Entries from April 2008 ↓

It’s time to get going now. We’re into the season, and I need some better finishes.

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Well, I’ve now finished two tournaments in Texas. I made the 50 cut at Falcon Lake,but I didn’t make the cut at Lake Amistad. So I had one tournament that was OK and another that I wasn’t pleased with. Overall, I just didn’t get the big bites in Texas that I needed.

It’s interesting because I’m now back home in Demopolis, Alabama, and I’m wondering what’s going to happen with one of my closest friends on the tour, Jason Williamson. I’ve roomed with Jason and Jeremy Starks quite a bit the past two years, so we’ve all talked about a lot of situations. And today, Jason’s got himself in quite a situation. He’s leading the tournament going into the final day.

 It’s a great accomplishment getting to that point. He finished 8th last week at Falcon Lake, and that was his first top 12 finish. And this week he’s got another top 12, with a shot at winning.

I’ve watched Jason bloom as an angler, and he’s certainly coming into his own. There are separating stages on this tour. Everybody on the tour is a good angler, but some stand out a little more than others. At our tournaments at the first cut, the 50 cut, more than half the field is gone. That’s a bunch of good anglers that don’t make it, so when you make that cut you’ve reached a second level . Then out of the 50 that are left, only 12 make it to the final day. That’s another level of success, a high level of success. When you make that 12 cut a time or two, the other anglers look at you in a different way.

Then there’s that final separation when you get a win. But that’s really, really hard to do. There are some awfully good anglers that have never gotten a win. It’s hard to believe that Gerald Swindle, as good as he is, has never had a win. That kind of thing happens because it’s so hard to win one of these.

But Jason’s fishing on Sunday with a chance to win, and there’s a lot of pressure with that. There’s especially a lot of pressure being a leader. Sunday is usually an adjustment day. It’s a day when everything can get away from you if you’re not careful. If you’ve had success the first few days you fall in love with what you’ve got. But the guys that win are the ones that can be open-minded on the final day when, all of sudden, what worked for you up until then doesn’t work any more. The guys that can adjust and go find fish are the ones that win. That’s why Kevin VanDam wins. He knows how to adjust.

Jason’t been throwing a swimbait and he’s catching them. It’s not something he’s done a lot of in the past, but he’s got a good, solid pattern and it’s working. I hope he keeps catching them. But I’ll say this. He’s gonna have to catch them good today, because the guys around him aren’t likely to fall down.

For me, I had a pretty decent deal going in practice, but it didn’t hold out. I tried the swimbait, but it didn’t work for me. So here I am, home on Sunday.

Falcon Lake. It was just what I thought. First day of the Lone Star Shootout, and look at the weights. And this will be the worst of the four days.

Man, it was something else. The reason I say this is going to be the worst of the four days is because of the wind. It was blowing 25 to 40 miles an hour. A lot of guys were blown right off their open-water stuff. But even with backup plans, the weights are heavy.

I’m away from the stage area, but I know Aaron Martens had 42 today and leads it. And I heard the big fish was 13-2. Can you imagine what might happen when the wind dies? The record fish is 13-9, so that one might fall.

I had a pretty good day, and I caught my fish flipping, anywhere I could find with less than four-foot waves. And I was in heavy brush. … I was negotiating saltcedars all day. Saltcedars and mesquite. When I get out of here I’ll be looking for a new wrap on my boat. My E-21 Carrot Stix wrap now says “Carrot Sti.”

But I caught a bunch of fish, probably 75 or so total. I was using this 10-inch Berkley power worm, and I burned a bag of 50 of them.

Tomorrow, I’m going to go out and try some of my off-shore stuff I didn’t get to do today. Too much wind.

Oh, by the way, I had 28 pounds, 12 ounces. That was good for 24th place.

I need to get the boat ready and get some rest.

We’re on Falcon Lake for the Lone Star Shootout, and I don’t know how else to say this. … I’m catching the hell out of some fish. I mean I’m catching a lot of fish, and I’m talking about big, big fish.

But my guess is that just about everybody else is catching them, too. I’ve never seen so many big fish in a lake. I’d say the record for a day, 45 pounds, will be broken. I think the record for a four-day tournament, which is 122 pounds, is toast. In fact, I’d probably bet a paycheck that that one will get broken.

This is going to be a slugfest. All BASS records are in jeopardy. I’ve never even been to this lake, and I’ve caught about 30 pounds a day in practice.

I’ve seen a lot fish on the long, sloping points. I noticed Jason Williamson has been flipping and he’s caught about the same weights I have.

That’s the way the fishing’s going. Other than that, it’s been interesting seeing this dry, desertish area. Lot of scorpions and rattlesnakes. We’ve got scorpions outside our doors at night, so you don’t really want to spend any time outside. And there are snakes all over the dirt roads.

Some of the guys went out and lassoed a few of them last night. They put some rope on the end of a whip stick and lassoed the rattlesnakes. Then they went back to the motel and started knocking on some doors.

Just another day on the Elite Series tour.