championship, which was okay because the break was overdue. I was very fortunate to get to fish the 13 tournaments I did. I needed to set fishing aside for a while, and prioritize some very important things that were in process in "real life." My wife and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary. We had the JeepFest. We took a weekend trip to Charleston. We moved from Canton to Jasper, and I was also able to begin the process selling the house I grew up in (in Tunnel Hill) to my cousin. That involved moving a box truckload of stuff out to storage. So I had two closings to attend and another sale to get under contract. There were two moves involved from Canton to Jasper because there was a two week gap between closings. My fishing gear and kayak was in storage in two different places. I was temporarily working my work-from-home job from an extra office at Jasper Jeep (which was actually pretty awesome). We were scheduling painters and flooring contractors in the new place while sleeping in the basement, and it was pretty much chaos through September.
But it worked out. The event location of Lake Sinclair was announced on September 7th. Pre-fishing for this event was highly discouraged, and because of that, our launch was not announced until a couple of days before the tournament. We just knew it was somewhere on Lake Sinclair, so we were relegated to researching baits, techniques, etc rather than specific locations. One thing was obvious. There were docks. So. Many. Docks.
Once it was announced that the whole lake was eligible, it left just a short time to cram in some ramp research before we were off to Milledgeville. Zack McElveen, a first-year Reel Krazy angler and winner of the season opener at Brushy, and I decided to team up on our research and fish together. We learned that Sinclair has a stained half and a clear half, so we had a decision to make. The Upper Oconee River and Little River arms are stained, and the southeastern creeks and area near the dam are clear.
The tournament format was two sessions, a Saturday evening and Sunday morning session, with a 5-fish total limit over the two sessions. We could score a maximum 3 fish Saturday, and up to 5 on Sunday if we were able to upgrade the 3 from Saturday.
We decided to start in the Little River arm on Saturday afternoon. Shortly after the launch I located a school of fish chasing bait, and was quickly able to land a 15" largemouth to kick off the weekend. An hour or so later I picked up a smaller one fishing a worm along a grass line on an old roadbed. But that was all for Saturday. The fishing was tough. Zack and I each only caught two fish, and decided we would try clear water on Sunday morning.
We launched about halfway back in a creek arm on the southeastern side, and Zack hooked up immediately on a nice 17-incher. I missed a couple of early strikes as well, but all signs pointed to us having made a good decision. I landed a small one pitching a shakey head at a dock. While fishing around a small island, I finally hooked up on a decent fish. As I was lifting it into the boat, it spit the hook and swam away. I knew at that point, my tournament had gone south. There was still a couple of hours left to fish, but I knew that mistake was costly. I should have netted the fish instead of swinging it. Lesson learned.
I kept fishing docks until time to head back to the weigh-in. I was able to add on another very small bass taken on a fluke while skipping under pontoon boat, but I only had four fish to turn in - 2 from Saturday and 2 from a very frustrating Sunday morning. I ended up finishing 22nd out of 35 anglers. Not good for that tournament, but considering I was fortunate to end up fishing in the postseason was certainly gratifying in the grand scheme. Also, I have to congratulate Dylan Lowery for winning, and my good buddy Allen "Cornbread" Starling for bringing home 2nd. It's scary how much he has improved as an angler over the season.
Although the season ended with a disappointing showing at State, I'm still overjoyed at how the season went. I got my first two wins, both in Reel Krazy events. I had three other top-5's on other trails. Every time on the water teaches more lessons, and you learn to repeat the good decisions and adjust and learn from the mistakes. I'll be going into the National Championship this year with a loftier goal and more confidence and experience under my belt. Lately I've been fishing harsh conditions and practicing techniques I need to work on, like underspins, spoons, lipless crankbaits and the drop shot. I've caught my first bass on two of those four techniques within the past week. I'm studying maps, planning routes, making plans. I'll be leaving Jasper on March 28th, and my game face will be on.
Thanks to all my support system:
My wife Solitair
Diablo Paddlesports
Jasper Jeep
Nite Ize
Mad Frog Gear
Young's Custom Baits
NaPo Custom Fishing Rods
The Dugout/Chattahoochee Jigs
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