Tournament Day 1

The day before the tournament started, I found an insanely large school of bass at the mouth of a feeder creek in Tiger Lake (one of the connector lakes located near Kissimmee). Just before I found those fish, my plan was to hit the rocky canals, get a quick limit then try to get some bigger fish out of the matts in Toho. I wish I had stuck with my original plan. I spent an hour and fifteen minutes getting to those fish only to find a local on the spot (not that it mattered, the fish were gone). I spent another hour fishing for the fish that were no longer there only to get blanked on the spot that I had caught 14lbs on in 20 minutes the day before. I pretty much panicked after that. I went to a spot that I had minimal success on during practice and managed to get some fish going on a topwater bite (warrior buzz frog, that thing is sick over hydrilla) but I didnt really capitalize. I lost two really nice fish and only managed to get 3 keepers in the box. Ahh.... but the excuses continue, I got really deep into the vegetation and managed to clog my Yamaha hpdi with hydrilla which in turn over heated my motor. A call to the B.A.S.S. director gave me the permission to hit up Boat Boys in Newark Ohio for some TECH SUPPORT!!! (i love me some movie quotes, Vanilla Sky) They managed to walk me through the process of cleaning out my engine. It worked but only after I had lost about another hour and a half of fishing. My first major tournamet started off with a resounding thud, concluding with a  first day weight of 3lbs and some change, which put me into 150th place out of 194. I guess it could have been alot worse, there was a handful of guys that zeroed the first day. Things would get better on day 2 but those fish I lost really ended up costing me.
I'll tell you all about it on the next one. 

later, S.T.P.

Practicing for big tournaments...

What you end up with is a cobbled up mess, or at least I do. I get a few bites here, I get a few bites there but what always ends up happening is I get worried about burning fish up during practice so I leave an area or I try something that has nothing to do with anything. For instance, if I hook a nice fish or two on the end of a laydown with a jig, then all the sudden I start  cranking the banks around the laydown. Seems pretty ass backwards but its how I do it. In Florida this week, I spent most of my practice days looking for other ways to catch the fish I was catching. The problem with that is, you caught them for a reason, because you were doing something right. If you suddenly change that, then you wont catch squat. I would like to think I could have caught 200 bass over the past week if that was my intent but I'm probably kidding myself. I reckon the moral of the story is, there is a fine line between fishing and pre-fishing. The last thing you want to do is burn through fish you would have caught during the tournament, that makes for a dull practice but I would rather catch them during the tourny then the week before the tournament starts. So if anyone else asks me why I didnt catch more fish, this is my new excuse...

later

S.T.P.

New Friends...

I got hooked up with a guy named Mike White through my contacts at Boat Boys in Newark Ohio, the area Skeeter dealer. This guy had fished the opens a few years back and actually had a chance to make the elite series if not for an unfortunate "fire" at his hotel the night before the last tournament at Santee Cooper.  You cant imagine what this guy went through the week of that tournament, I'm not gonna get into out of respect to him (its a hillarious story but if it happened to you, you wouldnt be laughing) but lets just say, I would have cried. Anyway, Mike deserves some major props from me, not only did he help me out with alot of logistics that I would have never even thought about but he hooked me up with a traveling buddy for the entire week. Nothing like finding another guy trying to make it, sleeping in his truck, with nobody to chill with, it was odd. Brannon Long, from Texas, an extremely dedicated fisherman that has already accomplished so much in the business. I strive to be where he is, sponsorships, financial backing and a great self promotor. If I want to get where I want to be, I have to be more like Brannon. Check him out online as well, he represents some great products and he can tell you all about them!

We shared a load of hillarious moments during last week, my favorite being a guy that wanted Brannon to hook him up with an endorsement from Skeeter. After cornering Brannon in a one toilet public bathroom, he grilled Brannon about his sponsors and then proclaimed that he had "payed his dues" by tournament fishing "for 4 years" "ever since I was 50" he said. WOW! you've been at it a long time there buddy!  Im not gonna name names but this guy then proceeded to blank on the first day of the tournament and then only get 2 the second day.  I would say, spend a few more years out there, give your entry fees to the big boys a couple of 50 more times, then you can use the "I payed my dues" line. You might want to also throw in a win or two...   

later peeps

S.T.P.

First day in Florida

Getting to Florida was a hurdle in itself, towing a boat through the mountains and snow, during the night, with zero sleep, by your lonesome can make you start talking to yourself or at least have you singing along with the ipod. By the time I got to Florida, my voice was nearly gone from trying to sound like James Hetfield during a live version of "Creeping Death". When I rolled up to the first place I was going to be staying for the night, I assumed I would be too tired to do anything other then sleep, I was completely wrong, all I wanted to do was catch a bass. It was 9a.m. friday morning, I had been awake for 26 hours, so what did I do? I launched my boat from Richardsons fishcamp on lake Toho and went fishing. Two hours after I get on the water, I stick a nice 3lber out of a thick matt of Kissimmee grass. The sequential boat flip went awry and the 3lber snapped my 8' powell max rod. It was completely my fault as high sticking a 3lb fish will result in a broken rod about 90% of the time. After a few calls to a few friends (Mike White and Scott Mcgehee) it  seemed like I was going to be short a rod for the rest of the week. Not a huge problem, I had spares but it still sucks knowing your arsenal is depleted. I spent the rest of the day looking for matts similar to the one I caught the fish out of and not really fishing much.

When I finally concluded my first day of sleep deprived practice, I went back to the ramp to find one of the nicest Skeeters I've ever seen waiting to get pulled from the water. I struck up a conversation with the fellow that I thought I recognized. As soon as he opened his mouth I knew who he was. An absurdly thick cajun accent gave him away, Cliff Crochet, Elite series pro from Louisiana. We had a nice hour long conversation about fishing and experiences. This guy had some really great stories about co-anglers he has dealt with in the past, alot of great advice and he even let me borrow one of his Powell rods that was similar to the one I broke. I hesitated at first because I was affraid I would just break his rod like I did mine but he insisted.  What a great guy, I hope he blows up this season and kicks everyones ass except mine!

S.T.P.

oh yeah, by the time I got to sleep, I had been awake and either fishing or traveling for 38 hours which prob isnt so bad if your hopped up on some crystal meth but I didnt even have a drop of caffeine in me... kids, dont try this at home...

Day 1

I might as well get into it, I'm bored out of my mind and the wife is at work. As much as it pains me to do so because I hate most things retro (clothes, music, furniture etc.) I'm gonna have to go back a few days since the tournament was this past weekend. I left Ohio on a Thursday evening. I had been up the entire day that day so driving to Florida through the night was not going to be the easiest of tasks but I figured the adrenaline would make up for the lack of sleep. I was sort of right, I was wickedly tired but the second I got to the lake (15 hours later) I had the itch to get on the water, but before I get to that I have to talk about the trip itself.  My truck gets a mind numbing 9.9 mpg while towing my Skeeter boat which means i have to stop and fill up about every 220 miles. Can somebody explain to me why the gasoline in West Virginia cost more by $.20 per gallon then any other state from Ohio to Florida? No wonder the people in WVA dont have anything, they have to drive through mountains everywhere they go and then they get raped at the gas pumps when their 4x4 gets low on fuel. Anyway, stopping and getting fuel at some of these gas stations in the middle of the night will make you wish you had your concealed carry license. Everybody seems like a shady character  getting ready to rob you at gun point. In the daytime, everyone looks harmless but as soon as its 2 a.m. for some reason those same people look like Charles Mansons cell mate. I'm sure most of them are wonderful people but your mind is telling you to "get the damn gas cap on and lets get the hell out of here!". After 950 miles and 5 fill ups, i made it to Lake Toho in Kissimmee Florida. I was pumped just to get out of the snow, BRING ON THE BASS!

S.T.P.

Turning Pro...

This, being my first blog, first media, first attempt at creatively writing about fishing and first time trying to promote myself via the world wide web, might end up being a disaster but I reckon you have to start somewhere. Anyone reading this might find that I am not the typical fisherman you think of although my type is becoming more and more prevalent. I am not Bill Dance, Hank Parker or Jimmy Houston. I am not politically correct and I have had a tendency to rub certain people the wrong way in the past. I am opinionated, I am relatively brash when compared to alot of people in the fishing industry and I am extremely loyal to the products I use. If I say something works, its because it does and not because they are paying me and I'll be honest, nobody is paying me squat as of right now.

I may from time to time get into the technical aspect of bass fishing as I like to teach people what I know but I'm going to try to treat this as more of a diary about what its like trying to become a professional tournament angler. If you start reading this because you want to know what to throw when the water is high and muddy and the pressure is high and your on the back side of a cold front then you might end up getting bored but if you want to know what its like trying to qualify for the B.A.S.S. elite series without financial backing from major sponsors then you may find yourself interested.

I try to make things amusing but I often only make myself laugh (I'm cracking up right now) "chirp chirp" thats what I thought, really not that funny but I hope to get better. I'm gonna make this my first entry and hopefully there will be enough people interested to keep me from abandoning this whole deal at a future date.  Later folks

S.T.P.