June 23, 2011

I wanted to cover some things I've been meaning to get to before I went to Alabama, however, with the Tear Drop anglers fishing Manistee this Sunday, I needed to get Nick Vawter's story and pictures up from the Crystal Lake event. So here is guest blogger, Nick Vawter's report from stop number two on Crystal.

2011 Tear Drop Tournament Trail

Crystal Lake, Beulah, MI

June 12, 2011

Written by Nick Vawter

Fred and Jeff Brauneck clean house on Crystal

Wow, if Dan edits and retypes this article it will be the start of my 3rd season of writing. Which also means it's Dan's third season of not writing Tear Drop articles. If you wonder what he's been doing with all his spare time, the last weeks of blog entries will let you in on it. He travels the globe as much as I do. He just got back from Marshaling the last Elite Series event down in Decatur, AL on Lake Wheeler. He's put a bunch of pictures, and wrote an account, for each of the four days at Wheeler and has put them on the blog. Check it out.

Just a quick apology to the guys who placed and took money on the first tournament on Missaukee. I wasn't able to do a write up after the event because my back, with its bulging vertebrae, put me out of commission. I could hardly move without intense pain. Sitting was the worst position, standing while fishing was the 2nd worst position. However, catching fish permited the pain to subside a little. I just need to do more of that. Enough with the preface though. Here's the rest of the story, from Crystal Lake.

The second stop on the Tear Drop Tournament Series was Sunday, June 12 on Crystal Lake in Beulah.(When the map of Crystal Lake pops in, you will need to scroll down to see the lake.). Beulah is in Benzie County, which is in Michigan's Great Northwest Corner.

Crystal lies just a stones throw from Lake Michigan, and it's the eleventh largest inland lake in Michigan at 9,869 acres. It has about 20.8 miles of shoreline! It is a deep cold water lake catering to species that like the depths and cold water. If you want big smallmouth, this is the place to be.

The ramp on Crystal is at the end of Clark St. , in downtown Beulah, at the extreme east end of the lake. This ramp is a bugger! (The DNR is currently working on a new ramp mid lake on the south shore of Crystal.) If you back in too far you hang up on the end of the ramp. The ramp is steep which makes it very tricky when you try to put the boat on the trailer. It's painful to hear your boat trailer scraping and grinding on the concrete. Also, if the wind is out of the west with any force, waves can easily swamp and sink the back of your boat while trying to get it on the trailer. Parking is also tough at Crystal. If there are more than a handful of boats you have to park behind the downtown stores, and walk to the ramp.

The ramp, as it turned out for us, ended up to be the least of our worries Sunday. My partner, my son Brent and I bought a 2000 Basscat Jag earlier this year. We didn't have much opportunity to get to know her before the fishing season began. We thought our only challenge, to start our season with the new boat, would be getting to know the electronics. We spent several hours checking them out. Seems it may have been a more prudent thing to inspect the wheel bearings!

We left our cabin early enough Sunday morning planning to be the first one at the ramp. As I said, parking is at a premium there. However, when we stopped for gas and ice, at about 4:00 a.m. in Baldwin, Brent noticed a smoking right rear wheel.

With no tools, we borrowed two crescent wrenches from the night shift girl at the Wesco station. Have you ever tried taking a wheel off with a crescent wrench? Just let me say it takes a tad bit longer! Our plan was to take the wheel off, and limp to the launch on 3. (The boat has a tandem four wheel trailer.)

Finally, we left the parking lot, however, we only made it about an eighth of a mile when the remaining tire on that side blew. We dragged the boat back on the rims to the lighted Wesco parking lot, and there we pondered our options.

By now it's pushing 5:30 a.m. Brent elects to call Ron Hicks, a friend who lives north of White Cloud, about twenty minutes from us. Ron use to fish the Tear Drop, and has a bass boat, so we were hoping that he might be able to help us out with a hub and a tire. Fortunately he had a bearing set and tools, and said he'd leave right away to help us out.

I called Dennis, the Teardrop Tournament Director, and he said as long as we checked in with another angler to get our livewells checked, that we could fish if and when we arrived.

Well, after,another long hour, we were back on the road. We arrived at the launch just after 8:00 a.m. We launched and headed for the first boat we saw. It turned out to be Skinner and Stumbrie. We lifted our lids, they checked out our livewell, and with grease from head to toe, we finally headed off to fish.

We were able to put our limit in the box by 10:00 a.m. We were feeling much better about showing up two hours late. We culled up a couple times during the day, ending up with just under 19 lbs. We've never done that well on Crystal. Living as far away as we do, we seldom get to prefish it much. We had an inkling though, that if we had caught 19 lbs. that easy, winning money might just take some bigger fish than we had in the livewell.

Fred and Jeff Brauneck took first place and big bass on Sunday. They brought in a whopping 23.54 lbs. of smallies. Jeff let me in on what made them so successful. He said that he and his dad caught a couple of nice fish first thing in the morning that were just cruising the shallows. Fred was throwing some plastics, and Jeff was throwing a top-water. They moved out to the drop for a while waiting for more fish to move in on the beds. It had turned cold Friday before the tournament, and a lot of fish pulled out of the shallows.

Jeff said they literally threw the kitchen sink at them Sunday! They used tubes, cranks, dropshots, jerkbaits, and an assortment of texas rigged plastics. They picked off a couple of four pounders out deeper, and then moved back in to do the bed fishing thing as the sun popped out.

Jeff caught the six pounder, and Fred had one that was close to 6 lbs. as well. They culled four or five times throughout the day. They caught probably twenty keepers total. For all that chunking and winding, they hauled in $525 for first place, and $210.00 for that 6.10 lb. big bass. Hopefully, that will make Momma Brauneck happy, and she'll bake cookies and bring them to the next event in Manistee, the Brauneck's home water.

Second place went to one of the new teams of Justin Brown and Jerry Johnson. Jerry told me he lives REAL close, and was disappointed that he didn't have more weight. But their 23.08 lb. sack of smallies won them around $262. It will ensure they have enough for a tip at the Na-Tah-Ka , because they also won two free dinners there for taking second place.

Justin Brown and Jerry Johnson

Third place this week went to the team of Dan Warner Jr. and Wesley Skinner of Ludington. Dan knows this lake pretty well. If you study the stats, like I do, Dan and his pops took 3rd place here last year. Dan and Wes weighed in a very nice bag tipping the scale at 21.72 lbs. which won them about $131.00 and some good Classic points.

Dan Warner Jr. and Wes Skinner

Coming in fourth was Brian MacDonell and Wes Herndon of Traverse City. Their five fish tipped the scales at 20.57 lbs. These two guys are always where the smallmouth roam. My camera messed up and I didn't get their pic, but I know Wes is okay with that. They took home about $65.00 for their efforts.

The final money spot this week went to Ross Machiela and Jesse Weener. These guys were in the money spot for the second event in a row. Their fish weighed in at 20.15 lbs. That sack netted them about $65. More importantly it keeps them within two points of the leaders in the AOY race.

Ross Machiela and Jesse Weener

That's it for the money places at Crystal. If you didn't have over 20 lbs. you weren't in the hunt this week, and that's twenty pounds of smallmouth! Before I put this piece to bed here are some more pictures.

Alan Pike and Jack Kowalski

Brent and Nick Vawter from Wyoming, MI

Kasey and Josh Meyers

Ryan Van DeBurg and Doug Hall

Matt Kaiser and Dave Yeager

Doug and Paul Sprik

Harry Swank and Chris Mieras

Brian and Steve Tagg

Bruce Mitchell and son, or a time machined Dennis Cook.

A very special thanks to the sponsor of this event, Timberwolf Furnace Co. Please be sure to check out the Tear Drop flier on the main page, and give the folks listed there the first chance at your business. You won't be disappointed.

The next tournament is on Manistee Lake. Watch for the Brauneck's to put a smack down again on their home water. They have been waiting for 3 years for the Tear Drop to return to Manistee.

Until then...keep a tight line.

June 22, 2011

Day 4 of the Dixie Duel on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Alabama. Again, I have succumbed to lack of sleep, and consequently I am wrapping up this event today. I did spend quite a bit of time yesterday resizing pictures, and just ran out of time to get typing the story. Part of the problem was Grayson Wilson, from the Outdoorsmen Pro Shop talked me in to going fishing with him as a sub in their Tuesday night bass club event on the Grand River. By the way Grayson, I had a great time. Thanks for the invite Mr. Wilson!

The whole time I was in Alabama this year during the Wheeler event, I was worried about over sleeping. I set the alarm on my phone the first night, and it didn't go off! I just woke up, and I was lucky I wasn't late. After that, I had two alarms set, but neither one were devices I had confidence in.

On Day 2, when I rode with Rick Clunn, he arrived just 10 minutes before take off. A storm had knocked out his alarm the night before. He told me it was the first time in 25 years that he almost missed a take off. Those thoughts of being late kept rattling around in my head, coupling those events with my late nights of trying to get the blog posted, left me tossing and turning and getting only a few hours of sleep per night. In any case, I'm a day late and a dollar short with this blog entry, but here it comes.

Day Four of the Alabama Elite Series 2011 Dixie Duel

Sundays are "The" day when it comes to the Elite Series tournaments. The Top 12 are there hoping, and wishing, and praying, that it will be their day to shine. The media moguls are there, from the local radio and TV stations, and of course B.A.S.S. has all it's big guns there. Tommy Sanders, Zona, Jerry McKinnis, Fish Fisburne, and others were there early. They roamed the walkway doing interviews.

I made sure I was there early as well, and the first thing on my agenda was to find Chuck Harbin, who runs the show behind the scenes. He takes care of all the Marshal pairings as one of his jobs, and this morning I was looking for him to see if we could make a three way swap in our rides that morning. Jo Jo Walsh, a young Kentucky Lake angler, was really hoping to ride with Russ Lane. I was scheduled to ride with Russ, but I was willing to make a switch to help Jo Jo out.

As I was looking for Chuck, I ran in to Bill Lowery, my Marshal buddy from Kentucky. I told him about my quest that morning, and he said that he too would like to make a switch and ride with Keith Poche.

When I found Chuck, he said he was fine with our three way switcharoo. So, my Sunday ride would be with the seventh place angler, Kelly Jordan.

B.A.S.S. puts cameramen in the first six boats on Sunday, so there are only six Marshals used. That is what has been happening, up until just recently. Chuck Harbin, at our Wednesday registration meeting, said that he would be using six more Marshals to ride in the camera chase boats that accompany the top six. Marshals who signed up 7-12th on the "Want to Ride Sunday" list would be placed in those boats.

The Top 12 boats, on the final day, are tied to the dock in their take off order. I found Kelly's boat, and put my bag with my rain gear, sandwiches, drinks, aspirin, anti-diarrhea pills, sun screen, etc. in his boat. I try to anticipate all the scenarios out on the boat. The last thing you want to have to ask your pro is to take you to shore because you have "to go." You have to be sure to watch when you eat, so those regular bathroom needs occur before take off.

After I made contact with KJ to let him know that I was his Marshal for the day, I began my usual morning meanderings up and down the dock to take some pictures.

KVD was already doing some PR work on the water before take off.

I took this picture of Jo Jo Walsh and Russ Lane.

Russ' wife was on the dock, and needled the two of them to smile. This is the two of them smiling.

Keith Poche and my Marshal buddy Bill Lowery.

By virtue of Skeet's disqualification Takahiro Omori made the Top 12 cut.

Home town favorite and a very nice guy, Tim Horton was in Sunday's final.

Kelly Jordan, a.k.a., KJ, was busy with reporters.

Dave Mercer does his live on the dock interviews, and here he is with the "Hack Attack."

Because of Father's Day, many of the pros had their whole family at this event. KVD's wife and kids were on the dock each morning.

David Walker, his cameraman, his two girls, and his wife, await the morning take off.

Young 20 year old Bradley Roy begins Sunday's final in first place.

Dave Mercer has done a great job this year as the B.A.S.S. emcee. I haven't heard if he'll be back next year.

California pro Ish Monroe, one of Wheeler's finalists.

My favorite all time photographer, James Overstreet, worked hard from dawn till dusk every day.

B.A.S.S. Sunday means the helicopter camera crew will be flying.

The copter made several passes testing the morning air to see how low it could go.

There are a surprising number of people there on the docks in the morning, at the crack of dawn. Many of the pro's family, as I mentioned, were there. There were those that always travel with their husbands, but more were around this event because it was the last of the season, and Father's Day.

KVD's wife, Sherry, and the twins, sending him off Sunday morning.

With this being the last regular season Elite Series event of the year, there was a lot riding on the day. There was Kevin fishing for another win (He has already clinched AOY on Saturday), Bradley Roy and David Walker hoping for their first win, anglers vying for places to earn points to qualify for the Classic cut, and additional anglers wanting to finish high enough to requalify for next year. Drama, suspense, adrenaline, excitement, it was all there, and after the playing of the National Anthem, it was hammer time.

This never gets old!

A number of the camera guys were using telescoping poles with cameras on the end to take pictures from different angles. This photographer was putting his away before it was 250 Sho time.

Kelly was going to be making a fairly long morning run. We were heading to the Elk River, which is down toward the Wheeler Dam just below First Creek. I have fished the Elk several times myself, and I was curious as to where KJ would be fishing.

As I've said many times before, these pros only have time to travel at one speed and that is wide open! Their graphs are large, and they have them on to show their track as they run. At the bottom of their screens is a GPS speed. It's very accurate, much more so that the speedometer on the dash. I could read KJ's over the water speed on his graph from my seat. It was right at 70 mph!

Sunday morning, was probably the windiest it had been thus far during the tournament. It was going to be a bumpy ride down river.

As a passenger, it is a pretty wild and bone crunching time. In most boats that I have ridden in, you only have one handle on your left side to hang on to, and you had better have a firm grip on it. Your butt comes off the seat often as you bounce off waves and wakes. KJ's Skeeter, however, had a handle on a strap that recoiled into the boat underneath the passenger seat, so you could hang on with two hands. I liked that. You really have to be alert and keep a grip on things, because there is a real chance of getting bounced out. It has happen several times before to Marshals in Elite events. (Shin Fukae, in this weekend's FLW Kentucky Lake event, was distracted by a seat that had bounced out of its support, and ended up hitting a bridge. His cameraman had to be airlifted to the hospital. His coangler was also injured but not as seriously: FLW Outdoors Announces Update on Injured FLW Cameraman. ) There are many good reasons why you need a life jacket on, and a helmet doesn't hurt either.

One thing that I would recommend, if you ever consider Marshaling, is buying a Sport Utility Mask , or a helmet to wear. In a 30 mile run, at 70 mph, you are really buffeted with air noise. The roar in your ears will cause your ears to ring for quite a while. Ear plugs, even with a mask or helmet, is recommended. (A 30 mile run may sound like a long way, but at Pickwick this year two of my pros drove downriver for over an hour, at full throttle, to get to their starting spots.)

Not only will the mask or helmet help with air noise, it really helps you see better, and keeps the bugs off your face. I wear sunglasses with a neck strap, but my eyes still feel dried out several days later from all the long rides. If you have to run in the rain, the drops feel like needles when they hit your face. Your vision is vastly improved with a mask.

Our run down river Sunday was indeed long, but at the same time very exhilarating. As I said, the wind was blowing so the river was far from being slick. We busted waves alongside of Russ Lane who seemed to be making the long run as well.

Russ Lane and KJ were both making the long run down river.

Born to boogie!

At one point, as we ran, we could hear the helicopter film crew coming. Russ and KJ moved closer to one another, and we ran rail to rail, bouncing and careening over waves. The copter came surprisingly close. I could easily see the faces of the camera guys shooting video and still shots. They flew alongside us for several minutes. I'm hoping they use the footage during the show when it airs on TV. (ESPN2 will be broadcasting the Dixie Duel at 7:00 a.m. on June 26, which is Sunday morning. It will be on ESPN Classic at 10:00 a.m., that same day. Here is a link to the Bassmaster TV Schedule for all the Bassmaster events. The Dixie Duel will be rebroadcasted on the Outdoor Channel as well.)

I always have my camera out while in the boat if it's not raining. I had it in my right hand as we ran Sunday morning. I had forgotten to take my regular glasses off, and put on my sunglasses before take off, so I did it on the fly. I couldn't take the chance of letting go of a hand hold, so I had to hold on to my glasses, and hold the handle with my left hand while I tried to shoot pictures with my right. We were bouncing around so much that I couldn't see to compose a shot. I just triggered the shutter in hopes of getting a good picture. I must have hit a wrong button on my camera, as I tried to take a picture of the helicopter flying alongside us. Once back home, when I looked at where the helicopter pictures should have been there were just black frames. Disappointed was I. I did manage a couple of shots, and there are also a few pictures on B.A.S.S.'s Photo Gallery under their Day 4 Aerial Gallery - pictures 19 through 22. KJ's boat has the "Lucky Craft" wrap.

The copter chases off after Russ Lane as we split off.

A pretty blurry photo, but as it turned out, it was the only one that recorded on my camera.

Kelly ran down to the Elk River. As I mentioned earlier, I've fished there myself before, and Rick and I fished it as well when we were there in April. Kelly fished it further down toward the mouth from where I normally go. He fished a shoreline that had a point extending out from shore. It was a small spot, but it had produced enough fish during the first three days to get him through to Sunday. Finding enough fish, in a four day event, isn't easy.

KJ had been getting his bigger fish on a deep diving Lucky Craft turquoise colored crankbait, and so he began Sunday cranking. He lost one right away on it. However, despite no lack of cranking effort, he couldn't get them fired up on the crank.

He pulled out another bait, a big 10 inch tequila colored worm. Several of the pros I rode with threw one. On his first or second cast with the big worm, he hooked and landed fish number one.

KJ was on the board with his first keeper of the day.

KJ weighed and put a float on each fish as he caught them.

Kelly kept saying that he was seeing fish on his spot, but he said they seemed spooky. They would disappear off his graph, as he trolling motored around the spot. He worked it hard for a couple hours, and then took off to a couple of other spots he had in Spring Creek.

Russ Lane was sitting at the entrance to Spring Creek.

Jo Jo Walsh, Russ Lane's Marshal told me Russ had two five pounders on one crankbait Sunday morning. Both ended up coming off right at the boat. If B.A.S.S. allowed the use of a net, he probably would have landed them!

KJ had two spots in Spring Creek that earlier in the week produced some nice fish. Fishing four days, and having your spots hold up for that long, is tough. You really have to have a spot that has the right conditions to replenish itself. Not a lot of those kinds of areas.

Kelly didn't catch any keepers in Spring. We left there and hit one of his other spots just off the main river. He caught a fish there, but it didn't help him. Like I said it was just off the main river in the mouth of a bay west of the Elk River. It was a spot where two years ago, in April, I visited with Matt Herren during that years Dixie Duel. Herren caught some quality fish in the bay on docks. I was kind of hoping KJ was going to try a few of the them. I think they might have held some fish. Who knows though, maybe he tried the docks in practice.

Jordan didn't seem to like this spot all that well, because he didn't stay more than a half dozen casts, then it was back to the Elk River where he finished up his limit.

Back at the Elk River KJ again lost another fish on a crankbait, but landed several on the worm.

When he boat flipped this fish, he almost flipped it right over the opposite side of the boat.

The fish was hooked deep, but with the skills of a surgeon. he removed the it without causing any bleeding.

Not a giant, but a solid 2 lbs. 10 oz. fish.

In late April, you may have remember reading Don Barone's great piece on Kelly called, "Came Horror In the Wind" . It was an emotionally gripping account of Kelly dealing with a cancer scare. In fact, KJ was suppose to be at KVD's brother Randy's D & R Sports shop for their April 22, Spring Fishing Open House, but Kelly had to cancel in order to see the doctor. We were all very thankful to hear that the results from tests that were done came back with a good prognosis. KJ's scare comes as a warning all of us need to heed. Sports that place us out in the sun, for long periods of time, expose our skin to excessive amounts of dangerous cancer causing UVA and UVB radiation . (Be sure to read the preceding hot link. It covers this topic of skin cancer, its causes, and prevention, quite well.) Bottom line, we need to be using sun screen, and wearing clothing that also protects us from these harmful rays.

Kelly wore a Simms shirt all day. It looked great and offered good protection from the sun.

All of the pros I rode with fished hard from the opening bell right up to the time that they had to make that last dash to the docks to check in. They didn't leave any unused time on the clock.

Kelly left the Elk River with about 30 minutes to go in the day. That run takes just about that amount of time depending on the condition of the river. If it's wavy, it's a thirty minute run. If it's fairly calm, you have a bit of a cushion.

On Saturday with Skeet, the run from First Creek, which is just west of the Elk River, was a brutal ride. Skeet and I took a beating even though Skeet did everything he could to find water out of the wind to try and smooth the ride out some. To make it back in time, he had to take a short cut through a shallow stump filled bay. He came in with a minute to spare.

KJ had a much smoother river, and actually had a few extra minutes, on the way back, to stop for a few more casts in hopes of that last minute louie fish.

He stopped out in front of the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant. Day 1, when I rode with Wolak, Dave fished in the same area and caught a keeper. I saw Jonathan Van Dam there as well cranking the end of an underwater rock pile.

Kelly made a stop on the way back in at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Plant.

Kelly really needed that kicker fish on Sunday. He was sitting very close to the cut off for the Classic. He ended up dropping a few places on Sunday, and it cost him a spot in the Classic. It was a tough day for him. Maybe he will still get in the Classic after the Opens where some of the already point qualified anglers could double qualify.

After checking in at the end of the day, the anglers had to idle down the harbor at Ingalls. Once off the lake, we no longer had much of a breeze, and it got hot, hot, hot! B.A.S.S. support staff had the anglers' trailers backed in to the water so all they had to do was drive up and put the boat on the bunks. From there they were pulled to the stage. lined up in the order that they had started the day in.

The B.A.S.S. staff had the trailers backed in for the final 12 as they arrive back at Ingalls Harbor for Sunday's trailered weigh-in.

Ish had a good final day, and he improved his place standing. He finished in 4th.

Tak, couldn't seem to get on the quality fish he needed to move up. He only weighed 8 lbs. and change on the final day.

Many of the pros on Sunday had trouble finding that kicker fish. Greg was one of them weighing a limit of 11-6 on Sunday.

Russ Lane had one of the better final days. Just think what he would have had, if he could have landed the two five pounders that bit his crankbait! They were both on at the same time, but came off right at the boat as he tried to land them.

Keith Poche had his fish run out, and only brought 7 lbs. 10 oz. to the stage.

KVD had the second best day of the Top 12 weighing in 14 lbs. 11 oz.

As I mentioned, the pros, on Day 4, are all driven to the stage in their boats. It's a trailered weigh-in in front of a big Sunday crowd. Bass fishing is very popular in the south, and lots of folks came out to help celebrate the end to the 2011 Elite Series regular schedule. I'd say there were several thousand people there.

While KJ is being trailered to the stage, he puts away some of his rods. You can see some of the construction that they're doing at Ingalls Harbor, in the background.

Just a small slice of the large crowd on hand for the final day of the Dixie Duel, in Decatur, AL.

The cameras are rolling, and the fans are ready to see who will be the champion!

The weather was in the mid 90s, but it didn't disuade these ardent Alabama bass fans!

KVD talks with Mercer after weighing his fish. With two anglers remaining, he leads the field with a four day total of 61-13 lbs.

Walker brings his fish to the stage.

Will his 15 lbs. dethrone King Kong who sits in the hot seat with one more angler, Bradley Roy, left to weigh-in? Yes it does, just narrowly, by less than 2 lbs!

Walker checks to see that KVD really has left the stage. He's a tough competitor to beat! Only one more angler to weigh.

20 year old Bradley Roy brings his fish to the scale. His day four catch weighs 10-1 lbs. giving him a four day total of 60-06 lbs.

David Walker wins the Dixie Duel! His first major win on any tour in 14 years! A well deserved win!

David was one excited and happy bass fisherman after the final tally was registered, and he indeed got to hoist the trophy as the 2011 Dixie Duel Champion. His wife and two young daughters came up on stage to enjoy the moment with him. It was a win Walker had been looking for, for a long time, and you could tell how much it meant to him. He was a very gracious champion, and he talked highly of his fellow competitors. (Just a side note for my fellow Michiganders, David Walker was born in Detroit.)

With the win, David double qualified for the Bassmaster Classic. He gets a birth for winning at Wheeler, and qualified through his finish in the AOY points.

The anglers all want to fish the Classic for its prestige, sponsorship exposure, and of course, for the chance to win $500,000. You get $10,000 just for fishing!

With his AOY winnings added to his check on Sunday, Walker took home a suitcase full of cash totaling $108,900! Not a bad Father's Day present! I'm sure though that the big blue trophy means as much to David as the greenbacks. He's been looking for one for a long, long, time.

You can read several articles covering Walkers win. Here are the links to three: B.A.S.S.'s article, "Why Not Me," Bass Fan's article entitled, "Walker's 15-Pound Bag Brings Him First Tour Win," and Bass Zone's article "Wheeler Title Lands at D.F.W.". For a look at the final Wheeler standings and payouts check out this link: Final Results: Pro Anglers .

Now that the last event is over, B.A.S.S. will be gearing up for the post season. They will be having an All Star event on the Alabama River and Lake Jordan, down in Alabama. The top 8 anglers in AOY points, get an automatic invitation to the dance. Four more will be voted in by the fans. Check out this new feature on the Bassmaster site called "The Livewell." It will fill you in on the AOY Title, Walker's Win, and give you some post season info.

If you go to Bassmaster.com you will also be able to vote for your favorite anglers that you would like to see in the All Star competition.

You'll find that the Elite Series anglers are separated into four regions, and you have to pick just one from each region. You can vote once per day. Registering to vote also enters you for a drawing in which a fan will win a new boat, motor, and trailer.

For what it's worth, one of my votes each day will be going to Skeet Reese. I was really impressed with Skeet as a person when I rode with him on Day 3 at Wheeler. The bad break he had there, and his self reporting which resulted in his losing his Day 3 catch, attests to the integrity of the man. At the Wheeler weigh-in, KVD, Zona, and Tommy Sanders were encouraging fans to vote for Skeet as well. Jerry McKinnis has an article up on Bassmaster right now throwing his support Skeet's way too: Bass Fishing Needs Skeet Reese . I would like to encourage you to vote for Skeet as well, and get him in to the post season All Star event.

Well this epistle is getting to be a book, so I'm closing out my 2011 Dixie Duel adventure. Even though I missed my Marshaling travel partner, Rick "The Cementman" Skinner, I managed to have a very memorable trip. What a whirlwind four days. I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Wish you were there!

June 18, 2011

Day 3 of the Dixie Duel on Wheeler Lake in Decatur, Alabama. Well, you probably know by now that I poop out and didn't keep up the daily part of the blog. Man, I just got so dead dog tired that I couldn't stay up Saturday night to do everything that needed to be done to get the blog out. It's a day late, but hopefully not a dollar short.

After the weigh-in on Friday, all the 50 Cut pros and marshals have to assemble out front of the stage. There, they do the pairings for Saturday. One of the first pairings was with KVD. The marshal that they called to ride with Kevin was not there, and they don't wait long if your not around. They called the guys name several times, and then moved down the list to the next marshal. That guy is probably kicking himself, after blowing a chance to ride with King Kong.

Just after that particular pairing, they called my name, and I found out that I would be riding with the California Kid, Skeet Reese! Talk about drawing a big name. To say the least, I was very happy with my draw.

It was, however, a good news, bad news scenario. Chuck Harbin, the guy who runs the show behind the scenes, came up to me, and told me that I would start my day in a camera chase boat. Skeet was in third, and had a real shot at winning the event. It was very newsworthy because Skeet has not had a Skeet like year, and the only way for him to get into the Classic was to win this event. A lot was riding on this contest for Skeet. Consequently, even though it was Day 3, Skeet was getting a camera man in his boat to start the day.

After talking with Chuck, I shook Skeet's hand, and he asked me my name. We walked over to a quieter area and talked for a few minutes. He was very personable, and after we chatted a few minutes we arranged to meet at the dock in the morning. I asked him if he wanted me to help put the boat in, I was hoping he'd say yes, because he probably has the biggest, baddest tow vehicle of all the Elite Anglers. Ish also has a big truck, but I don't think it's as big as Skeet's. Here's a picture of it, but you really can't get a feel for how big this truck is unless you're standing next to it.

Skeet's truck and trailer are very unique, and hard to describe without saying they're just, and excuse the language, bad ass!

Saturday morning, I found Skeet's boat tied to the dock, and so I put my day bag and SOS suspenders in it. Skeet wasn't around though. No problem, because these guys have lots to do in the morning. Like I usually do after I find my pro each morning, I give them some space and walk the dock taking pictures. When I got to the end of the dock by the ramp, I saw Skeet's truck, and decided to get a picture of it. I took some shots from several angles, and then got up front and noticed that he was in his truck jammin'. I figured with the pressures of this big day, he wanted to stay off the dock as long as he could. As soon as he, and guys like Kevin, etc. hit the dock they are inundated with press people and fans that want to talk to them. This was going to be a big day for Skeet. He was in third place with a real chance to win his way into the Classic. He was getting his game face on. He's a competitor and was getting focussed for a long tough day.

The walkway on the east side of Ingalls Harbor.

Dean Rojas and Dave Wolak talking on the morning of Day 3

Zona was walking the docs Saturday as well. He stopped to talk to his buddy, King Kong.

The "Hack Attack" and Zona.

David Walker will be sharing water with Skeet Day 3.

Rookie and Jenison, Michigan native, Nate Wellman launching his boat Saturday.

Nate getting a chance to live his dream this year.

Country music star, and B.A.S.S. Elite Angler, Casey Ashley talking with Dave Wolak

Dave Mercer, B.A.S.S. Emcee, roams the dock each morning talking to the anglers. You can hear the P.A. from anywhere in the harbor. It's loud, and between interviews they crank up the tunes.

When I got back to Skeet's boat, I met Rick, the B.A.S.S. cameraman that would be riding initially with Skeet. He introduced me to a young guy who I would be riding with until Rick filmed some fish catches that morning. He said he'd probably be with Skeet until around 10:30 a.m., at which time we would trade places.

I got in the chase boat, and started chatting with the young kid driving it. I have to apologize, because I don't remember his name, even though I remember asking him twice. I do remember that he was driving a Bass Cat with a 250 Yamaha on the back. I asked him how he got to be a camera boat driver, and he said a buddy of his called him and said B.A.S.S. needed several. B.A.S.S gives the camera chase boaters $300. They told him that he would probably only be needed until around 11:00 a.m. Not a bad gig if you ask me.

We idled by Skeet, who as I said, was surrounded by folks wanting to talk to him.

As we idled out, they started playing the Star Spangled Banner. KVD had his family here for the Father's Day weekend, and his boys were in the boat with him. A neat prelude to Father's Day.

We idled out into the mouth of Ingalls Harbor, and we waited for take off. Once the boats filed out through the on the water check in, it was time to see how this Cat was going to run.

Skeet puts the hammer down and points the boat downriver.

Skeet was heading to First Creek, about a 30 minute ride toward Wheeler Dam!

My young camera boat driver was a college senior who was looking to graduate and become an Alabama Conservation Officer. He fished Guntersville often, and was happy to have the chance to get involved in the tournament.

I was really impressed with that new Yamaha four stroke that he had on his Cat. I have gotten to ride in several boats that have it on the back, and man can that motor push a boat down the lake. We had no problem keeping up, and pulled past Skeet who was running, I assume, flat out with his Mercury Pro XS. Both of these new motors help these pro literally fly down the lake!

It was a rough ride for the first few miles, because Skeet had quite an entourage of boats following him. All there wakes really made for a bumpy start. Once that Cat got running though, we easily out distanced the field and had smoother water.

My camera boat driver running alongside of Skeet.

As I said in the picture caption above, we had about a 30 minute run at 70 m.p.h. downriver to First Creek, which is just beyond the mouth of the Elk River within eyesight of Wheeler Dam. David Walker and Skeet were sharing a spot there.

Once we arrived, they set up about 50-75 yards apart on two deep humps that were there. The spot is a community hole, but community holes are what they are because they hold fish.

We put the power poles down in the shade and tried to stay out of the camera shots as they filmed David and Skeet.

There were about nine other boats there watching. The power poles really came in handy, because it was windy and the other spectators had to constantly stay on their trolling motors to hold their positions.

Walker and Skeet were both throwing pretty much the same stuff: a deep diving crankbait, a big spoon, and a big worm. Walker caught a five pounder on what looked to be his first cast. I wondered how Skeet digested that bit of disconcerting news. Later he told me that Walker, who was in first place at the beginning of the day, got to the spot first. Skeet settled for what he called the second best spot. He could have crowded Walker, many of the pros fish tight, but he respected Dave's water and position.

While I was in the camera boat, I decided to start texting and sending bits and pieces of what was going on at First Creek to Hank Weldon. Recently, B.A.S.S. has started asking Marshals to text and send pictures while they are out on the water. I thought at first that we would be doing that on the Nextel Basstrac phones that you're given to report weights for each fish caught. However, they gave us a phone number, and asked us to use our personal phones for sending pictures and texts.

I almost bought a new cell phone before I came down to Alabama. Mine is an old model that is hard to use for texting, and the camera it has isn't very good. I decided though, to wait on the new phone until I got back because two years ago at Wheeler I ruined a phone when it got wet.

Once I started texting, while watching Reese and Walker, I wished I had gotten the new phone. My keypad was not user friendly. Another problem I had in texting was that with polarized lenses on, it is really hard to see the screen of your phone. A few of my text did end up on the B.A.S.S. Blog on Friday and Saturday.

Walker caught his five fish limit on his spot. He whooped it up a couple of times when he landed a good one. Meanwhile Skeet only managed to catch a few two pounders.

Walker caught one of his bigger fish just after two waverunners ran right between he and Skeet. He caught it popping that big spoon off the bottom. He would cast it out, and let it hit bottom, and then give it two violent pumps and then let it fall until it hit the bottom again. Reese was spooning some too, but nothing wanted a taste of his spoon.

Walker and Reese fishing First Creek on Saturday during the Dixie Duel

At around 11:00 we got a call from Rick, the cameraman, in Skeet's boat. He wanted to be picked up. We motored out, and made the switch. Skeet was getting ready to boogie, so it was a good time to make the trade. I lost my nice cool shady spot, but I didn't mind it a bit. I was in the boat with Skeet Reese!

Skeet welcomed me aboard, and we battened down the hatches and got ready for a bumpy ride a short ways back up river. He had a spot quite a ways off shore, in seventeen feet of water. He began casting a deep diving shad colored crankbait, and almost immediately got bit. He ended up putting three fish in the box. Nothing that was very big, but he was glad to have a limit. (More on that story later.)

Skeet finished his limit on his main river spot not far upriver from First Creek.

The crankbait seemed to be the bait most Elite anglers relied on during the Wheeler tournament.

Skeet, Ike, Duckett, all are known for wearing some pretty cool footwear.

Skeet worked as hard as anyone could looking for some Tennessee River kicker fish.

Skeet stayed on this spot for about 45 minutes. Not catching anything of size, I think caused him to decide to try a few more spots. We donned our life jackets and headed across the river to a water discharge area. John Murray was fishing there, and at first I thought Skeet was going to join him, but Murray is Skeet's on the road roomy, and they chatted a minute as Reese cruised by. When Skeet left Murray, he fished several points with the crankbait. He caught a couple of chips, but nothing that would cull anything.

On the way to another spot, Skeet idles by roomy John Murray.

After fishing a number of deep points that were in 15 to 25 feet of water, Skeet decided to run back to his starting spot. When he rolled in, Walker was there, and so was Gerald Swindle.

Walker had left at the same time we had earlier. Walker headed up First Creek and Skeet went the opposite direction to the main river. Skeet didn't look too please to have Swindle on the spot, but they talked, and things seemed to be okay.

Walker and Reese exchanged pleasantries, and both asked if either had caught any more. Walker said he never got a bite back up in First Creek at the spots he had there. He did say that when he pulled back in to this spot that he saw Gerald catch one about two pounds.

David and Skeet meet again at their honey hole later in the afternoon.

Walker and Reese seemed to be able to handle the pressure of sharing a spot well.

Skeet did seem a little surprised to see Gerald at his spot on First Creek.

Walker fished the area until about 2:00 p.m. I would guess that he wanted to get back upriver closer to the launch. Storm clouds were building, and the wind was really picking up. With his weight, he didn't want to be late.

Swindle left just after Walker did, and Skeet was left on the spot by himself. I was really hoping that he would get that big cull he needed. At about 2:15 p.m. a front moved through, and it really got windy. When it hit, the sudden gust of wind, made me take a quick step, and fortunately I didn't end up in the drink. It may have been warmer in the water though because with the strong gusts came a very cold rain. I wasn't going to put on my rainsuit, because it had been really hot, and I thought the cool rain might feel good. However, that rain was super chilly, so both Skeet and I pulled out our rain jackets. I had to fight with mine to put it on in the gale. It was really, as they say in the south, "Fixin to come up a cloud!"

Skeet really had to stay right on the trolling motor. With how the wind was blowing, if he got off it for just a moment, he would end up way off his small hump. The wind had turned 180 degrees. We were hoping the change might fire up the fish that he was still seeing on the graph. It did excite a bite, but again nothing of any size. Skeet boated several fish during this last few minutes as the storm hit, but he just couldn't get a big bite.

When the late afternoon front hit, it triggered a little flurry of fish.

We left First Creek with about 40 minutes left in the day. We had at least a 30 minute ride back to Ingalls Harbor. Skeet made another quick stop at his deep mid-river spot and fired the crankbait, hoping for a last minute louie fish. He did hook up, but again nothing that would cull. He tied his rods down with 27 minutes left in the day, and with the wind howling, the waves building by the minute, he hammered the Mercury Pro XS and headed the Stratos back toward the ramp.

It was one rough and wild ride back to check-in, but these guys can drive a boat. We were airborne numerous times, and took heavy spray as waves hit us from the side. I was wishing I had a helmet or a face mask. I'm going to buy a mask for sure, before I come down for another Elite event. Running in the rain is not fun, and without a mask it's tough to see. I may also have to get the number of a good chiropractor. That pounding does a number on your spine.

Back at the docks, Reese was immediately surrounded by media folks. He's had plenty of practice with them, and handles it very professionally.

I helped Skeet get his fish out of the livewell. The pros have a two bag set up. The inside bag is a mesh sack that they can pull out once they get to the tanks. They then can keep their fish in the treated aerated water. Fish care is important!

The marshals help hold the two sacks open to be sure the fish get in the inner bag. The pros get their own fish out of the livewell. You certainly don't want any miscues at this stage of the game. I have heard horror stories of anglers getting their fish out and losing a fish over the side of the boat.

Once the fish are out of the boat, my job as a Marshal is done. At that point, I usually go watch the pro I rode with weigh on stage. I then will follow them off the stage and help put the boat on the trailer. Some pros want help, others have family or friends do it, or they may simply prefer to do it themselves. Skeet said he didn't need any help. I don't think he trusts too many people to drive that big rig of his. I'm sure that backing that big rig is a little trickier that a normal size pick up.

Skeet relaxing at the tanks waiting for his turn on stage.

Davis, Chapman, and Wellman discuss their day on the water.

Bass tournaments in the South draw huge crowds!

Timmy Horton weighed his fish on Saturday, and then paid a special tribute to his aunt and uncle. They lost everything they had in the recent tornado. Timmy choked back tears, and had to stop several times, while talking about them. Tim wanted to say that when he talked to his uncle recently, one of the things he told him was, that of all the stuff lost, he was really missing his fishing equipment. At that point, Tim had them stand up, and he introduced them to the crowd. He went on to say that he had some Duckett rods and reels he was going to bring out to him, so that he could get back out fishing. It was a very touching moment that brought a hush to the crowd, and a tear to the eyes of many. Just a side note, B.A.S.S. was asking any an all in the crowd at the Dixie Duel to donate fishing equipment to those affected by the storm. They had barrels set up so people could bring in stuff to help get those affected by the storm back out fishing.

Tim Horton on stage talking about his personal connection with the recent Alabama tornados.

Tim Horton's aunt and uncle setting in the crowd clutching the new Duckett rods and reels.

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I read an article today that introduced me to the new BFL All American winner Jacob Wheeler. From all accounts, he has the potential to become the next fishing phenom, another KVD. If you read the article that I'll post a link to shortly, you'll find out that he has believed that he'd become a professional angler since he was a preschooler. He's scrimped and saved and borrowed to fish local events, and won the first BFL he ever fished. He borrowed a boat to fish the All American, but now has a $100,000 to use to get himself set up for a possible Tour angler next season. Here's a link to Jacob's article: Wheeler Analyzed Lake And Local Tournaments .

Another article I read today was one that was written by B.A.S.S. staff writer Ken Duke. Duke is like my friend John, in that they both love baseball and the statistics that go with the sport. Duke talked about the "Magic Numbers in Sports," and focussed on Joe DiMaggio's 56 game hitting streak. Duke decided to sift the B.A.S.S. records to see which angler has had the most consecutive five fish limits. It didn't matter if they didn't make a cut because of weight, the only determiner would be consecutive five fish limits. I could tell you who the angler is, and whether he broke DiMaggio's 56 game streak, but I'm not going to. You're going to have to read the article: One Better than DiMaggio .

Despite my frustration with my last FLW Fantasy Team, I went back to work, and I'm hoping that maybe this time I can pick a few guys that don't finish in the triple digit range. While I was perusing the angler list for Potomac River that starts on June 2, has a bunch of Elite Series anglers that have signed up. Should be interesting to see how they do. I know the Elites have fished there several times in the past.

I went out fishing with my brother the other day on a small gravel pit. A buddy of his has a house on this little gravel pit lake not too far from where both of us live. My brother had been there the day before and was fishing off the dock, and he caught a number of nice bass. He went back the next day after his buddy told him to use the small pontoon boat that he has. He called me as he was getting the boat ready to go, and I met him there.

I took three rods. My drop shot rod, a bait caster, and another spinning reel. The baitcaster had a chatterbait on it that I used down in Alabama this spring. The other spinning reel had a four inch grub on it. I took a few planos of tackle and my senko box. I started with the drop shot rig. I used some Gulp and I also tried a four in senko. They would peck at both baits, but not takers. I put the dropshot down and threw the grub, and caught a bass right away. It seemed they were after minnows and small bluegill, so after tossing the grub a few more times, I tried the chatterbait.

The chatterbait was a sexy shad color, and I used a Zoom Super Fluke as a trailer. Last year, when I Marshaled the Guntersville event, Clark Rheem used a similar chatterbait set up to wack em. It's the same bait I caught that big drum on that you may have seen in my blog from the Pickwick trip this year. Any how, the chatterbait seemed to be what the largemouth wanted on this little pit lake. I caught at least twenty largemouth on it, and most all were in the two to three pound range.

My brother had a little ultra light rig he was tossing a floating rapala with. It was a case of big bait big fish. He caught about as many fish as I did, but mine were consistently larger than his. This little gravel pit is one we are going to fish from spring to fall when we're in town. Should be fun to explore what it has to offer, and a place to try some new baits and techniques. It also may be a good place to catch a bunch of gills for eating as well. We saw some pretty nice ones just starting to bed up.

My brother with a little largemouth from out private pit.

I'm not quite sure what this Memorial Day weekend will hold for me. We are still on Gramma duty, which makes it hard to get away. Maybe Gram will go up to the cabin, and maybe we'll end up having to stay home. You do what you have to do some times.

Enjoy your long weekend, and if you are out fishing send me some of your pictures.