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October 28, 2007

Well it begins, the Florida National Adventure (FNA)! Don left Cadillac this morning before daylight with 28 degrees showing on the thermometer. He picked me up at around 9:00 am. We headed south and made our first stop at the Bass Pro Shop in Portage, Indiana. We debated about whether to stop or not, because Don didn't know if he could fit anymore tackle in his boat or the back of the truck, and you know if you walk in a BPS you can't walk out without some kind of gear. Being an old retired school teacher my budget can't sustain the hits that those retired State Troopers bankrolls can.

Don managed to find some secret Toho baits, and I found a crankbait that Ben Matsubu used on the last Elite Series event on Toho. I also bought a few of the spot removers that I have been reading about. They're a shakey head jig that have been getting a lot of ink in the articles I have been reading lately.

Don wanted to get some ounce to ounce and a half tungsten for punching mats but one, one ounce tungsten weight was $6.00! Should be buying tungsten instead of gold right now I think.

We stayed an ate at the BPS. Some good gummin' to be had there. We tried there chicken barbecue sandwich, and it was mighty tasty. Here's a shot of the cat out in the parking lot of the Portage, Indiana BPS.

The Bass Fisherman's Candy Store

Right now I'm typing in the truck heading south on 65. We're heading to Edmonton, Kentucky to spend the night at Don's mother's house.

Well, I can tell you that once Don gets out of the boat, and leaves his electronics, you had better have a map and a cell phone handy because in the Kentucky hills at night, orienteering isn't one of his or mine strong suits. We did make it to his mom's, and I'll admit there weren't too many wrong turns, but there were times when the cell phone calls to his brother were what got us around the next bend.

Don's mom lives out in the country, down in a holler. She has a very nice place and sees lots of critters. She had the police out a while back because she saw a black bear in her back yard. She's not too fond of the furry creatures, at least the porridge eating kind.

We chatted the evening away and watched a few deer hunting shows on cable and then hit the rack.

Woke up at about 7:30 and got back on the laptop. Beautiful bluebird sky morning. Looks like it's going to be a nice day. The plan right now is to head down to Dale Hollow and try some fishing before moving on to Alabama.

No internet connection yet, so no chance to upload this file or do any surfing to see what the rest of the fishing world is doing.

October 29, 2007

Not having an internet connection readily available may cause some of these post to overlap a bit, but oh well it's just a blog.

I think I mentioned some time ago that the word blog came from an early diarist who was keeping a web log and decided one day to run the two words web log together and came up with "we blog." Since then, the term blog has exploded onto the net and become part of the vernacular. True story, you can Wikipedia it.

Since we left Michigan, gas has dropped from over $3.00 a gallon to $2.81 in Northern Indiana. We got off 65 at Cave City, Kentucky to drive over to Edmonton, and at the Walmart in Cave City gas was $2.65 a gallon.

We had breakfast this morning at a little place that Don's mom simply calls the Deli, just down the road from her house. Coffee, all you can drink, twenty-five cents! I had biscuits and gravy, hashbrowns, two eggs and three strips of bacon for $4.25. Can't beat that deal. We may have to beat off some of the locals though, if Don doesn't quit making fun of that Southern drawl while we're within earshot of some of these big Kentucky farm boys. What's that Toby says, "I'm not as young as I once was...

After our breakfast, we checked the map for the best route down to Dale Hollow, which is supposedly the smallmouth capital of the world. We were told that the two biggest smallmouths on record are out of Dale Hollow and that they use to have the biggest three smallmouths ever coming out of their water. Heard tell that someone recently tied or broke that third place fish record which was around 10 pounds something.

We meandered our way through the hills and hollers, to Dale Hollow State Park. Once there, we made a stop at the marina to inquiry about a license. The attendant who tended the gas pump and wrote licenses, is the one who talked to us about the smallmouth records that Dale Hollow holds. Don and I bought one day out of state licenses that cost $10 a piece.

Don bought a map, saying wherever he goes he buys a lake map. He does have a ton of them. He tried to put in his navionics south card, but nothing would come up on his Lowrance. By the way there is no cell phone signal on Dale Hollow if you use an Altell phone or any other for that matter according to the ramp attendant.

There isn't a fee for launching at the park. They have a golf course there, RV park, Lodge, etc. Very nice place.

The water level on Dale Hollow is very low. I would say from looking at the old water line on the bank that it is down 20-30 feet. Way below the normal winter pool. We talked to an old timer on the water who couldn't ever remember it being lower that it is right now.

Here's a picture I took shortly after we launched the boat. You can see by looking at the bank on Don's left how far the water is down.

Kentucky's Dale Hollow Lake

When we left the state park we were told that we could end up in Tennessee water and thereby be in violation if we traveled west of the state park because we didn't have a Tennessee license. So, to be law abiding we headed east from the park. We hit a little cut right across from the ramp and each of us caught a short. I caught a smallie and Don caught a spot or Kentucky bass. Fishing was very slow. Don had a good fish follow his jig up.

We were told our best bet was to fish primary points, and we hit several as we moved down the lake. We went up a large creek arm and fished a cut following it all the way to the back end. We saw a ton of good size gizzard shad and Don saw two bass stalking them, but after throwing the kitchen sink we moved out of the that creek with no bass caught. We put the Cat up on plane and headed further down the main creek arm and stopped and talked to three locals. We were getting desperate. They were quite friendly. They were using live bait and casting up against the shale walls. They told us about a recent bass tournament that was held nearby the past weekend and said about 16 lbs. won it. They went on to say that they had heard the winners got their fish from weed beds. Well the impoundment has a ton of shoreline where the water drops off to 30 feet 10 feet off the shoreline. We hadn't seen any flats where one might expect to find some weedbeds. We did find some small weed patches in another cut, and it was there that I caught my second fish and first Kentucky Spotted Bass ever. A 15 inch killer. Here's a picture.

I Think, I Hope, I Guess this is a Spot

While Don was taking this picture one of the big house boats on the Hollow swung in to the cove we were fishing and tied up. We saw a houseboat at the ramp about half the size of this one and much older that was selling for $53,000. This rig was had to cost at least 3 times that.

A Kentucky, Dale Hollow, House Boat

We looked for similar weed patches on down the creek arm, and Don connected with another Kentucky Spot on a grub, casting it right to the edge of the weeds.

Don's Second Spot of the Day

After we fished that small patch of narrow weeds, we switched over to the other bank to fish a point and bam! Don stuck what we were hoping was one of the big Dale Hollow smallmouths. It literally was pulling the Basscat around and stripping drag in bunches. We figured it wasn't a smallmouth, but never hurts to hope. We had no idea what it might be, but it was big! It ended up to be a big "smallmouth" sometimes called a freshwater drum. We figured that it would probably go a minimum 15 lbs.

Don's Big Fish of the Day!

We hung it up shortly after he caught the drum and put the boat on the trailer just as the sun was going down.

The weather for the day was sunny with clear blue skies and there was just a little bit of wind. It was hot early in the day if you were in the sun, but by early evening I put on my life jacket to stay warm. Water temps were around 64 degrees.

On Dale Hollow they have a slot limit for smallies. You can't keep any smallmouth between 16 -21 inches. I'll have to check, but I also think the ramp attendant said that you could only keep one smallmouth under 16 and one over 21 inches in length. He went on to say that most of the smallmouth would be deep at 20 to 30 feet off primary points until the water cooled to the upper 50s. He said that's when they would start moving back in to the secondary points. According to him, jigs and green pumpkin tubes were two of the better baits. We caught our spots on spinner baits and grubs and Don's drum also hit a grub.

On our way back to Don's mom's in Edmonton we saw a number of deer. We kicked up two in the morning when we left his mom's that were bedded down behind her house. We also saw at least 20 turkeys during our drive to Dale Hollow.

Pretty much it for day two of the FNA. Tomorrow we are leaving for Alabama. We plan on staying at my in-laws in Athens, Alabama. Don wants to go down to Lewis Smith Lake and spend a day checking it out. He may fish a tournament there next spring. We may also hit either Pickwick or Wheeler Lake in Decatur. In any case, we're having Lawler's Bama barbecue for dinner tomorrow.

October 30, 2007

Well, we made it to Athens, Alabama at around 2:00 pm. I wanted to get to a Starbucks that I knew was in town, so I could get on their wifi. I had always thought that you could get on the internet at a Starbucks, but after spending over $10 for coffee, Don's carmel frappicino, and rice Krispy treat, I found out that it cost $9.95 for two hours of internet. Sooo...I then found out that the local McDonalds has wifi for $2.95 for two hours. This road tripping and trying to upload files has its difficulties.

We dropped Don's boat off at my sister and brother-in-law's and then headed over to West End. I mentioned West End on Highway 72, a gas station/bait shop, a few days back. I've been to it a number of times. Highway 72 at Athens is about half way between Pickwick and Guntersville, and just northwest of Wheeler in Decatur. West End is quite a shop. Here's the pictures of the place showing one of their aisles full of Lucky Craft baits.

"West End" in Athens, Alabama

Those are all Lucky Craft Lures!!

I've shown these pictures a few days back, and apologize for the repeat, but I figure there will be a bunch of new visitors to the blog who will be following the trip and might not have read the blog a week or so back. With the fishing that's available down here just a few miles away from Athens, you all might just want to stop at West End.

Charlie, my brother-in-law, had bought maps for us for Pickwick, Wheeler and Lewis Smith Lake at West End. They had a bunch of baits from all kinds of manufacturers and all of them are baits that serious bass anglers would be interested in.

After West End, we headed to Walmart where Don needed to buy some Planos. When he gets to Orlando he has to be able to condense his tackle down to two bags. This fishing stuff costs some money. He's looking for some help so if there are any sponsors out there, Don has a boat that needs to get wrapped for next season.

We had barbecue with the in-laws. You just can't come to Alabama without barbecue. My favorite is the pulled ham.

I'm typing now while Don and Charles are swapping hunting and fishing stories. Good times. October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween! We watched hunting shows until almost midnight last night. Got up this morning and after a cup of coffee we headed off to West End to get an Alabama fishing license. We found out when we got there, that you can't buy a daily and your only choice is a seven day license which cost $26.

Once in West End, Don met Jim who went on to spend probably two hours with Don helping him with his electronics. There was and still is a problem with his dash graph. I'll tell you what though, Jim knows his electronics and was very helpful and informative. He went on to show us some of the custom baits that various manufacturers have made and named "West End." It's quite a place, and they are very knowledgeable about the whole aspect of bass fishing and go out of their way to be as helpful as possible.

We left West End and headed West down 72 to the first bridge which crosses the Elk River. They have a ramp there that we used to put the Cat in. Jimmy, at West End, told us that we should be looking for the shad busting right near the ramp on the south side of the bridge and then to fish the wood in the river.

We fished the bridge pilings first and Don hooked something that broke his crankbait. Probably another of his favorite "smallmouth."

We then moved in to the first cove and just as Jimmy had told us, the shad were busting all over. We began to see bass chasing shad and broke out the chrome rattletraps. Really, Don had the trap on first and I hooked the first bass on a spinnerbait, but then he began to out fish me on the rattletrap, and it didn't take me long to tie one on. We caught a bunch of largemouth. Here's some of the shots.

The Elk River Near Wheeler Dam

Watch those treble hooks!

During the Nationals No Nets Are Allowed

No Killers But Lots of Fish

One More Fowler Fish

We left the largemouth still busting shad to explore a little. We headed down to the mouth of the Elk River where it meets the Tennessee River near Wheeler Dam. We headed down the Tennessee and pulled up to a point and fished some bluff walls and a slough. I caught two smallmouth and Don got one small largemouth. We crossed back across the river to a slough where a friend of my brother-in-law has a "camp." Down in this neck of the woods places on the water are not cottages or lake homes, but camps. Got to roll with the vernacular.

The night before, Charles told us that Myrna, his friend who has the "camp" on the Tennessee, had taken a picture of an alligator laying in the sun on a shale shelf just across the slough from her boathouse. We fished that slough and I tried to get Don to lay up there so I could take a picture, but he has a thing for gators and spiders.

We didn't catch any bass in the slough although I did last March, but Don caught what we think was a small striper. The Tennessee has some big stripers.

Next, we decided to head back up the Elk and chased the bass that were continuing to bust the shad up in the cove we started in. There wasn't as much activity as there had been when we first arrived, but we did catch probably another 6-10 more bass. I finally had to tell Don to put the rod up so we could pack up and make it back in time for dinner. Plus, I had to remind him he needed to get his costume ready. Last year his wife told me he had been a real pain on Halloween. He wanted to go as Adam and kept taking his pants off scaring all the kids! This year he's smelling fishy enough to go as a sardine. Anything to get him to keep his pants on. He's not a pretty sight in his tighty whities!

We made it back to Charlie and Paula's just as the steaks were going on the grill. Can't beat Southern hospitality! Paula and Charlie aren't just relatives their good, good friends.

We're sitting around talking as I type tonight. We discussed the route for our trek to Orlando tomorrow. According to the internet, it's 633 miles and its estimated to take 9 hours and 45 minutes. We'll see.

Before we leave, I plan on stopping to upload this blog piece. Once down in Florida, we'll be staying in motels while we fish, and come Sunday we will probably move in to the Orlando Sun Resort, where we'll be staying the week of the Nationals. Having wifi shouldn't be a problem then. Paula and Charlie have internet, but their machine doesn't have the FTP I need to upload the blog files with.

The weather today was beautiful. It was cool in the morning with some frost on the vehicle. By the time we were on the water, it was t-shirt weather. Don, who has had several hunks cut out of him because of skin cancer needed the sun screen. You all need to be using it, and if you don't the cumulative affect will get you when you get to be our age. I wear sunscreen and always wear a long sleeve fishing shirt and long pants.

The Elk River was about 68 degrees today with about one foot of water clarity. I forgot to pay any attention to what the temperature was on the Tennessee. The water clarity was a bit better but not more than a few feet. We probably tallied 25-30 largemouth and two smallies. We didn't have any big fish, but we would have had several limits of 14-16 inch fish. Here's the parting shot for today.

Wish You Were Here!

November 1, 2007

The Picture Says It All

What a long day! I'm just going to do a few lines for the blog and then hit the rack. We left Athens, Alabama today at 9:30 am. We are now at the Sleep Inn in Leesburg, Florida and it's about 8:30 pm. It was a long drive!

We listened to a ton of fishing podcasts that I have on my iPod, and that really helped pass the time. I have a ton of fishing podcast downloaded to my iPod, and I brought my FM transmitter so we can play them over Don's truck radio. I have plenty more to listen to on the return trip.

Leesburg is very close to The Harris Chain of lakes. After breakfast tomorrow, we plan to go to Walmart, which is right down the road, and buy our Florida fishing licenses and some maps. We then plan to fish the Chain for a couple of days.

Don would like to be at the Orlando Sun Resort on Sunday so he can spend the day organizing tackle and taking care of rods. On Monday, November 5, he has the official registration and then the tournament anglers will get an inservice on the Triton boats that they all will be using. They will get a run down on how to use all the electronics, livewells, etc. Then on the 6th and 7th they will have two official practice days. The tournament will begin on the 8th and run three days until the 10th.

If you click on the Orlando Sun link, you will see a map. You have to expand it out, and if you then look northwest of Orlando you'll see the small town of Wildwood. That's really where the desk says you are when you call the Sleep Inn, but it's just spitting distance north of Leesburg.

The weather all the way down was sunny today. The temperature before it got dark in Florida was 83 degrees. The forecast looks pretty good for the next week. Highs look to be in the low 80s and at night it's suppose to get down to 55. That should get the shad active! The winds tomorrow may be up around 25 mph which is not ideal by any means, but they are expected to subside by evening, and in subsequent days the winds aren't expected to be as strong.

Gas prices were around $2.70 per gallon most of the way down until we hit Florida. Prices are around $2.90 a gallon in the Leesburg area.

Well I'm beat, even though Don did all the driving. Our trip has been uneventful, in terms of any difficulties. Knock on wood, no problems thus far.

As I sign off, I should say that in the picture above Don's not being grumpy standing there as he is with his arms folded. He decided he didn't want to have the GVSU Dance Team lettering to show on his t-shirt. I told him to go ahead and fold his arms, nobody will ever know.

Enjoy the day, and look for some big fish pictures on the blog tomorrow from the Harris Chain.

November 2, 2007

Well, I would like to have a bunch of pictures of some big fish today but.... no luck. We got up, not too early, and headed over to Walmart for our licenses. I bought a 3 day for about $18 and Don bought an annual for around $48. While we were waiting for the licenses to be processed we got the low down on a local tackle shop that might have Kissimmee Chain maps. We headed across the road to the Cain Pole. It was a great little tackle shop, the kind that's chuck full of bassy stuff and ran by fishing fanatics. We managed to spend more than a dollar or two on baits. They also helped us out with some places to try on Lake Harris and told us where we could find the closest ramp.

By the time we left, it was almost noon, so we decided to get a sub before we hit the lake. We ate at Quiznos and it was very good.

The ramp to Harris was about 10 miles south of the hotel we are staying in. The ramp was very steep, and we knew getting the boat off wouldn't be too bad, but putting it back on would be another story. As we were about to launch, a guy pulled up and asked us how the fishing was. We told him we were just leaving, and he got out of the truck and talked to us a while. He gave us his two cents worth and warned us to be on the lookout for gators. He said Harris has a lot of them and there are some very big ones!

We were told at the bait shop that we should find the canals and creeks and then fish both sides of the mouths a hundred yards both sides. We pitched in to the grass edge and drug some worms along the outside edge, with no luck. We went into the Ninth St. Canal and threw toads and spinnerbaits in and around the pads.

Ninth Street Canal Off Harris Lake

The water in the canal was very dark and the bottom quite silty. Didn't see much activity or have any bumps on the baits we tried.

We then headed back out into the main lake and ran down to where the next creek entered the lake. It was a wild looking spot. Here's the picture.

Looks like a ride at Disney World's Black Lagoon!

As we left this creek, after finding out it was about a foot and a half deep, Don looked down the lake about a hundred yards and asked me if I thought what was sticking up out of the water was a gator. I didn't have time to answer before it disappeared. Definitely an alligator and by the size of the top of the head it looked to be a big one.

We talked to a local who was out on his dock, and he said he has a 12 footer that frequents the area daily. It's kind of exciting to get to see gators while fishing, but it really makes you think about this whole predator prey relationship thing a lot more intently.

We fished right down the lake past the area where the gator was without seeing him or her again.

Don pulled the first fish of the day out from under a dock. I guess you call these parking garage size structures docks. It wasn't a big fish, but it was stout and really pulled hard.

First Florida Bass - Harris Lake, Leesburg, FL

We moved around the lake and frothed up the water pretty good, but only a few more short fish. No keepers to be had even though we fished right till dark.

The locals all were saying that the fishing has been off due to some pretty strong cold fronts. The wind was quite strong today and the forecast is for 55 degrees tonight, which is pretty cool for this time of year.

We have a wake up call scheduled for 6:00 am tomorrow morning and plan on going back to the local bait shop to have them mark up a map of the Harris Chain or any area lake near Harris that has some fish that want to bite. We need to catch a Florida Bahama Mama!

It's 11:13 pm right now and Don is getting his beauty rest as I work in the lobby on the blog. My son and wife both called me to let me know that Hudsonville, where my boys attended, beat Muskegon in the second round of the State Playoffs. Way to go Eagles. Muskegon had beaten Hudsonville earlier in a regular season game by a considerable margin. The score tonight was very lopsided by about the same margin, but in Hudsonville's favor this time. The OK Red is a top flight football league. Muskegon had been rated number 1 in the state much or all of this year, and has also been rated in the top 20 in the nation!

Well, I'm sleeping with my tackle bag for a pillow tonight just to be close to my lures so maybe tomorrow they'll produce and hook me up with a big one tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll even get a few gator pictures. I told Don we ought to troll with a few pork chops out the back of the boat, but I gathered by the look he gave me that he didn't really want to do that.

Until tomorrow, take care.

November 3, 2007

Good evening! Most of the time I'm making these blog entries in the morning, but on this Florida National trip I have been writing them before going to bed.

We got a wake up call this morning at 6:00 am and were on our way to the Cain Pole down the road to buy me some more hooks and to get some directions to the ramp on Lake Griffin. (Tonight, I did a little web browsing, now that we're at the Orlando Sun, and have room wireless, and found a good site with Harris Chain information ).

We found the Griffin Lake ramp, and with hopes high for some bigger fish today we dumped the boat in. The weather was again sunny, but cool at about 60 degrees. Skies were clear and there was a pretty good breeze up already. Here's a couple of pictures from the park at the Lake Griffin ramp.

Another beautiful day in the neighborhood!

What happened to don't feed the ducks?

We were somewhat worried about running on the Harris Chain, but we found that for the most part you're pretty safe running. On Lake Griffin though, there is a pipeline that has been built as part of a dredging operation that goes almost all the way across this very big lake. You have to keep an eye out for the buoys in order to cross it. Also, there was a sign up at the ramp that cautioned you to be on the look out for wild shiner nets.

Just a little navigational hazard.

Straight out of the canal that the ramp is in, there is a point that we pulled in behind to get out of the wind. We looked along the shore for shad busting. We flipped the grass edge and tossed traps and spinnerbaits down to the point itself. The wind was blowing right down the lake and the point looked to be one of those textbook spots. Wind blowing down it and the point tapered off slowly and had eel grass on it. We pushed up real shallow, and I was startled by a good size shad about as big as my hand jumping almost in the boat.

Our sweet spot on the point.

At that point, we started throwing the rattletraps out deep and bringing them in across the point. We stuck the motor in the sand to hold us. Directly, I hooked a big fish and lost it right at the boat. Biggest fish we've had on yet. We stayed there and caught a number of bass on traps and on shakey head jigs when the shad quit busting. Here's a couple of pictures.

Look how pale almost whitish these bass are.

My biggest fish yet on the FNA trip.

I am pretty sure we could have stayed on the point for hours and continue to catch bass. Had we been in a tournament we would have, but we wanted to check out some other parts of the lake.

We headed down to a canal and Don caught a bass as we moved up in it a short way. We saw a guy there in a Ranger crappie fishing, and he was doing well in. We watched him catch a number of big specs and a couple of doggies as he made his way right down the center of the canal. The canal had been recently dredged, according to our crappie angler. We thought for sure with the good water depth and shoreline structure that we would catch some more bass, but it was not to be.

We left the canal and headed up the lake into the teeth of the wind. We found another point and pulled in on it. As we made our way around the tip, there were three gators along the inside grass line laying in the water. We tried to inch our way up to them to get a picture, but we found the gators were extremely wary and would disappear before we could get in good camera range. These weren't just little gators, I would guess them to be eight to ten feet long at least. I may have gotten some pictures with the digital video camera that has a longer zoom. Maybe tomorrow I'll have time to check the video and export a still of a gator.

We worked this second point and the shoreline hard. We saw several other bass boats doing the same thing. After an hour of never getting even a bump, we needed to make a move. We debated whether to continue on down the lake to flip a canal that led in to Lake Eustis or go back and check out the point we were successful on earlier. We opted to head back to our first point because it was getting later in the day and that point was back near the ramp.

We found that the shad had not entirely disappeared in our honey hole, but they were definitely less active. We foul hooked several big shad. If the bass eat the ones we hooked then there are some monster fish out there. The cormorants were feeding in the area, and we could see them catching and eating the shad. We caught several more bass and actually the bigger bass of the day came on this second time through.

We had to leave before dark today because we had at least an hour drive to get to Orlando and check in to the Orlando Sun.

We loaded up and made the drive with only a couple of missed turns. Pulling the boat in Orlando traffic near Walt Disney World is an adventure all its own. We actually found our way quite well and checked into the hotel around 6:00 pm.

In the parking lot, Don met Sheron Brown, the Maryland representative here for the Nationals. I'm sure he's just the first of many of the bassmasters that Don will be meeting and have a chance to talk to and eventually compete against.

We have now been in the room for about three hours and Don has been working hard on paring down his tackle to the number of boxes allowed.

We may go out to fish tomorrow on East Lake Toho or Don might just take the day to continue to organize and get things ready to go. Not quite sure what will happen, but I'll let you know tomorrow what was decided.

Enjoy the day or evening and remember that tonight the time changes: Fall back, Spring ahead.

November 4, 2007

Good morning sunshine... Florida is living up to its nickname the "The Sunshine State." Not a cloud in the sky today and it got up to 85 degrees. I did notice the temp up in Michigan and all I can say is, "Wish you were here!"

We slept in till about 8:00 this morning and then Don went to work again organizing tackle and respooling rods. We also saw Sheron Brown the Massachusetts representative again and Don and he talked the morning away.

Don and Sheron swapping bass war stories.

I basically chilled and was able to spend some time cruising the net.

Here's an article I found on the Kissimmee Chain . It's 36 miles from the top of Toho down to the bottom of Lake Kissimmee. A run to the bottom would also include locking through a number of times. I really don't know how long it would take to run that distance, but if my memory serves me I believe I heard it would be about an hour and fifteen minutes. A lot of water to explore and Don only has two days and they aren't full days.

I also did some local surfing and looked up Big Toho Marina and East Lake Fish Camp . We couldn't go to these spots because of the "no help rule." Before the tournament you can't solicit any help or drive around the lake, fly over it, visit an area tackle shop, etc. I found it kind of interesting though that the Florida Federation held their State Championship on Toho yesterday and today. Granted the representative in this year's Nationals from Florida couldn't be there, but with all the great lakes here in Florida, I found it odd they would hold the tournament there just days before the Nationals. I imagine though, that this was something they probably planned way ahead of knowing that B.A.S.S. would be selecting the site. B.A.S.S. didn't announce that the Nationals would be on Toho until late in September after all the Divisionals were finished.

In my internet travels today, I also revisited a site I frequent that has some good reading. It's called Bass Fishing Home Page . Lots of information on a lot of different fishing topics. Be sure you check it out.

One last link I checked out today was on Bass Zone and it was a short interview with KVD. I also mentioned, in an earlier blog entry, that on Bass Zone you should check out their "In the House" feature. It's pretty cool.

As I said, we just hung out at the Orlando Sun today and talked with some of the anglers who were beginning to check in. We met the Pennsylvania rep and Allen, the Director for the Paralyzed Veterans of America Bass Tour .

Tomorrow Don has to register, officially, and then take the shuttle to the marina where the boats are to stow his gear.

Tomorrow I should have some down time and be able to cruise the resort here and take some pictures. I may be able to go over to the marina, but then again, maybe they won't let me tag along. We'll see.

Had some time to find a parting shot of the day and it comes from Roderick Haig-Brown, "There will be days when the fishing is better than one's most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home."

Enjoy the day.

November 5, 2007

Another beautiful day in the Orlando Sun Resort neighborhood. We slept in a little today hoping to bank some z time. We headed over to the main lobby which is a fair walk from where we stayed. The resort is set up in pods. Each cluster of buildings surrounds a pool. We needed to change rooms so that we were in the B.A.S.S. room. Coming down early we were on our own dime until today. We also needed to check the announcement board for the shuttle schedule that took the anglers over to the area near the ramp where all the boats were kept. It's a fenced in area with a guard.

Don was assigned boat 48, a brand new Triton 21, with a 250 Merc. I had mentioned earlier that the National anglers were braking in these boats for the Bassmaster Classic anglers, however, that is not the case because starting in 2008 the Elite anglers are all going to their own boat of choice. They then can wrap them with their various endemic sponsors, etc. A NASCAR type approach.

The various alliance states, which Michigan isn't a part of, can purchase the boat for about half price then either raffle it or sell them outright and keep the profit for their state federation. The rest of the boats go back to various dealers. Michigan has had a sponsor deal with Skeeter so they don't qualify for the boat buy.

I didn't get to go with Don to the boat yard. After the initial bus, they ferried the anglers in pick ups and Don's ride was full.

When Don got back we ate lunch at the resort lounge. Very good food and not too outrageously priced. I had an excellent turkey club with fries for $8.

Most all of the big wheels arrived today and Don chatted with them all, Don Corkran, Ray Scott, Patti from BASS, etc. Don gave Don Corkran and Ray the berries about how we were bringing it from the north when we fish against them on Ray's 50 acre pond in a few months.

Ray invited Don and a friend, that would be me, down to his house for the weekend so Don, the dropshot master, could show Ray the technique. He extended the invitation when Don won the Northern Divisional in Vermillion. Can't wait for that adventure to begin!

Don had to officially register at 3:00 pm. That was a pretty cool deal.

They checked in and received their National's plaque. Here's Don receiving his from Don Corkran followed by Sheron Brown of Massachusetts, Sidney Reeves from Wyoming, and Ben Schilling from Montana. We met and talked to these guys. Everybody is extremely friendly and great to sit around and converse with. It's kind of funny they all seem to have one common interest.

Don Fowler, Michigan's Representative

Sheron K Brown, the Massachusetts' Representative

Sidney Reeves, Wyoming's Representative

Ben Schilling, Montana's Representative

Yesterday I mentioned the Paralyzed Veterans of America Bass Tour . Here is a picture of their Director Alan Earl and Kurt Glass, the PVA Angler of the year from Georgia. We ate dinner with Alan. He was good company and a heck of a nice young man who is doing great things for the PVA. Here's their picture.

Alan Earl and Kurt Glass of the PVA Bass Tour

After picking up their plaques, the anglers headed down a hallway filled with various gifts: hats, shirts, visors, belt buckles, a Hot Spot map chip for the Lowrance units on the boats, Mustang inflatable suspenders, etc. The anglers loaded up with a lot of nice stuff. One other highlight was Elite Pro Jason Quinn. He was there as part of the registration's meet and greet.

Jason Quinn and Don share a moment.

After registration, and the gift line, the anglers moved to a meeting room where they went over all the rules and then had a seminar on the workings of theTriton 21.

Everyone is driving a new Triton TR21 tomorrow.

The boat seminar on the Tritons.

The seminar was a little congested, and as you can see by the crowd around the boat not everyone had a good look or could really even hear what was being said. They do have two days to play with the equipment and there are factory reps here to go over any problems that anyone may have.

The crowd moved from the seminar room to the dining room where Mr. Corkran introduced a number of the sponsors, Mustang PFDs, Triton Boats, Lowrance, Evan Williams, and several others. Without these supporters of the sport none of this happens. Be sure to give these sponsors a look if you are in the market for any ot these products.

Did I mention the meal was excellent. Here's a shot of some of the food. The carrot cake almost didn't make the picture.

An excellent meal with some good fellowship!

We left the dinner and went back to the room and Don got ready for bed. He has to get up at 3:30. Breakfast is at 4:30 and then they all board the bus to go to the boat yard for Tuesday's prefish.

They are having the prefish day run like a tournament day. They'll be lining up to take off in flights and even doing a fake weighin just to get use to the routine so when the actual tournament starts everything will run smoothly.

I hope to drive over to the ramp area tomorrow and be there when the boats come in. I would love to get a picture of all those Tritons lined up in the lot. The anglers were saying it was quite a sight.

At about 9:30 pm, I left the room to work on the blog so I didn't bother Don.

I went over to the lobby and am about to wrap this day up. It's 12:27 am and I'm getting a little sleepy.

Before I close, however, I would like to throw my two cents worth in. Having been to the Northern Divisional and having spent the time I have here at the Nationals, I can't help but think that none of this would have been possible without the ingenuity and tenacity of Mr. Ray Scott. Watching him meet and greet people and having had the chance to talk with him personally I can't tell you how impressed I have been with the "Living Legend." He genuinely cares about the anglers and the sport with an immeasurable passion. He spoke tonight at length about his efforts to lead B.A.S.S. to help promote fishing and boater safety. B.A.S.S. led the way in requiring PFDs. Ray gave the seminar tonight on the Mustang PFDs and inflated his own he wore at the podium to show how and why we all should be wearing them. His environmental work may get overshadowed by the tournament hoopla, but his work in this area has had a major conservation and ecological impact. Here's just a peak at some of his accomplishments. "Following in the footsteps of such American legends, Ray W. Scott, Jr. has achieved his own legacy as the "Bass Boss," the founder of the Bass Anglers Sportsman Society (B.A.S.S.), the Whitetail Institute of North America, and as publisher framed the foundation for successful outdoor publications, including BASSMASTER Magazine, Southern Outdoors, Fishing Tackle Retailer, and the award-winning national television series "The BASSMASTERS", the highest rated program on the Nashville Network (TNN)." You can read more about the "Bass Boss" at Ray Scott Outdoors, Inc. . It's certainly an impressive read.

Enjoy the day!

November 6, 2007

Not another azure blue sky with warm sun and low humidity! Nothing like a little in your face weather sarcasm first thing in the morning. Man is this weather great! I see it's a balmy 32 degrees in Michigan today. I can sure see why the Michigan snowbirds make the trip south. This could be easy to get use to. Especially, when you can throw in some great fishing in just about every direction you travel.

I believe we mentioned that the annual out of state Florida license fee is about $48 and a 3 day is around $18. What is also nice about Florida is that your date of purchase starts your license year.

Don was on his way to breakfast today at 4:30 am and he seemed set and ready to go look for some fish.

I got up about 8:30 and decided to head over to the lobby with the laptop and get an early start on the blog. Just as I was ready to leave, my buddy John gave me a call. He had been out on Lake Erie walleye fishing. He has been attending a weekend seminar down there for the past couple of years. I'm not sure who puts it on, but the next time he calls I'll try and remember to get the guys name. This seminar is an on the water walleye outing. After the classroom presentations, the anglers go out on the water to test out the new strategies. Then, each angler makes a list of where and how they caught their fish and they all then share waypoints. Kind of unheard of to share waypoints, but they do. It's all about learning and sharing information, and part of the allure of this two day event is that you come home with a bunch of spots to try in subsequent outings. Those walleye guys do some strange stuff.

John did say something I found a bit disturbing. He said in two of the walleyes they cleaned they found, what they believe to be evidence of VHS disease. They took pictures and the group reported it. We don't need any more fish die offs from ballast tank invaders. When is that legislation on ballast sanitizing going to get past! If you are not familiar with viral hemorrhagic septicemia, VHS, check out the link I have on the main page.

Before I go too much further, I want to be sure to provide the ESPN B.A.S.S. link which intros the Federation Nation National Championship . You will also find on the link a list of the 2007 National contenders.

I worked on the blog a while and then decided to go over and sit in on the President's Meeting. Kind of party crashing, but I really didn't have anything else to do so why not see what's happening on the political/business end of things. The Presidents were getting presentations from sponsors who have signed on with B.A.S.S. to support the Federation Nation. Here's a shot of all the presidents from the various state federations who attend the Nationals with their anglers.

The President's Sponsor Meeting On Tuesday

There are 41 states federations that are part of what is called the "Alliance Program." It is a sponsor partnership between Triton Boats , Mercury Motors , MotorGuide Trolling Motors and the B.A.S.S. Federation Nation. Triton Boats', Earl Bentz, was at the meeting explaining to the Presidents what the new contract would be offering the states who signed on. It seemed to me to be quite an impressive offering.

Mr. Earl Bentz Up Front on the Right

I took this shot from way in the back of the room because when I got up this morning I put my BassCat shirt on and then I walked in to a Triton Boat presentation with Earl Bentz himself. I felt pretty conspicuous, but I was assured that Earl wouldn't be offended and actually welcomes the challenges that his competitors present. The competition keeps us all sharp. Listening to Mr. Bentz for just a few minutes, it doesn't take long to realize that he is one of those very "smart cookies."

After listening in on the meetings, I had lunch with the Michigan President, Paul Sacks. Here's a picture of Paul and Don as the boats were waiting to be pulled out after the Day 1 prefish.

Michigan's President Paul Sacks, and National Contestant Don Fowler representing Michigan.

After lunch, Paul and I attended one more meeting and then headed over to greet the anglers as they returned from their first day of prefishing. From the Orlando Sun Resort, it takes about 30 minutes to get over to where the boat ramp is. It's only about 15 or so miles, but there are a gajillion stoplights. Here is a bunch of photos featuring some of the guys we have had the privilege of spending some time with.

First off, did I mention Mercury was here!

The Ramp at the North End of Toho in Kissimmee

Indiana's Representative Ron Fabiszak lost his hat running half way through the day.

Georgia's PVA Angler of the Year Kurt Glass

Sidney Reeves AKA "Guns," from Wyoming

Ben "Chain Saw" Schilling, from Montana

Sheron "Big Show" Brown from Massachusetts

Richard Watson, all the way from South Africa

Canada's Representative, Frank Ramsay

Japan's Representative, Katunori Mitsuhashi

Many of the anglers coming in today were hanging their heads and wondering what to do next. The fish just didn't seem to be very cooperative. Most reported only a couple of bites. In the Florida State Championship held on the Kissimmee Chain just this past weekend, a two day sack of about 24 pounds won it. The angler that had the winning weight had a eight pound kicker fish in his Day 2 sack. That means the other nine fish weighed 16 lbs. Not much weight for the infamous Kissimmee Chain. During some spawn tournaments here the weights have been incredible. This cool weather has got these fish in a lock jaw and lock down mode. However, with the caliber of anglers here, someone will find them and put a good bag together.

We wrapped up the day with a dinner in the Conference Hall. Another very good meal, but my favorite part is the time you get to talk with all the great folks that are attending. I tell you what, I am having a ball and enjoying every minute. This is a great event full of outstanding anglers, work horse Federation Presidents, a group of very genuine industry representatives, an a super B.A.S.S. staff.

I'll end the day with a parting shot that Mr. Don Fowler takes credit for, "You got baseball, football, basketball, etc. they are all just games compared to the great sport of fishing." Go get em tomorrow Don.

November 7, 2007

Well the stage is set, literally, for the start of the Bassmaster National Championship on the Kissimmee Chain.

The Stage is set for the B.A.S.S. Nationals

Today was the second day of practice on the Central Florida Chain for the 56 anglers competing in the championship. The anglers rode the bus to the boat yard again and ended up getting there a little late because of the driver losing his way to the ramp. He then tried a u-turn and got stuck on a six lane highway causing an anxious moment with a semi driver.

Last night Don's wife Darlene and my wife Jude flew in from the great white north. Darlene left 3 inches of snow in Cadillac, Michigan to drive to Grand Rapids to meet my wife and catch their flight to Orlando. They arrived at the Orlando Sun Resort at about 11:30 pm. We chatted a while about maybe going to see the space shuttle land at a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html"> Kennedy Space Center and then said our adieu and went to our respective rooms.

I got up fairly early and was moving slowly to get dressed when my good young buddy Hoogy called to see how things were going. We chatted a while, and I told him we were going to do the sight seeing thing today and go watch the shuttle land.

Darlene was the earliest riser, and we kept her waiting because I had to throw some clothes in the washing machine and dryer. We finally got ourselves over to the buffet breakfast in the main lobby and had a bite to eat.

I had Googled a map to Titusville to go view the landing at the Space Center. Titusville is right on the Indian River which looks more like a big bay. You can see the strip of land that the space center is on off in the distance. We were told to go to Paul's Smokehouse for the best vantage point. You can't watch the shuttle land at the Space Center itself.

Our shuttle vantage point at Paul's Smokehouse

Of course I had to be sure the girls didn't hustle up a sugar daddy as the crowd formed for the 1:00 pm landing. They were flirting pretty hard with George. They shouldn't mix alcohol with jet lag. (Just kidding dear.)

George, Darlene, and Jude waiting for the BOOM.

As the shuttle neared, there was a double sonic boom announcing its arrival. You could just catch a brief glimpse as it glided in for its landing. To be frank, there wasn't much to see. I would have loved to have been up close. I never miss a landing shown on TV. Our problem, like everyone elses, was that it's quite a distance across the water, and you really only get a brief few seconds to see a tiny form float down from the sky. It was great just to be there though and be able to say, "I was there." Life's all about the adventures.

We left Titusville and had to make a side trip to Cocoa Beech to visit Ron Jon's.

If you drive to Florida you know this sign.

The gals about to power shop at Ron Jon's.

When we got back to the hotel Darlene went to get ready for their evening B.A.S.S. dinner. It wasn't fish though, it was Italian food.

Jude and I drove over to "Historic Downtown Kissimmee." I showed her where the ramp was, and we took a tour of the park there and Big Toho Marina. Here's some shots just as it was getting dark.

Big Toho just east of the Nationals ramp.

The marina is just a few blocks south of historic Kissimmee.

Take a picture of the bird!

Jude wanted a picture of this snow white egret.

I believe I remember seeing a picture of this lighthouse on the jetty in Bassmaster magazine when Rojas caught his big 108 lb. stringer.

Looking down the shore of Toho from the Big Toho Marina toward the stage and ramp.

I am in a boat tomorrow, so I have to get to bed myself tonight, and I am bone tired. Before I turn in though, I wanted to add the links for the newest National Championship article and a link you can use to watch the live weigh in starting tomorrow at 3:00 pm. Here is the latest ESPN article on the Championship . Here is the link so you can stream the weighin .

As I said, I am riding tomorrow in some contestant's boat as an observer. All the anglers are in a boat with an observer, so I'll have a first hand look at what the fish are up to. Can't wait.

Good luck to all the contestants, but what the heck I hope Don wins. It's going to be really tough. There are a lot of very good bass anglers ready to go head to head at dawn tomorrow. Lets get ready to rumble!!

November 8, 2007

I think we may have another Ben Matsubu on our hands. During the Sunshine Shootout, Ben garnered deserved credit for being a "nice guy." Well after Day 1 of the National B.A.S.S. Championship another nice guy is in first place. It's none other than Sheron "Big Show" Brown. I told him he did well because I pegged him with the nickname "Big Show" and it worked like a charm for him.

Our friend, Sheron "Big Show" Brown Day One Leader in the B.A.S.S. National Championship

Sheron is a great guy, and if there's a fight that breaks out anywhere I want to be sure I right behind him. He's a big guy! I'm sure he posed a threatening shadow on the water that caused those fish he caught today to just say, "I give up." Check out the ESPN article on the National Championship featuring Sheron.

The day started early for the competitors and myself. Up at 3:30 am and down to the lobby by 4:00 am for a continental breakfast. The competitors took a bus over to the boat yard, and I hitched a ride with Jim Hooven, President of the Florida B.A.S.S. Federation Nation. Our ride to the boat yard gave me a chance to hear about Jim's work to reestablish the Federation Nation in Florida. He has done a very impressive job! If I ever move down here, I would certainly like to be a part of his organization.

Once Jim and I arrived at the ramp we started to check in the 60 or so volunteers.

The volunteers are the ones in the yellow B.A.S.S. hats.

Volunteering gets you a nice hat, and one of the best life saving pieces of equipment you can own a Mustang PFD . I worked getting the volunteers paper work done and almost missed getting to ride as an observer. There were only two boats left when I headed down the row to look for a ride. As luck would have it, I ended up in Sidney Reeve's boat, the Wyoming Champion, whom we have gotten to know.

Sidney "Guns" Reeves ready to do battle on Toho

Sidney was boat 43 and was going out in the third flight. This meant he would leave later and check in later at 3:30.

Sidney and I waited as the two flights ahead of us left, and you could feel the anticipation building. Sidney was pumped and ready to roll!

We got in line as the third flight readied to leave. You motor past the blast off official with your livewells open, and as you pass, you have to pull your kill switch to be sure it is operational.

Once that was done, Sidney put the Triton up on plane and we were running at 65-70 mph or so in a matter of seconds. We ran to Sidney's spot which was way back in amongst the cypress trees at the southeat corner of Lake Toho.

When we pulled in to this spot those trees were loaded with snow white egrets. Beautiful man!

Sidney bang a couple of shorts right off the bat, but the water temperature in his spot had dropped 7 degrees from around 73 to 67 degrees. It seemed to put the fish into a sluggish mode.

We moved to several spots and Sid caught several more dinks. On Toho, if you have a DNR waiver, which the tournament anglers did, you can keep (for release) 12 inch fish.

On one of Sydney's spots, I tensed as he gasped when a six to seven pounder followed his bait right to the boat. Man, that got both our hearts pumping. We fished for "Big Mama" for a while and then gave up and plied some more shoreline.

We woke a gator that shot off the bank through some brush right under our boat!

We stayed in "Big Mama's" area and headed back after a while to give her another shot. And... she was home again! She came up this time and bumped his bait twice as he watched. Talk about high anxiety! Sid tried several baits in the area of "Big Mama," but she didn't want to go for a ride today. Maybe tomorrow or Saturday though. She would have been a $1,000 fish today, as big bass of the tournament.

Finally, Sid's hard work and perseverance paid off and he landed two fish down a short stretch of bank and landed several more shorts. Time ran out on him, and he had to report back in with his two fish for the day. He was disappointed, but was able to put it all in perspective not dwelling on the what might have been, but already thinking about what might be, tomorrow. He's still in this thing. "Big Mama" would vault him way up the ladder if she would agree to take a little ride to the weighmasters scales. She would get to be part of a very big show!

Working the shallow flats.

Watch out for snakes in the trees!

Fishing flukes over holes in the grass.

Check out the Leaderboard on ESPN for the current standings.

It's already 11:00 pm, and I have to preview and upload this yet, and then get to sleep to be up at 3:30 am. I only got 4 hours of sleep last night so, even though my head is full of stuff I'd like to write about this great Florida National Championship Adventure, I am going to simple say goodnight and sign off with a flurry of pictures. I have a lot more and hopefully will have time to get them up on the blog soon.

Remember you can get the streaming video on your computer by clicking the link.

Again, good luck to all the competitors and "Big Show" you know we love ya man, but the State Trooper from Cadillac, Don "Mr. Michigan" Fowler is on your trail. He's the current leader in the Northern Division! Hey, Hey, Hey!

Thursday Pre-tournament Breakfast of Champions. Ron Fabiszak, from Indiana looks like he just choked on a raisin!

Sheron getting his game face on! All smiles!

Ben "Chain Saw" Schilling Ready to Rumble

Don told me he just wore a t-shirt and shorts, ya right!

The Locks going from Toho to Lake Cypress

Sidney talking with the Legend, Mr. Ray Scott

Michigan's Mr. Don Fowler, Leading the Northern Division After Day One

Mrs. Don Fowler Leading the Cheering Section on Day One.

November 9, 2007

Guess whose boat I got to ride in today? None other than the first day overall leader in the Bassmaster National Championship, Sheron "Big Show" Brown. As I said before, he's a super guy and graciously welcomed me as an observer on his boat this morning. He had the ear buds in and was jammin' getting focussed for the day. We loaded up, and then the hurry up and wait period began. We were the second boat in the water so we had to tie up and wait until all the other boats got dunked.

By the dawns early light...

While we were waiting, they called Sheron over to get a wireless microphone put on. They told him that there would be some camera boats meeting him on the water and wanted to know where he was starting.

Meeting the Camera Crew

Just Pretend I'm not here.

The International Camera Man, from Mexico

Once on the water, not one, but three boats showed up to follow Sheron as he worked the edge of a large hydrilla bed near Steers Beach. One boat was an international film crew, the other was the ESPN boat taking the footage for the February 16 airing of the Nationals, and the third boat was taking still shots. They followed us around and the ESPN camera man got on board with us for a while.

"Just go fish and we'll try and stay out of the way."

Sheron caught fish on cue, hooking three keepers on camera. He also put on a clinic as they conversed. He really sounded great. He was made for the "Big Show." I can't wait to see how it is cut and put together, but I'm telling you that when you hear the piece you'll agree that Sheron did all of us anglers proud!

The boats followed Sheron around until around 11:00 am. That's when the area Sheron was fishing turned on the day before. Unfortunately, the area muddied up from the wind that blew up today and his bite fell off. Here he is pitching some heavy cover. Check out the hawk that sat there eating a snail, just watching the show as we moved by.

Flippin' and Pitchin'

I know Sheron wanted those five fish today bad, but he worked hard and had a great plan. It just doesn't always happen like you think it will. He brought in three fish for the day but talked about his Day 3 plans with Ray while on the weigh in stage.

Sheron center stage with the Legend Ray Scott

Learning to deal with the media blitz!

Idaho's Ben "Chain Saw" Schilling rode today with another one of our new friends, Alan Earl from the Paralyzed Veterans Bass Tour. Ben had been on some good fish in practice and the dog gone things just up and got lock jaw on him. He had a rough day and could only manage one keeper and one three foot gator. We all thought he should have put it in the livewell and brought it up to Ray on stage.

Chain Saw and the Duke

My ride yesterday was with Wyoming's, Sidney "Guns" Reeves. Sidney brought in three fish today and had one nice 19 incher. I feel bad that I thought I got a picture of his fish, but as it turned out the focus was over zoomed and I missed it. I'm really sorry Sid!

One great guy, Mr. Sidney Reeves, Wyoming's Representative.

Here's Sid trying to dodge Ray's questions about what type of bait he used and where he caught his fish, etc. Ray never got a thing out of Sid.

Living the Dream!

I found that B.A.S.S. got a picture of Sid's big fish.

Don didn't have a good day today. He came in quite frustrated. He caught a keeper on his second cast and that was it for the day. He went from leading the Northern Division Day 1 to fifth today. He's only two pounds out of the Divisional lead though, so tomorrow will be the day for him. We hope!!

Well it was my birthday today, and I can't think of too many better ways to spend it. Once back to the resort we got cleaned up and a bunch of us all went out to the Crab Shack and had a ball. Those crabby pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm beat and 3:00 am comes around fast. Before I jump in bed, here again are the links for Day 2 Standings and the link for the live weigh in streaming video for Saturday's Day three, which should take place around 3:00 pm ET.

The parting shot will have to be one of the National Contenders, Jeff Freeman, who caught a couple of nice fish today.

There are some bigger fish being caught, but not many.

November 10, 2007

The Final Day of the B.A.S.S. National Championship

Good Morning! Feelin' good this morning. I actually got eight hours of sleep last night. I was dead dog tired and decided not to attempt another late night entry in the blog. A couple of those entries I could hardly focus and undoubtedly there are some blunders in syntax, grammar, etc., but it doesn't get too much better even when I'm rested! I'm going to recap yesterday and throw in some of today as well, so I hope it doesn't get too confusing. I'll break it here so I can write it in first person.

I can only imagine how the contestant must be feeling this morning. Just about all of them are still in contention for the various divisional crowns. The weights, being small each day, mean that the anglers are closely bunched. If someone was to find some big fish, they could jump way up the leader board.

The anglers came down to the famed Lake Toho to catch Florida bass, which because of their genetics, are the largest growing species of bass. I would say everyone came down envisioning monsters, and not many were expecting five fish limits weighing under six pounds!

The weights for days one and two are, as mentioned way below what was expected, and many of the anglers came in with empty live wells. The big bass for each day have been only in the four pound range. Even us Northerners, are use to seeing more than that in our local tournaments, not to mention the big 30 lb. plus bags of smallies from Grand Traverse Bay, St. Clare or Erie.

In a tournament like this, with so much at stake, it's hard not to get dejected when the bite is so tough. Staying focussed for hours without a bite wears on you. You tend to start second guessing yourself, moving more and fishing faster, which is just the opposite of what you need to do on a tough bite.

The morning of Day 3 I met Jim Hooven, President of the Florida B.A.S.S. Federation , out in the front of the Orlando Sun. The host state federation is responsible for procuring volunteers. Each boat needs an observer, and they also need people to drive the tow vehicles and work the weigh in. Jim is Ohio born and raised, and left home on a baseball scholarship for Florida and never came back. He's been instrumental in reforming the Florida B.A.S.S. Federation Nation after the split, when many members jumped ship to go with the T.B.F.

Once Jim and I got to the ramp, we began to sign in volunteers. They all needed to check in and sign a waiver if they were riding as an observer. They needed 55 volunteer observers each day. The second day they actually had to send some of the contestants off on their own without someone in the back seat due to "no shows." Most anglers didn't mind. Don was one of them, and he said with no observer you got to eat both lunches. Not only did volunteer observers get a free lunch, but they also got a Mustang self inflating PFD that's worth at least $150.

Each day when the contestants arrived the boats were ready with batteries charged, gas tanks and oil resevoirs full, and the boats were washed and cleaned. Each boat was also stocked with two bags of ice, two lunches, with Gatorade and water. There were representatives there from Mercury, Lowrance, and Motorguide to handle any problems if they should occur. They had at least three tournament crew boats and a spare contestant's boat. They took care of the competitors very well!

Michigan's Representative Don Fowler looks for the just the right bait.

Sidney Reeves and Mexico's Pablo Leo Enjoy the Moment.

Once the anglers got to the boat yard, there was a flurry of activity. There was usually about a half hour before the first boats were trailered to the staging area. During that time the competitors would be retying lures, and organizing their tackle for the day. Contestants were not allowed to bring more tackle from their rooms. They could, however, get lures or advice from fellow contestants. Many of the anglers could be observed giving lures or offering advice to someone they met. Even mini alliances seemed to be formed in hopes of winning the coveted Divisional Crowns. If you weren't from another competitors division, you were not competing with them unless you had a shot at the overall win.

Once the boats were trailered by flights to the staging area, there was another waiting period until all the boats were in the water. They would then start each day with the playing of the National Anthem, after which they would send the boats out in numerical order, with three flights fifteen minutes apart. Each day the flights were rotated so everyone had a day where they had a first flight take off. Boats were due in, in the same time stagger that they left so each angler had the same amount of time on the water. If you were late coming in, you were penalize a pound a minute. Ask, Larry Coleman from Illinois, a great guy whom Don and I met at the Vermillion Divisional. He was one minute late the last day and was assessed the penalty.

The Kissimmee Chain of Lakes are made up of four lakes connected by locks and canals. If you made the run to the bottom of Kissimmee, it would take you about an hour and fifteen minutes each way. Many of the boats made the run, but none that I rode in during the three days.

Running the lake at 65 to 70 miles an hour wasn't without its peril. The lakes have large flocks of coots that are a blackish brown colored water bird. If you didn't know to watch out for them you could suddenly find yourself zooming through a flock as they took off from the water. Paul Sacks, our Michigan President, said he took one in the forehead, and he was literally seeing stars for a number of minutes.

Coots are one thing, but there is also a chance that you could collide with a big gator and heaven only knows how that would end.

My day three was spent as an observer on Ben "Chain Saw" Schilling's boat. Organizing the volunteers with Jim each morning helped me to know how to slide in with pretty much my boater of choice. As I said before, by luck or fate, we connected early with Sheron Brown, Sidney Reeves, and Ben Schilling. We got to know many more contestants quickly and for me that was a great part of the overall experience. I had a great time with these guys during the short period I spent with the entire group, and I could see many friendships born and a lot of networking being set up.

As I said, I was with Ben the final day of the competition. Things had not gone the way Ben had hoped after having a very good couple of days of practice. Ben found fish during the first two days that were just not willing to bite when it counted. It goes like that sometimes, and it is very frustrating when it happens.

Ben is a very good angler, a champion to be sure, making it to the Nationals like he did. We talked about his journey through the various competitions which eventually led him to Orlando. He's a very good stick as those in the angling community would say. You could tell by his presence in the boat and his casting ability. He has a command of the skills and the knowledge for the "game." Unfortunately, in this sport you're affected by another creature who moves to the rhythms of the natural world, changing moods with moon phases and weather patterns. Even with the best skills and the most knowledge, you can't make them bite. You've undoubtedly heard the expression that sums it up the best, "That's why they call it fishing and not catching."

Here's some shots of Montana's State Champion Ben Schilling.

Day 3 starts for Montana's Ben Schilling

The hurry up and wait part of each day.

Pitching jigs in the maiden cane.

Ben broke off on something big over one of the open water shell beds.

One of the pictures that I have to download off some video footage, is of Ben catching an alligator. He lifted it into the boat in order to get his hook back. He had to wrestle the gator for it! The guys a wild man! He said it was "Just a gator we got grizz in Montana!" (He really didn't say that, but it sounded good.) I'll upload those pictures when I get home and put them on the blog soon.

Don's Florida National Adventure started out with a bang. He was the Day One leader in the Northern Division. On Day 2 and 3, the fish just left Don's area or decided they were going to hunker down and not feed during the cold front conditions.

The weather here in Florida just went through its first big cool down. The water temperatutres plummeted with consecutive nights in the 50s. The highs have only been in the lower to mid 70s. Sounds pretty nice, I know, if you're reading this from Michigan, but Florida bass are not only famous for their size but also the degree to which they are adversely affected by cold fronts.

As I have said before, with so few fish being caught, it is really hard to stay mentally on your game. Couple this with five days of getting up at 3:00 am and fishing for eight hours, and then getting to bed hopefully by eleven or twelve. The competitors must have been physically exhausted, running on pure adrenaline. Come day three when they see the dream slowly slipping away it can be devastating. These are not only avid fisherman but fierce competitors. When you're not getting bit it's tough to think about how fortunate you are to just be here. These guys have defeated so many anglers, and had to beat tremendous odds for a shot at that next brass ring. This makes Day Three a very difficult day no matter where you are in the standings.

Here's a shot I was able to get of Don out on the water.

Tell me what you think Don's observer thinks of the weather.

Back to my day in the back of Ben "Chain Saw" / "Gator" Schilling's boat. Ben fought the anxiety of the day. He was not enamored at how the lake had fished, but kept plying its depths in an effort to hook one of the lakes behemoths.

We started on a shell bed, and it was there that he felt the touch of a fish. When he set the hook, his braided line broke. Toho was adding insult to injury, teasing him in this way. He remarked that he felt good weight and figured that the fish had got lucky with the line getting wrapped around some sharp shell cutting it like a knife. In Michigan, the Zebra Muscles are notorious for this.

We left the shell bed shortly after that and went around the lake stopping to fish a number of Ben's areas. Ben would tell me which spots he had caught fish in practice, but like Don's fish, they just weren't biting when it counted.

About 12:20 pm, he was fishing a fluke along some buck brush when he caught a gator. Ben wanted his bait back and didn't want to leave the hook in the reptiles mouth, so he boated it and talked it in to giving back the hook. It was released no worse for wear.

We fished several other spots where he flipped and pitched to holes in the hydrilla, threw his jerk bait, burned a rattletrap, jerked a rogue, dropped shotted, and tossed sundry senkos. It was the fluke that finally drew the attention of a fish. It didn't take it, but swirled it. Ben immediately tossed a senko at the expanding ripples, and I could see the line twitch as the fish sucked it in. He boated it and hoped to get a few more. Nothing else came out of that little cut in the mats, and it wasn't till we fished our last spot that he caught another bass on the Rattling Rogue.

Day three wasn't what Ben dreamed about, but to make it even to State Championship is a goal for many. Making it to the Nationals is something no one can ever take away from you, and it most certainly is something all the anglers can be extremely proud of!

It will probably take a while to salve those competitive desires, but it won't be long until they will be telling their children and or their grandchildren about the time they were State Champions, one of 55 anglers in the United States and six foreign countries to fish for a spot in the Bass Masters' Classic.

Here are some of the pictures from the final day weighin.

Ray Scott, Montana's Ben Schilling, John Stewart

My Volunteer back stage view of Illinois' Larry Coleman, Ray and John

PVA Angler of the Year Kurt Glass

Sheron "Big Show" Brown almost struck gold.

The Divisional Champs and the Over All Winner

They're on Their Way to the Classic!

I'm in the truck typing this as Don and I road trip back to Michigan, and I when we stop for the night I'll try and get the names off the net for the winners of the various divisions. You can check yourself at ESPN on their Federation page.

Here is a picture of Jeff Freeman from Virginia the Day Two Leader who hung on to win the whole enchilada. Congratulations Jeff!

And the Winner is.. Jeff Freeman of Virginia!

Here's another picture of some of the supporting cast at the Nationals, ie., Ben Schilling's wife and mother. Ben's dad Chester was also there. That's part of Darlene Fowler behind the Schillings along with my wife Jude.

It's very difficult to reach these heights without family support.

After the excitement of the weigh in was over, and the anglers packed up their rods and tackle, they headed back for dinner and the formal presentations of trophies and checks. If you click on the ESPN link above you can access the page that shows the amounts of the anglers checks. Not only do the competitors receive checks based on their order of finish, but the various states give them travel allowances to help take care of their expenses. B.A.S.S. also gives each federation money toward the State Champions expenses and pays for the room and meals during the tournament.

Well that was yesterday already and Don and I left Orlando at about noon and made it almost to Tennessee before deciding to pull over for the night. We're going to hit the road early tomorrow and be home some time tomorrow night.

Our Florida National Adventure is winding down, but it has litearlly been a trip of a life time. We had many great experiences and met some great new friends! The trips not over yet, and I have quite a few more pictures to share. Keep checking the blog

It's bedtime. Good night.

November 11, 2007

Well, the big Florida National Adventure, (FNA) is officially over. It won't, however, be soon forgotten. It was a great time! Truly, a trip of a lifetime. I have already had emails from Ben's family, Sheron, and we talked to Sid on the phone, on the way home. Everyone seems to be back to the day job.

No day job for me being retired so I was able to take advantage of being able to sleep in some. We didn't get home last night till after midnight. I stayed up till 1:00 am to call Don as he continued his drive up to Cadillac after dropping me off. I knew how tired I was, and I didn't want to have him dozing off.

I had my 57th birthday during the tournament and a bunch of us went out to celebrate. Mark Torrez from California, Larry Coleman and his wife from Illinois, Don Fowler and his wife from Michigan, Ben Schilling and his mom, dad, and wife from Montana (They actually live in Idaho), and Sidney Reeves from Montana, (Sid lives in Utah), and my wife and I. We pigged out on a bucket full of crab for dinner at the Crab Shack, near the Orlando Sun, where we all stayed. It was a great time, although I wonder about their singing voices. I 'm glad they're great fishermen and not voice coaches. Here are some birthday pictures.

Larry is a Crab Shack Party Animal! He's a ton of fun!

Good Company = Great Time!

Ben's Dad, His Mom, Sid, and Half of My Wife

My Wife, Larry's Wife, Larry, Mark Torrez, Don, Don's Wife, Ben's Sleeve, and then the dark end of the table.

We're Getting Crabby

No smile just being "crabby". I should be smiling because Don paid for dinner. It was a great birthday dinner!

Today I answered emails from a number of folks who contacted me about having read the blog. I was glad to hear that people enjoyed it.

I spent most of the day getting some projects done around the house. Later in the evening, we went out for Chinese with my wife, sister and her son and his girlfriend. I also spent some time packing because I leave tomorrow morning for the deer woods. I sure don't know if I'm ready. I know I haven't banked the sleep I lost yet.

I'm going up to a piece of property that my friend John has near Tustin, Michigan. He built a, what do I want to call it, what would one call it? It is a tiny little shack, no electric, with an old wood stove that looks like it may burn the place down at any second. I took my own smoke alarm up there last year and slept with it next to my bunk! He has an old propane stove that he found along the road that he cooks on. We have to ferry all of our gear and supplies in via a four wheeler. Rustic, I guess is what you call it. but it's fun.

Needless to say there won't be any internet up there, so I won't be making any blog entries until Sunday at the earliest.

If you haven't read all the ESPN coverage of the Nationals here is the link .

In closing, my hat is doffed to the competitors who represented their states, and in some cases country's, in the B.A.S.S. National Championship. My heart goes out to most of them, because as it is in most sporting events, more lose than win that ultimate prize. As some time passes though, those competitive juices will begin to flow, and they will undoubtedly start thinking about those next tournaments, putting themselves in a position for another run. A run, that can now include a bunch of new contacts and friends. You can't have too many of either!

The parting shot for today comes from Hammerin' Hank Aaron, "My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging."