Lago Carraizo, Puerto Rico...my first fish as a married man!

Omega Custom Tackle Pro-Staffer Kevin Crady and I reserved our hotel over a month in advance and covered an enormous amount of water during the official practice period.  We literally fished every creek arm and cove from one lock & dam to another, and even locked through for a little straight river fishing.  The sun was high, wind was non-existent, and bites were few and far between.  AfterFlippin' the beav on 20lb Seaguar with my new Dobyns a largely fruitless day one in Illinois Bayou, we dropped the trolling motor down while idling through the fog on day two.  Kevin caught a solid fish on a shaky head, and 5 feet down the bank I flipped my beaver into a laydown and yanked out the first good one Dardanelle had given us.  It was the first 5lb-class fish I'd caught on my new Dobyns DX795 Flippin' Stick, so I got a little crazy and boat-flipped her over the gunnel while hootin', hollerin', and makin' a ton of noise.  We were so jacked up and the fog was so thick neither of us noticed the boat 30 feet away from us...whoops!  The diversity of Dardanelle's different creek arms is amazing, but made it hard for us to find the same type of bank and cover.  Over the next two days we continued to burn up the trolling motor batteries and accumulate as much knowledge as possible...catching keepers here and there and getting bites, but without much frequency.  

My Day 1 partner was Mick Fenn, a Fire Captain out of the Okie Division.  We were greeted with monster 35mph winds, 4ft swells on the main channel, and wave after wave over the front of the boat.  While many still ran up to the fish they'd found in practice, we took off as boat #10 and stayed close to maximize time and avoid the brutal run (and Mick still lost one of his nav lights!).  We were both catching more shorts than we had in practice, but I had a rough one and failed to get a 15" bite.  At one point in the day while cranking around a rock pile, Mick caught a keeper, I caught a short...then put 15-20 casts on the rock pile without another bite.  Mick throws back down the side of it one time...catches a keeper.  I've definitely had better days! 

I woke up on Day 2 knowing I need to make an 8lb move to cash a check, and sacking 10-12lbs might help me make the cut.  To be honest, I felt like my day one blank had probably punched my ticket home, but I ended up making a huge move (and still can't believe I did it).  My partner Greg Ingram (hell of a nice guy, also out of the Okie Division) and I ran all the way to the other end of the lake...and from a style-standpoint it was going to be completely different from what I'd done on day one.  We took off as boat # 141 and fortunately the wind speeds were back down to zero and we cruised up there comfortably in his brand new Skeeter.  Because of the pace we would likely maintain throughout the day, I almost left the dock without my new shaky head rod...a Dobyns DX703SF, spooled with 8lb Seaguar Tatsu it's one of the most sensitive set-ups I've ever fished.  My motel neighbor for the week, a well known stick out of the Ozark Division, talked me out of that and said, "Buddy, I have got a worm you need to be throwing."  He was nice enough to give me a couple packs and after fishing 10-12 jetties without a keeper Little BTT Shaky Heads catch big fish!crankbait bite, I decided to try and make a cast or two with a 1/4oz Bass Team Tackle Shaky Head.  The stand-up football head comes through rocks very well so you can maximize a cast, and the stout EWG hook has helped me boat fish after fish in competition without fail.  Knowing my casts would be limited, I had to pick the most productive part of the jetty and soak that worm.  My first cast on the deeper downstream side netted a 10lb drum, but on my second cast I hooked a gorilla!  I didn't expect a green fish that big to be living on the end of a jetty, and after 3 or 4 jumps she was in the box and my hands were shakin' for sure...and more importantly my mindset had changed a little.  I only needed 2-3lbs for a check and a few more keepers might bump me to Day 3.  I got those 2lbs with another BTT shaky head fish several jetties later and I was ecstatic.  The jetties yielded another 13" spotted bass, and while running back Greg was nice enough to stop on a creek mouth that had caught my eye.  Many of the creek mouths on Dardanelle are narrow and with a little bit of wind blowing, we'd noticed that the current in those areas tended to put fish in fairly predictable spots.  Sometimes they'd be tiny, but sometimes they were the right kind.  I picked up my new Dobyns 705CB Glass and fired my squarebill into an eddy created by a concrete wall.  Two cranks of the reel later my 4th keeper of the day was on.  Greg did a great job with the net, and after he managed another keeper throwing a shaky head of his own, we buttoned up and ran to the marina to weigh in.

Being boat # 141, I was one of the last co-anglers to weigh in and didn't have to wait long to find out my 10lb 13oz bag was good enough to put my in 11th place.  I hung out for the Top 12 meeting, met my day 3 partner Michael Thompson, and then I was off to book another night at the motel and pick up some clean socks.  Day 3 was again going to have me doing something completely different.  Ozark boater and good friend Jason Perrego helped me fine tune my lipless crankbait set-up and I was ready to fish dirt shallow.  The cloud-cover and wind was supposed to give way on Day 3 but it never did.  Around 8:30am I caught a 15 1/4" fish...first fish I'd caught on a trap in almost 4 years!  Around 9am I hooked and lost a fish that looked like it would have kept.  Shortly after that, another knocked slack in my line and by the time I caught up with it the fish was nearly under the boat...and after the fish stripped off a little line my empty hooks came flying up out of the water.  I'd fished clean up until this point, had brand new hooks, and my Dobyns 705CB Glass was the right stick, but this sort of thing comes with the territory when you're throwing a lipless crankbait.  I continued to fish hard and other than couple fish swirling on my bait at the boat I didn't see much more in the way of action.  Our convoy of 12 boats made it's way to the Wal-Mart in Russellville and my lone fish weighed in at 2lbs 15oz...barely a keeper and almost a 3-pounder.  I was 2nd to weigh in and moved into 2nd place, but was eventually bumped to 7th and missed the All-American by a lousy 12 ounces!  It was a sickening feeling.  It was hard to swallow and I couldn't help but think what could have been when I grabbed my 7th place check.  Once I'd fired up my truck and started to drive home, I had a lot of time to reflect on the year and reflect on my first regional...and 7th place after zeroing on day one left me nothing to be ashamed of.  If you fish as clean as you can, have the best equipment, and work as hard as possible, you're still going to lose one here and there...that's just fishin'!

Before I rig up to get back on the water, I have to mention the companies I'm proud to represent and extend a big ol' collective "Thank you" to them for their support.  Bass Team Tackle shaky heads are without a doubt my go-to bait and my confidence in them is through the roof.  Seaguar fluorocarbon produces the best line on the market and continues to innovate with new products like Kanzen Braid and Senshi Monofilament.  Fish I catch on TroKar hooks stay pegged, and my Navionics App on my iPhone continues to be an invaluable tool on the water.  Last but not least, my newest partnership with Dobyns Rods is the kind you dream about.  The balance in their rods is incredible, they use top-quality materials, they stand behind their product, and they were developed by a man who is truly a Legend of the Sport (click here to see the latest BassWest USA feature on owner Gary Dobyns).  Without these fine companies I wouldn't be able to catch what I catch, and without the opportunities provided to me by 7/24 Outdoors I probably wouldn't be partnered up with them.  Most importantly, thank you to my friends and family for your continued support and encouragement.  Can't wait for 2012!!!   

(Click Here to see my photo album from Lake Dardanelle)

(Click Here to see the full results from the 2011 BFL Regional on Lake Dardanelle)

Head - In most cases a beanie is good enough.  When it's cold enough that you need to cover more than just the top of your head I'm a big fan of the balaclava.  Covering the top of your head keeps most of your body heat from escaping, but there's a lot to be said for a warm face and neck.  When you're running you're going to need something to shield your eyes from the piercing wind, and if there's precipitation you're gonna need it even more!  You'll see some guys who've spent a couple hundred dollars on a motorcycle helmet and there's an occasional ski-goggle in the crowd, but I'm a fan of the lightweight masks like those from from Save Phace.  It's not completely wind proof after a little use so you need to have your hoods tight underneath, but it comes on and off easily and doesn't take up a ton of room in the boat. 

Body -  You'll probably spend the most money on the suit that covers you head to toe and it's worth it.  Buy a size bigger than normal and spend the extra money for GoreTex.  I've had suits that were made of a lesser material and they never hold up to jerkbait and Wiggle Wart trebles.  Buying a size bigger will allow you to layer in a hoodie, fleece, Under Armour shirt or whatever you might need that particular day.  If you've got a choice, take bibs over pants all day.  Bibs give you some overlap with the jacket, create a better seal, and give you a little extra warmth around your chest.  Bass Pro's Pro Qualifier suit and 100mph suit are two of the more popular buys, and I can't say enough about mine.  Even the guys from the Time Bandit on the Deadliest Catch wear these things.  I haven't fished lately, but I've been staying pretty warm and dry as I shovel the driveway in - 6 degree air temps! 

Hands -I've heard and seen just about everything when it comes to keeping your hands warm while fishing in the winter.  The problem is that if it's warm enough and waterproof, it's probably too bulky to fish with.  I've probably tried 15-20 different gloves, gone through hundreds of hand warmers, and even made out of the way trips to fly fishing shops to try and uncover some secret Holy Grail of gloves.

For the past several years I've fished with fingerless flip mitts like the ones made by Glacier Glove, but after losing one of those out the back of the boat last year I replaced them this winter with a similar model from Under Armour.  If your whole finger needs to be covered there are gloves that are decently warm and allow a good enough range of mobility, but at best they're only water resistant or fast-drying.  If you put on a pair of latex or rubber gloves underneath, you can protect your skin from getting wet and you can keep your hand completely dry if you need to remove the glove to cinch up a knot.  Wet gloves will stay warm for a little while in freezing temperatures, but I'll usually carry a backup pair or two so I can swap them out when they lose their warmth.  One of the best things I've tried to date is something I borrowed from an interview I saw with FLW Pro Scott Suggs.  While prepping tackle on a cold Table Rock morning he was wearing a pair of ThermaCare Heatwraps made for arthritic hands.  I tracked down a box of the glove-like heating pads, slid them under my gloves, and they made a world of difference.  They can get too warm, so sometimes a well placed regular hand warmer can be enough.  The underside of your wrist or the top of your hand gives that heat the quickest path to the veins that circulate through your hand so keeping the pad in one of those areas is going to get warmer blood pumping through your fingers.

Feet -  Don't underestimate a pair of good wool socks.  Under Armour makes a good football sock as well that's a little better when it comes to moisture control.  As far as boots go, I like something that covers the ankle to create a lot of overlap for a good seal in wet conditions.  Waterproof material is a must and GoreTex is preferred for it's breathable properties.  Something in the 200-600 gram Thinsulate range should be good for our area of the country, but you want to avoid staying too warm in the feet.  Wool is still going to feel warm if you start to sweat, but any perspiration is bad in cold conditions so you'll need the more breathable boot and/or sock to bail you out if you overdress.  Lastly, don't overlook the sole.  When you're standing on snowy or wet boat carpet and floating on 40 degree water, losing traction can be a scary thing!

All of the items listed above can be purchased through the 7/24 Outdoors Shop!

Our first spot was one of the last brushpiles we'd found in practice, it was the closest to PB2, and with a thick fog bank hanging over the Gravois arm it made sense to make a quick stop.  We'd only fished it when the sun was overhead so we didn't know what to expect this early in the morning.  After 5-10 casts through the brush with a jig and shaky head it started to feel like this particular pile needed some sun on it to position the fish.  We checked the shallow side of the surrounding docks to see if the fish that called it home moved up in the morning but didn't have any luck, so we pulled up the trolling motor and kept heading North.

Our second spot was much more diverse than our first.  Instead of one pile in about 15ft, there were multiple scattered pieces of brush from 10ft all the way down to 25-30ft.  Figuring the fish were on the shallower side, we positioned ourself to cast in that direction, but Kris drug his first cast all the way back to the boat and stuck a short in about 20ft of water.  A minute or two later he put his jig in the same spot and got the same result, but this time his fish bumped the line and we threw it in the livewell.  It's always good to get the monkey off your back and put one in the box, but we both knew 8-9lb limits wouldn't mean much on Sunday afternoon.  After the one keeper and a few more shorts, we agreed to make a few more casts on the deeper edge and move on.  I crawled my BTT Shaky Head over a big log, let it sink, and shook it in place for what seemed like an hour.  The thump came and my line shot towards a dock stall so I reeled up the slack and eased into what felt like a hawg...the kind we needed.  The fish shook it's head and peeled drag for about 10 seconds and even with the drag set right I didn't have a chance.  The line snapped and I was gonna spend the next 7 hours trying to convince myself it was a flathead. 

The rest of the day never really panned out like we had hoped it would.  To be honest it was so forgettable that it took me a second to recall where our next two keepers came from.  We started on the point leading in to a stretch of docks that had given up some promising fish in practice.  The first dock in had a small Christmas tree on the shallow corner.  Kris stuck and boated a nice 3lb fish with a crankbait run along the side of the dock.  While he was digging the fish out of the net, I pitched my shaky head just past the brush, crawled it through, and hooked up with keeper # 3...a fat largemouth that was around 3.5lbs.  It started to feel like these docks were going to produce like they had in practice, but what started off hot quickly cooled off.  We fished the stretch from 2ft down to 20ft and couldn't buy another bite.  The identical stretch that was one cut up the creek...it didn't produce either.  A series of brushpiles we'd found in Mill Creek was also fruitless, so we motored back to the spot we had started on to see if the sun had positioned those fish to bite like they had the other day.  We'd caught a nice 3.5lb fish out of this brush and shook off a few more.  We worked the pile for a solid 20 minutes before heading back to weigh-in and while I was able to boat another small keeper on the shaky head, 4 fish was a HUGE disappointment considering the practice we'd had. 

We gave ourselves a few extra minutes on the way in and it turned out to be a wise move.  The air temp was up in the 80s, the sun was shining, and you would have swore it was the middle of July on that damn lake...big cruisers, people tubing, jet-skis, and 4-5ft rollers...in the middle of October!  A couple pins inside the trolling motor shaft broke, the power disconnected down inside the prop housing, my phone broke in my pocket, and I lost skin on my thumb and lower back from rubbing up against the seat and holding on for dear life.  After weighing in our little 9-something pound bag we booked it to the parking lot of the hardware store to take the trolling motor apart and figure out what needed to be done to fix it.  Luckily the broken pins were something Kris had handled before so we were good there, but taking the head apart to re-connect the power was a different story.  My buddy's neighbor "Rooster" was kind enough to lend a hand and let us use his shop...and another neighbor even came over to lend a hand.  I don't know if the Keystone Lights I tried to bribe him with helped or not, but we appreciated his help regardless.  It was frustrating, but trying to figure it out with the help of a couple old-timers was pretty hilarious, and knowing how a Minn Kota is put together will probably come in handy in the future.  By the time everything was patched up and back on the boat the sun had gone down and we still had rods to restring and rig up, but with a late boat number and no pressure there wasn't much to worry about.

Day Two: We woke up later than normal, put the boat in a little later than normal, but we knew a check was a long-shot at this point so we decided to stay loose and take it easy.  Our plan was to rotate through some of the same spots, expand around those areas a little bit, and capitalize on every bite.  Yeah...we changed our plan pretty early in the day.

After we caught a few shorts out of some brush we'd fished on day one, we hit a point that had produced back to back 3-4 pound fish earlier in the week.  The shad were there, and if the bass were there they weren't hungry so we moved on.  While idling out to open water and chewing on a granola bar, one of us suggested we run one creek East and fish Lick Branch for a little while.  We spent some time in there in practice, only boated one solid fish, but at this point we were flying by the seat of our pants.  I knew of a couple deeper brushpiles from the hot summer days I've spent fishing out of a belly boat off a friend's dock so we fished those first.  I showed Kris the lineup and he boated a keeper in fairly short order, lost another that probably wouldn't have helped.  I boated one more line-burner and we moved across the creek to a massive brushpile we'd fished in practice.  You've probably heard people describe a big brushpile as being, "the size of a school bus."  Well...this one is more like a 747. 

We fished this brushpile PAINFULLY slow.  The fish were eating my shaky head a little funny, so I made a couple changes that ended up loading our livewell.  I had quite a few spit out the bait when they felt me on the other end.  Sometimes there's a little room for error on this, but on this day there wasn't so I put down my G.Loomis Shaky Head rod and picked up my drop-shot model.  It's the same length and every bit as sensitive, but with a softer action the fish would be less likely to feel me when I'm getting ready to swing.  I also upsized my shaky head to a 1/4oz model.  The wind had picked up a little and it was getting harder to feel the light bite so I boxed the 3/16oz head I'd been throwing and went with more weight for some added feel.  Bam...bam...bam...and 3 more keepers were in the livewell on my shaky head and we'd finished off our limit.  It ended up weighing 10.36lbs, but we were able to hang in there and get close to finishing in the top 1/3rd of the field.  That didn't mean we were getting paid, but it didn't mean we'd completely bombed either.

After the truck was packed and we were KC-bound on 52, I had some time to look back on this year and think about all of the highs, lows, and goals I'd set for myself last winter.  I wanted to qualify for a BFL Regional...check!  I wanted to qualify for the AiA Championship and learn Truman better in the process...check!  I wanted to notch another BFL Top 10...check (3 times)!!!  It wasn't until that moment that I realized I'd accomplished every goal I had set for myself at the beginning of the 2010 season.  It was a pretty good feeling.  Without all of the support from my soon-to-be wife, my family, and of course my sponsors I couldn't have done what I set out to do. 

Probably 80% of the fish I weighed in this year were on a Bass Team Tackle Shaky Head or jig.  It's a quality product, and those heads are definitely gonna slay some fish for me next year.  With the exception of 2 or 3 squarebill fish that I caught on mono, Seaguar Fluorocarbon kept me connected until the fish hit the net.  I can't say enough about the quality of their product.  Whether you want to spend $4 for a spool of line or $40 for a spool of line, you're not going to find a better fluorocarbon.  I've tried just about everything out there and while they might have some competition, there can only be one leader.  In my mind that's Seaguar...Red Label, Inviz-X, Abraz-X and Tatsu get the job done!  Last but not least, none of this would be possible without 724Outdoors.com.  The opportunity that Lou and Mike have given me is tremendous, and without their support I wouldn't be taking some of the steps that I'm taking.

Thanks again to everyone who's supported me, rooted for me, helped me, and listened while I rambled for hours and hours about chasing green fish...looking forward to 2011!!!             

Our first target in practice was an obvious one. Anyone who's fished Lake of the Ozarks in the fall knows that the bite in the Osage River can be strong. I used the tournament archives on 724Outdoors.com to reinforce that before I headed down...somewhere around 90% of the tournaments reported on 7/24 from 2001 until now listed at least one top 3 finisher fishing up the river. With that in mnd we put in at Hurricane Deck with the intent to fish our way North until we got tired of it. There was a little fog on the water and the bite started off pretty slow. We worked the bank fast doing some junk-fishing...big-bladed E-Factor spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, squarebills and a flippin' stick always on the deck. We didn't really run into a decent concentration of fish until we got around the 48MM, but even then the best fish we snagged was around 3lbs, and we knew that wouldn't do us much good. I used the Navionics app on my iPhone to mark out 50-something stretches of docks between 40MM and 70MM that had either produced in the past or were likely to produce this time of year, but none of them helped us get a clue. I hadn't been out on the water with the new phone and the new Navionics app, and with the bite being slow I spent some time learning how to use it...taking GPS-tagged pictures of fish we caught, marking brush, and attaching notes about the conditions. I know that being able to carry waypoints and GPS-tagged pictures of fish and lineups in my pocket is going to elevate me in the future, so it was still time well spent in my mind. I don't know a way to upload a screenshot of Lake of the O, but the image to the right should give you the gist of it...contour lines down to a few feet, navigation markers, GPS capabilities...all on your phone. If you have an iPhone or an Android I'd highly recommend spending the $4.99.

With nothing to get excited about after 12 hours and about 20-something miles of river, day 2 was going to be spent launching out of Coffman Beach and heading all over the Gravois from the top to the bottom. Cool fall nights and 72 degree water will usually put a decent layer of fog on the lake and Tuesday morning was no exception. We fished a couple hundred yards of docks and caught a few small keepers before the fog lifted, and when it was safe to run we motored North hoping to see an upper Gravois full of big Gizzard shad. As we idled around scouting it was pretty evident that the shad weren't as thick as they usually are this time of year. We did see several large schools on the graph but sometimes you can walk on the shad in that area of the lake. I don't know if it was the day, the area, or the conditions, but the reaction baits started to work for us. As Kris alternated between swimming a jig and working a topwater, I threw a buzzbait and spinnerbait under, over, and all around every dock. Even though the sun was up and there wasn't a whole lot of chop on the water, I was excited to throw some custom spinnerbaits I picked up from the guys at E-Factor Lures and eventually force-fed those big diamond cut blades to a solid keeper. In the fall, bait is typically larger so you want to upsize your spinnerbait blades accordingly to "match the hatch" as they say. A short run to a point on the opposite side of the lake produced another 3lb+ fish on a topwater, and on the next consecutive cast I bagged another solid fish on a DD22. I'd fished Truman all summer and Lake of the O all year, and this was the first time I'd been able to tick one of those big cranks off the top of a brushpile and get a fish to eat it. It was the only plug I had left in my favorite color, and sure enough I hung it up and lost it a few minutes later. We laid off the spot that had given us 6-7lbs in under a minute and used the graph to see what the fish were holding on. The 15-20ft range was full of nasty brush and big, ledgy rock. The water column was full of schools of shad, and the fish we'd caught had likely moved up from the structure to feed and could be found deep shallow or in-between.  Having a better idea of what we were looking for we went to check some similar areas we had in the back of our heads. We only spent another hour or two on the water that day and didn't have much to talk about so we packed it in and decided to go home and get ready for another day of practice.

Our next day and every day thereafter was going to be spent on completely new water. We didn't touch anything we'd fished thus far, tried to fish similar water, and felt good about what we were finding. We fished much of Wednesday morning without a whole lot of luck, but stumbled onto a small 50yd stretch of docks that produced about 14lbs on three fish in a matter of minutes. We ran over to the next secondary creek...identical in size, layout, direction, and the result was identical as well. The first brush-holding dock gave up a 4+lb fish. Spots were accumulating, but fearing we wouldn't have enough there was a lot of steering wheel time to be had.

On Thursday and Friday we found some good deeper brushpiles, marked a few, fished a few, and caught a few nice ones. We let most of the fish swim around until they got sick of holding my shaky head in their mouth, but the few we did swing on were worth coming back for on Saturday and Sunday. Two days where we caught 17-18lbs without laying into the fish, a handful of key areas, and 5 days of practice under near indentical conditions to what we'd be up against on Saturday and Sunday...so yeah, practice went well.

Tucked away in the woods of western Shawnee, KS is a little community called Lake Quivira.  There's a country club, a golf course, stables, small houses, and big houses.  Sitting in the middle is a 200-something acre lake with around 500 boat docks.  It's paradise...and with the Anglers In Action Championship on Lake of the Ozarks in my not-so-distant future I pegged it as a great place for me to get in some much needed dock-fishing practice.  When I was in high school I used to walk the shores of Lake Quivira skippin', flippin', and pitchin' a black and blue jig up under the docks.  So even though all of my friends were getting ready to start casting down at the Big Bass Bash, I was excited to get nostalgic.

I rolled through the gates and linked up with Raymond at his dock around 7am.  We'd never actually met in person...and we've been trying to get together and fish since March.  With the sun coming up quick we were getting anxious so after a couple quick introductions, we jumped into a small aluminum Triton that Raymond bought a couple years ago from Luke at Pro's Choice Marine.  For a small lake with little traffic this rig was perfect...25 horse Merc on the back, 24v Minn Kota up front, and quality electronics.  We motored out a little ways to check a ledge that was covered with brush.  The shad were there, the brush was there, but after chuckin' and winding DD22s for about 10 minutes or so we decided to move to one of the lake's subtle points.

Mr. Bates connected with a short fish after a cast or two on the first wind-blown point, and my first fish wasn't far behind his.  As the wind swept across the point creating current and moving bait into the pocket, it made for a natural ambush point and a perfect place to throw a spinnerbait.  We pounded the point and the shallow adjacent pocket, hauled some water and decided to move on to the next one.  The next point started off much the same, but gave me our first small keeper of the day on the blades.  As we were casting in between the docks, the lake's small wiper population started to bust up shad in open water behind us.  With the trolling motor on 100 we hauled over there.  I dropped a chartreuse-shad BTT Swim Jig into the water as I was getting ready to cast and felt my heart skip a beat and drop at the same time...a 6-7lb wiper swam up and pulled on my trailer without hooking up.  We'd ran the boat right on top of the moving school and after several minutes without seeing another ambush we knew we'd spooked them back down into the water column.

As the sun came up higher and after my spinnerbait reel's drag started to come apart, we decided to get up close and flip the shoreline grass.  I put a jig into hole after hole after hole and lost a couple pinchers off my trailer, but never got a solid bite.  Raymond start winging a Mann's 1- and stuck what may have been our second keeper, or at least that's what we called it.  The day thus far had pretty much sucked so if there's no measuring board in the boat 13" starts to look like 15", right?  We pushed up into the backwaters that feed the lake and while it was skinny, there was enough water for Raymond's boat and a few more shorts that wanted to bite.  We both had places to be so we turned back towards the dock and decided to call it a day.

All in all, I'd call the day a pretty big success.  It doesn't sound like I had a great day, but I went into the day telling myself that practice isn't all about what you catch.  Golfers hit balls for hours on the driving range when there's no gallery lining the tee box.  Baseball players take batting practice while a few star-struck kids sit in the stands.  Boxers hit a heavy bag every day they're in the gym.  Anglers cast and set hooks.  When a big fish gets on the line on game-day, I know that if I've been out there going through the motions I'll set the hook and get em' in the boat without blinking.  The more times you do something the more natural it feels, and when you're in a tournament the last thing you want to worry about is your technique when you should be focused on patterning fish.     

Kris and I were able to get down there a week prior to the tournament to do a little scouting and we were pretty encouraged with what we found.  The morning and afternoon were tough but we were able to locate a school that produced a 3-pounder and a 2-pounder, and found a point on our last stop that produced a keeper on every cast.  When I set the hook on one of the schoolers he went straight up to jump and 2 fish jumped along side of him trying to swipe the bait out of his mouth...3 fish in the air...it was awesome.  If we could find them schooled when the current was running, we'd have a good chance of knowing where they were going to spread out if the dam was closed.

We hit the water on Friday at first light and the conditions were awesome.  Despite the heavy rains the water had a foot or two of clarity (super clear for Truman).  Overcast, light wind and light rain every once and while...topwater city right?  Wrong.  After trying for a few hours neither of us could even get a fish to swirl on a topwater.  We'd caught a few shorts cranking shallow and deep, and flippin' into the bushes on the shoreline gave us a few bites, but no keepers.  We figured we'd trailer the boat back up at Bucksaw, get some groceries in Clinton, check in at Uncle Gabby's Motel and fish until sundown in another arm of the lake.  We pulled up to a familiar site at Uncle Gabby's...good ol' Rolex was chillin' on his picnic table waiting for anglers to pull up so he could welcome them (and see if they had any food!).  We unpacked and headed back out, but we didn't really figure out much more than we already knew.  A point we'd done well on in the past gave us a couple, but one was in 10ft and the other was in 2ft.  Our next day of practice turned out to be the same deal.  The pattern was...there was no pattern.  I think I caught 15 fish on 14 different baits and maybe 3 of them were keepers.  Sadly, one of the highlights of my day was catching a monster walleye...even those toothy critters will eat the Bass Team Tackle Shaky Head! 

I'd put our practice in the "this sucks" category but we were in the water and ready to go on Sunday.  We put together a series of points that consisted of memories...some were a week old, some were a day old, and some were a couple years old.  Our best spot was closest to the ramp and but after about 45 minutes and no bites we moved further down the Osage.  Point number two was the spot we had found them schooled up on the week before.  When we pulled up there was zero wind.  We fished moving baits trying to will that wind to pick up but it never happened.  After one trip around the point we picked up our drop baits...Kris with the big worm and I busted out the BTT Shaky Head.  I worked my first cast all the way back to the boat and just when I was ready to reel it in a 3-pounder sucked it up.  He was in the net, in the livewell, and I got my worm back in the water as quick as I could.  On my 3rd cast I caught our 2nd keeper...16" and maybe 2lbs.  A couple casts later I caught his twin...another 16" keeper.  3 fish were in the box and it was maybe 7:30am.  The wind started to pick up and I caught a 14-incher.  A couple casts later I caught one even smaller.  We spent another 30 minutes working back across the point and it seemed like the wind had killed the bite we'd been trying to find for weeks.  We decided to give it a rest and run to the rest of our spots.  We'd be back.

The 5-10mph winds they predicted were howling out of the South at 15-20mph and none of our other points helped us out.  With 3 fish still in the well and only a couple hours left we went back to see if we'd given the fish on our only productive spot enough of a rest.  I'd been cranking a Bomber Fat Free Shad in a couple different colors so I decided to tie on a black and silver Rapala DT10 to give the fish a different profile.  I bombed a cast across the middle of the point and when it came through some flooded brush we'd located that morning my decision paid off.  A 4-pounder completely choked it, and that was good and bad.  He was in the boat for sure, but the back treble had pierced his gills and he was bleeding all over the place.  I unhooked him as gently as I could and put him the livewell with some ice and fresh water.  The fish floated for a minute but quickly uprighted himself and with only an hour or two left I wasn't worried.  We continued to pound the point with everything in the box but couldn't get another bite.

We made a quick run back to our first point and the conditions were identical to what we had seen in practice.  As Kris nudged the boat around the point he hooked up with a 3-pounder on his spinnerbait.  Seconds after he set the hook his reel popped off the rod and up into the air.  He quickly grabbed the middle of the rod to keep pressure on the fish and I dropped the net and jumped up to the front to try and hand-line the fish in.  By the time I pulled him close enough to grab he'd wrapped himself around the trolling motor 3 or 4 times and as I slid my hand down the line it was pretty frayed and felt like a piece of sandpaper.  Laying on the deck with my face almost in the water the fish surfaced and rolled on his side.  He floated between the trolling motor and the boat, opened his mouth and swam into my thumb like he knew what I wanted him to do.  I couldn't believe how it happened, but we had our limit and if anyone was within a half mile I'm sure they heard all the hootin' and hollerin'.  We finished out the point trying to cull out our little ones but it didn't happen and it was time to run back to Long Shoal Marina.

Randy got my name right (he's called me Keith before...haha) and our bag weighed in at 13.59lbs.  With a little less than half the field left to weigh in we were sitting in 9th.  Just like always, I'd seen a couple bigger bags and knew that we'd probably fall a few spots.  My long time friend and fishing buddy Cory was in the tournament and for the first time ever we were competing against each other.  I had my heart set on beating him but he dropped a 13.65lb bag on the scale, beat us by 0.06lbs and bumped us out of the top 10 all in one foul swoop.  Another team tied us with 13.59lbs and we ended up with an 11th place finish and a small check.  The money wasn't much but after such a crappy practice and crappier tournament in May it felt good to put 5 fish on the scale and get ourselves closer to qualifying for the AiA Championship.  All in all the tournament exceeded my expectations and as always, I can't say enough about the job that the Terrell family and the rest of the AiA crew does every time we fish one of their events.  Their Championship payouts this year are awesome and there are still plenty of tournaments left if you want to try and qualify...check out the link above for more info.  They're also putting on the Big Bass Bash on Truman on June 26th and 27th where they'll be awarding $54,000 in guaranteed cash payouts! 

That's all I've got so I guess I'll go get ready for the next trip and work on holding my fish straight for the camera...

I'm still up in the air as to whether or not I really want to drive from KC to the Ozarks, spend an hour or so rigging up rods, and fishing a tournament on zero practice in the morning.  Out of boredom I decide to pack my truck thinking that I'll probably be unpacking it in a few minutes, but at 7:10pm I get a call from the FLW Tournament Director...I pick up the phone, say hello, and he replies by just saying, "C'mon.  We'll see ya in the mornin' Pete."  The meeting starts in 20 minutes and I have a 3 hour drive in front of me...anyone got a helicopter I can borrow?

After a little under 3hrs of non-stop driving in the rain I was sitting in my buddy's garage tying fresh fluorocarbon to backing, stressing about what I forgot to pack and left at home, and thinking about what time I needed to wake up in the morning.  As a co-angler I usually have zero say as to where the boat goes or how we fish so you'd think there isn't a lot to be lost by not fishing tournament waters in the days leading up to a tournament.  I feel like there is quite a bit you can miss out on by not practicing.  How deep are most of the fish?  Can I get bit with 10lb fluoro or do I need 8lb?  3/16oz or 1/4oz tungsten weight?  In most tournaments I have these answers when I step foot onto the boat before the Saturday morning sunrise.  This time around I didn't have that experience, but after talking to friends who had been fishing I rigged up 4 rods...the flippin' stick, a spinnerbait rod, a Carolina rig rod, and something I take with me in every tournament, my shaky head rod.  It's May 1 and I hadn't caught a fish on my shaky head rod all year.  I've owned this rod for about 3 years now and I've probably caught thousands of fish on it, but here we are with 4 months gone and I don't even think the spool had seen line. 

My boater and I were #103 out of 105 and I couldn't have drawn a nicer guy.  Jim was a true American Hero...19 years in the military, scars from a roadside bomb in Iraq, someone that deserves a thank you from each and every one of us.  He picked up bass fishing about 5yrs ago after his Humvee hit a roadside bomb leaving him in a coma for 2 weeks.  He said he bought his boat because, "They almost had to amputate my leg, but standing on the trolling motor makes for some pretty good physical therapy."  For only having 5yrs of experience chasing bass, Jim knew what he was doing.  If he hadn't told me I would have guessed he'd been fishing for 20 years or more.  Jim had done a little recon and had located a handful of banks where he had caught and shook off the right kind of fish.

We pulled up on a point only about 5 minutes from PB2.  He said the water in the Glaize was slightly stained, and after Friday's rain and wind I figured it would be somewhere around a foot of clarity.  I was surprised to see that it was 2ft plus.  There was a light breeze and I stuck a short fish on my third cast with the spinnerbait.  About five minutes or so into the day, Jim caught a keeper on the inside edge of the point.  It wasn't huge, but it was over 15".  We worked around the flat, pea-gravel edge of the point and down the bank where it transitioned into ledge and chunk rock.  The water was clear enough that I would have to move my spinnerbait faster than the fish wanted it, Jim had a good bite on the bottom, so I picked up the shaky head.  My set-up is on the pricy side, but when it comes to finesse fishing I put a premium on having one of the most sensitive rods on the market...

• - G.Loomis SHR822S Shaky Head Rod - Medium Action
• - Shimano Symetre 2500 Spinning Reel
• - 8lb Sunline Shooter Fluorocarbon (haven't used it long, but it's impressive)
• - 3/16 Bass Team Tackle Co. Shaky Head - watermelon red
• - Zoom Mag Finesse Worm

My first cast was right on the transition line...pea gravel on the left and basketball-sized chunk rock on the right.  I was fishing one of Bass Team Tackle's 3/16oz ball-heads painted in Watermelon Red.  When you get one of these in your hands you'll immediately notice that the hook and spring are a little larger than the smaller versions you'll find on other heads.  Most shaky heads were designed with 4" straight-tail worms in mind.  BTT's shaky heads were meant to handle the magnum baits we throw in Missouri...7" worms, creature baits, senkos, and fat finesse worms.  Most shaky heads were designed with finesse components, but as the technique evolves, the smaller hooks and flimsy bait keepers don't handle the oversized plastics nearly as well.  These heads will handle the larger baits right out of the package, and clipping off about half of the screw lock makes them workable with the smaller, more traditional shaky head baits.  With a selection of powder coated head colors, a horizontal line tie, and a Mustad Ultra-Point hook they're the complete package.  I'd show you the worm I was using, but I can't find the color online and by about 9:30am the fish had chewed up every last bit of the only pack I had.  Any time there's good water clarity and a little bit of cloud cover, the green pumpkin version is tough to beat and it's similar to what I was throwing.

I caught a 2lb keeper on my first cast with the shaky head.  A few minutes later I caught another, and another.  I had 3 keepers in the boat, Jim had two, and they were all around 2-2.5lbs or a little less.  It's 8:15am, I'm on my way to a limit.  By the time we finished our first pass down the 200yd stretch of bank, I had added another keepers...4 in the livewell that probably weighed around 8lbs.  Jim nosed his Ranger 520 around so we could make another pass.  As I crawled the shaky head off a piece of ledge rock the rod tip got mushy.  I reeled down and felt the line moving, swept the rod back and set the hook into what was probably my 15th or 16th fish of the morning.  In the net, on the measuring board, just over 15" and I boxed him up.  It was 9:15am and I had a 9.5 or 10lb limit.  My limit fish had torn my worm in half, and I was now down to 2 of them.  In the next 15 minutes I managed to wedge my bait between the rocks and I broke off the last one I had.

Hours and hours and hours went by without another bite...actually, it was almost the entire day.  I tried other colors, thinner worms, lighter and heavier heads, but even the short fish weren't having it.  Even though Jim was throwing a shaky plastic that was almost identical, I was getting about twice the bites that he was (until I ran out).  I don't know if it was running out of the right worm, the sun coming up, or both, but after about 10am Jim and I both struggled to get bit.  The occasional little guy would suck up the shaky head or the jig, but that soft, mushy, funny feeling bite we'd been getting from the keeper fish didn't resurface until later in the day.  After checking several other spots that didn't produce we left ourselves about an hour and a half to fish the bank that had yielded 7 keepers in the morning.  One pass down the bank was fruitless, but on our way back up I picked up my flippin' stick and a beaver and started whackin' fish again.  The first 2 were barely under 15", but on a 10ft pitch right next to the boat a 3-pounder picked the bait up off of a ledge and almost all in one motion I swung, set the hook, and flipped the fish in the boat.  Ordinarily I wouldn't take that risk when I have a capable net man in the boat, but when there isn't much 20lb line out, I've recently retied, and the fish is already at the boat I'd rather flip it in than wait.  Even the fastest guy can't always have the net ready when you're fishing with a short line and playing the fish at the boat gives them a chance to spit the hook. 

Another 45 minutes passed without a keeper bite and our day was over.  We hit a few of the customary 5ft Lake of the Ozarks wakes on the way in to weigh our fish.  Catching a limit as a co-angler isn't the easiest thing to do.  In the 14 individual tournaments I've fished I'd never put 5 on the scale.  I came close in my first BFL of 2010 with 4 fish, but this time I boxed it up early in the day.  On top of that, this was the first time I had culled in an individual tournament.  After seeing how much time I wasted (and how wet I got when the fish were splashing around in the livewell) part of my check is definitely getting spent on some culling tags.  I might not always catch 5 or 6, but when I do I'll be able to get rid of the small fish and get my bait right back in the water.  When ounces can win or lose you hundreds or thousands of dollars, you'd better be sure you're making the right call...just look at how tight some of these weights are...

1. 1st Place - Tommy Lowery, O'Fallon, MO - 5 fish - 14lbs, 14oz - $1944
2. 2nd Place -  Kevin Crady, DeSoto, MO - 5 fish - 14lbs, 11oz - $972
3. 3rd Place - Michael Provaznik, Fenton, MO - 5 fish - 11lbs, 8oz - $649
4. 4th Place - Chris McQuarry, Springfield, MO - 5 fish - 11lbs, 3oz - $454
5. 5th Place - Mark Harper, Monett, MO - 4 fish - 11lbs, 2oz - $389
6. 6th Place - Pete Mathews, Shawnee, KS - 5 fish - 11lbs, 1oz - $356
7. 7th Place - Steven Sizemore, O'Fallon, MO - 5 fish - 11lbs, 0oz - $324
8. 8th Place - Blase Frick, St. Louis, MO - 5 fish - 10lbs, 9oz - $275
9. 8th Place - Warren Lichius, Eureka, MO - 5 fish - 10lbs, 9oz - $275
10. 10th Place - Bill Amis, Shawnee, KS - 5 fish - 10lbs, 6oz - $215
11. 10th Place - Dan Bowman, Osage Beach, MO - 5 fish - 10lbs, 6oz - $215 

Copper Perch RC 1.5...fish catchin' machine if they ever made one.A week prior to the tournament we spent a day of practice in the skinny water in one of the 4 rivers that feeds Truman.  It was everything we thought it would be...spinnerbaits, squarebills, laydowns, mud, and flippin' some BTT jigs.  Within a few hours we had set into enough fish that we knew 12-15lbs of river fish was a given.  But...only one of the fish that showed itself was 4lbs or better, so we decided to spend our 2 days of practice prior to the tournament looking for more in the Osage.

We found fish, but still none better than 3-3.5lbs.  The quantity of keepers was a little higher, the pressure was lighter and the usual Truman techniques like flippin' a brush hog, jig, or crankin' an RC 1.5 were putting fish in the boat.  When we coupled the numbers with the shorter and less dangerous run, we decided on 4 coves and points we had found on Saturday...and we figured we'd run into a big female if we buckled down and fished hard.  We hadn't seen one in practice but they certainly weren't far from where we were getting our lines wet.  

Mr. Terrell called #30 of 89 through the megaphone and we ran to our first spot.  This main lake point had produced some of our larger fish in practice and in the past we'd ran into big schools on this spot...the kind of school that lasts every cast for 45 minutes.  After burning 45 minutes without a bite we ran across the channel to our next spot.  Carefully flipping the laydowns with a sweet beaver and a jig yielded a lost keeper bite (me), a 2 and 3/4 pounder in the well thanks to Kris, and another missed opportunity by me.  Only one keeper in the boat, time to leave our first spot, and I had blown our chances at 2.  I wasn't feeling good about it but later I was able to figure out why I was missing fish...a palomar knot might be strong, but when flippin' with a straight shank hook it causes the hook to approach the mouth of the fish at an off angle on a hookset.  A snell knot keeps the hook straight and pointed to the mouth of the fish when you swing.

As planned we passed our third spot and went right to a deep cove that housed some good channel banks.  There was a 30 yard stretch of bank that produced 3 quick keepers the day before, but a wind pounding in from the South had stirred everything up.  What was 2ft of water clarity the day before was now 2 inches of clarity...muddier than a shook up bottle of YooHoo.  We made a few quick flips while bumping through the timber on the way out and headed back to the cove where I had missed 2 in the morning.

Pulling up to the secondary and crawling the squarebill over a laydown got me a little closer to redemption after my 2 misses earlier in the day.  I had our second fish in the boat but it wasn't going to win us any prizes and it was just after noon.  We passed back through the pocket that had been slower in the morning, and couldn't keep fish off our hooks.  We had to sort through about 20 short fish to get there, but we caught 3 more small keepers with the crankbait and the flippin' stick.  We packaged up the 10lb limit and decide to spend the last 40 minutes of our day on the spot we'd visited in the morning.  It was around the same time of day that we had been there in practice, and we were right arount our hunch...better fish had moved up in the afternoon.  Kris quickly culled us up with a 2.5-pounder out of the same tiny little tree that held fish in practice.  When he was unhooking his fish, I fired my RC 1.5 through a cluster of 2 last minute keepers...good on most other lakes but not the right kind on Truman!!!cedars so it would run along the same laydown.  Two cranks is all I had before I had to start worrying about how to fight a 3-pounder through a mess of timber on 12lb Big Game.  I horsed him around and over a few limbs, he helped me out a little, and our 7th keeper was in the net.  After that cast I didn't think I'd get the crankbait back but ended up culling us up again.  With about 10 minutes left, I soaked a brush hog at the base of a cedar tree within 10 feet of the boat.  After shaking it for around 30 seconds, it swam, I swung, and boat-flipped a 3 pounder over the side for another cull.

2 last minute upgrades and it was time to head in.  Our 12.38lb limit hit the scale and was second only to local sticks Darrell Reach and John Bennett's 19.68lbs.  We knew we'd fall in the standings, but we kept falling and falling and falling.  Bags like McCutchen and Edge's 23.69lbs and big bass like Lankford and Schilling's 8.08lb hog pushed us all the way to 24th.  Even though we slid past the 17th place check line, we stayed and watched the Terrell family run a weigh-in that saw 32 5-fish limits!  We flipped the bank, the cedars behind us, and the points and deep water nearby but we never ran into the quality of fish to compete.  With a 14.3lb check line we were sent packin' with nothin' but points towards the championship.

RESULTS  

All in all it was a well run show, and if you're looking for a good tournament close to home, check out Anglers in Action and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

The downside...the Gravois arm is the first to turn on and the most productive areas are crowded and pounded.  The North Shore area (from the Gravois to the Dam) is usually the next area to turn on, but if that water is still cold, the lake fishes very, very, very small.  Don't get me wrong...there are catchable fish in the Glaize and other areas, but because of the angle of the sun beating down on the lake, the Northernmost water (the Gravois) warms first and usually has the bite to cash a decent tournament check.  On top of fishing small, the lake gets a ton of tournament pressure.  Because of it's late winter/early spring reputation a lot of tournament circuits make it one of their first stops...and remember the dying baitfish I mentioned?  That can be a bad thing too.  The fish may be fat, but they're fat because dying shad are readily available.  Your Megabass or Lucky Craft jerkbait might look just like the same thing they're eating, but fish are a lot like us...if they're full they don't want to eat and they definitely won't move far for a meal.

Ozark BFL - February 2009In last year's BFL mother nature shined upon us with early morning air temps in the 20s and threw in between 2 and 22 inches of snow.  I guess how much snow we really got depends on how honest of an angler you're talkin' to (we're all liars...some to a different degree than others).  But while the snow was covering up the deck of the boat and my fingers were turning blue, mother nature was good to me when it came to the fish.  I whacked 3 good keepers, put all of them in the boat, made it back safely, and put 9-9 on the scales and took home a top 10.

Even after 2 solid days of practice my expectations weren't that high this year.  Everyone was catching them on all kinds of different jerkbaits and at the very best, my jerkbait fishing is average.  I too had caught decent fish on a jerkbait in practice but I had also caught fish on a Wiggle Wart (v37 in color) and an Okeechobee Craw spider jig from Bass Team Tackle.  Jerkbaits typically require water with some clarity if you want them to be effective, but the Wart was working in gin clear water, dirty water, and everything in-between.  Jerkbaits require long pauses (sometimes as long as a minute or two) so your bait spends a lot of time in one area, but you can crank the Wart back to the boat quickly.  More casts and more time in the water = more potential to get the bait in front of fish.  I boxed up the Wart on Thursday and decided I was going to try and bomb that thing about 5,000 times on Saturday.

My boater and I were 58th out of the gate and made our way North from the marina at PB2.  First spot...taken...second spot...taken...third spot...open!  There were 2 boats nearby (one of them a local favorite) but they were only a few boats in front of us so we were the first people to fish this particular spot.  We fished a couple docks on the inside of the point and within my first 5 casts I had a 13" Spotted Bass in the livewell on the Wiggle Wart.  A few casts later my boater threw a custom painted Megabass across the point, twitched it a couple times and within seconds I was netting a 5-pounder for him.  I fired the Wart across the point and halfway through the cast I felt the crankbait dig into some bigger rock...them BAM!  A 6-pounder knocked slack in the line.  When the fish surfaced by the boat I couldn't see the crankbait anywhere...the fish had choked it and I started to feel pretty good about the color I was throwing.  We fished the same point for another 45 minutes or so but it failed to produce another bite for us.  We pinpointed the bigger patch of rocks and even though we put multiple casts across the sweet spot from every angle, we hauled water.  Before we moved I opened the lid to the livewell and my heart shot up into my throat.  The livewell was full of blood and my big fish was floating on it's side.  I didn't see a drop of blood when I originally unhooked it but the fish probably had an injury to it's gills from getting crankbait hooks way down it's throat.  Fresh water and livewell additives like Rejuvenade were all I could do and luckily for me the fish got healthy and started swimming upright later in the day.

Our next stop wasn't far and we spent a good portion of our day on it for good reason.  It was a classic Lake of the O spot for this time of year...about 100yds of chunk rock bank, spawing pockets on both sides, the creek channel swung up against it...it was perfect.  In the deep winter months, fish prefer vertical, bluff-type banks because they can move up and down easily in the water column.  When the weather starts to warm, 45 degree chunk rock banks offer heat radiating from the rocks and forage in the form of crawfish starting to crawl out of their winter holes.  When a chunk rock bank is adjacent to a pocket full of smaller, pea-gravel sized rock, it has everything.  Food, warmth, and quick access to a place to do the gnarly...what else could you possibly need, right?  But...not all banks are created equal and for whatever reason, the fish don't use all of them.  Some may be completely vacant while others are stacked with schools of big fish.

Our bank was holding.  On the first pass down the bank, I think we boated 3 keepers between the two of us.  On the next pass down we boated another, and then another...and then we made another pass...and I think you're probably getting the point by now.  It wasn't ever as good as it was the first time through, but it gave us an all day bite.  I had my small Kentucky, a 6-pounder, and a small keeper in the livewell when I lost a 3 pounder at the boat.  A few casts later I hooked into a hog and after a few head shakes I came up with empty hooks.  But I knew there were fish there, kept fishing hard, and ended up sticking one more good keeper on a PB&J spider jig from Bass Team Tackle before it was time to head to the scales...a 3.5 pounder. 

I dumped my fish into the sink and asked Mark McWha what was leading on the co-angler side.  When he said, "This right here," I had to ask him to repeat himself.  I think I asked him to repeat himself a couple times actually.  I weighed in and was actually leading...sitting in "the hot seat," as they say.  I couldn't believe it.  But...by the time I walked down, released my fish, and walked back up, Mark Anderson walked up with 18-3.  Right after him was Jason Perrego with 18-5.  Only the winning boater had weighed in over 18lbs and two co-anglers had 18lb sacks?  I thought I was in big trouble.  But...I wasn't.  Even though it was almost a 6lb margin between 2nd and 3rd, my sack held up and I took home a top 3.  The check was nice but I wanted the trophy to go with it, and lucky for me FLW made some changes this year and stopped giving out trophies to 2nd and 3rd place.  Guess I should have collected one last year!