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Blog Archive for the B.A.S.S. Elite Series Lake Wheeler 2011 Event

June 14, 2011

As the song says, "I'm leaving on a jet plane..." today, but I do know when I'll be back again. I will be in Huntsville, Alabama tonight at around 9:00 p.m. I'll head to my brother and sister-in-laws in Athens, AL. I'll get up tomorrow and poke around for a while and then drive down to Decatur, where the registration for the last B.A.S.S. event of the season takes place on Wheeler.

I've Marshaled on Wheeler before, the year Tommy Biffle won it. That was in April though, and this year I hope to see what the pros will do now that it's ledge fishing time on the Tennessee River. Reports are that the grass is almost nonexistent on the Decatur Flats. That's not good. I'm wondering if that's going to affect the numbers and size of fish come weigh-in time.

The last time B.A.S.S. fished Wheeler, at around this same time of year, KVD battled it out with Jeremy Starks. VanDam threw over 24 lbs. of green fish on the scale the first day of that tournament. It went right down to the last day and Kevin lost to Starks by a measly 8 ounces. Kevin did come back the next weekend at Kentucky Lake and won that event. So, with this being the last event and everything coming to a head for the AOY race, it's looking pretty good for King Kong. It would be very uncharacteristic if he didn't close this thing out big time. What a trip it would be to draw Kevin during one of the days that I'll be Marshaling. I got my fingers and toes crossed.

June 15, 2011

Even though I got down here yesterday, I'm calling today the first day of the Decatur Dixie Duel Trip. I got up this morning and went to West End and cruised the aisles. I restrained myself and only bought a couple of small buzz baits that I can't find up north. I also bought a package of Zoom flukes that look good for bedding fish.

If you come down I65 heading to Florida or Gulf Shores, you have to get off the Interstate at Athens, and take 72 west to the outskirts of town, to an innocuous looking Chevron Station. Inside, you'll find one of the best tackle shops I've ever been into. Many of the pros down here for the Dixie Duel, make a stop at West End. My brother-in-law said he saw five pros' boats parked there yesterday morning early.

Once you go to West End, and you're heading back to I65, you need to stop at Lawler's Barbecue . They have some of the best barbecue you'll ever have. Lawler's is right off I65, easy off and easy on.

After I went to West End, I made a stop at Walmart and bought the liquids I couldn't bring in my carry on for the flight down. I bought some heavy weight sun screen and and some other stuff to take with me in the boat.

From Walmart, I decided to head down to Decatur. I really wanted to try and get there early enough to be sure my name got on the Sunday fishing list. I pulled in to the Holiday Inn in Decatur, that B.A.S.S. was using as its headquarters. I remembered where they had registration there two years ago, and headed to that meeting room. In the hallway outside the room, I met Bill Lowery from Kentucky. He was also waiting to register, and was the first one in line. That put me number two. They only take the first six. I was there four hours early, but I had nothing else to do. Actually I had a great time talking fishing with Bill while we waited.

As Bill and I were chatting, I saw a guy walking our way. The man stopped and held out his hand and introduced himself as Don Logan. I recognized the name right away as one of the new owners of B.A.S.S. He thanked us for coming to Marshal and told us a little bit about what he was trying to do to make B.A.S.S. a household name once again.

B.A.S.S. owner Don Logan, and my new buddy from Kentucky, Bill Lowery.

Bill and I told each other fishing stories until about 1:00 p.m. when JoJo Walsh from Tennessee joined us in line. Soon after that, many more Marshal wanabees started showing up. At about 2:45 p.m., they opened registration.

Marshal registration at the Holiday Inn in Decatur

You pick up your hat, Columbia shirt, and $25 Bass Pro Shop card.

Once they register everyone, they assemble all the Marshals for their orientation meeting. In Decatur, they use one big room with a accordion type room divider. The Pros are on one side, and the Marshals are on the other. Once the meetings are done they slide open the doors and begin matching up Pros with Marshals.

The Marshal's side meeting.

They opened the wall to join the two groups.

Dave Mercer addressing the audience and introducing Decatur's mayor.

I drew Dave Wolak as my Day 1 boater. I rode with Dave on Day 1 at Pickwick last year. He's a very personable and talented young pro. I really enjoyed my day with him last year and learned a lot. Once you are paired with your Pro they have a dinner for everyone. Tonight we had chicken fingers, meatballs, roast beef sandwiches, potato skins, spinach rolls, a huge cheese-fruit-and vegetable spread, and drinks of all kinds. It was very good.

I chatted with Dave a while and made plans to meet him at the ramp at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow.

Talk around the dinning room was about how tough Wheeler was fishing. Timmy Horton was saying that ten pounds a day may be quite good. I hope it's not that bad, but I guess we will have to see if they were all blowing smoke, or making accurate predictions.

I was able to talk for quite a while with Jenison, Michigan's Nate Wellman. Nate has been plagued this year with motor problems, and for the third time this year, blew his power head. The mechanics had his boat in the yard replacing the head. Immediately after dinner, he had to get back to put it in the water. The mechanics wanted him to break it in for at least an hour. Tomorrow he's only suppose to run it at 4000 r.p.m.s tops, but I don't think that's going to happen.

There's too much riding on this last event. There's the Rookie of the Year award, AOY, Top 8 for the All Star Week, re-qualification for next year, and an automatic spot in the next Classic up for grabs. It should be a wild four days.

A couple of the coveted pieces of hardware.

Before I close for today I have one last picture of a gas station just down from the boat launch the Elite Series will be using tomorrow.

When I left Michigan gas was $4.02 a gallon.

Time for me to hit the hay. 4:30 a.m. is going to get here sooner than I'm probably ready for. I have to pack a bag yet for tomorrow: sunscreen, sandwiches, peanuts, rainsuit, SOS Suspenders, and a half dozen bottles of water. I'll have the camera batteries charged and plan on taking lots of pictures. So, stay tuned, take care, and I wish you were here!

June 16, 2011

The Dixie Duel in Decatur, Alabama started today with a 6:45 a.m. take off. I got up at 4:30 a.m., and left for Decatur at 5:15. I was at the ramp by 5:40 a.m.

The 31 Bridge running over Lake Wheeler. The Holiday Inn is just over the bridge to right.

Looking West out toward the Decatur Flats.

I waited around for my pro, David Wolak, but didn't see him drive in. The plan was to meet at 6:00 a.m. After a short time waiting, I decided to start walking the docks and to get some pictures. The Ingalls Harbor, where the take off is held, is a large rectangle. The ramp area runs along the south side, and the two parallel sides that run off the ramp to the north have walkways where anglers dock their boats in rafts. The pros tie up on both sides, so it can be quite a walk to cover both sides.

Ryan Said backing his boat in.

Stephen Browning launching the Live Target boat.

The Marshals who drew a Top 50 angler have to pick up their Nextel phones.

Brandon Palaniuk with his public relation director.

Baby Vegas learning the ropes from Dad.

Dave Wolak, Denny Brauer, and Alton Jones discussing strategy.

Rick Clunn getting some help Thursday morning with his trolling motor.

Skeet making his way through the crowd to line up for take off.

Dave Mercer working the boardwalk. Time to line the boats up.

It always seems like there is a lot of hurry up and wait time at these events. To get all 99 boats in the water, filled with their pros and Marshals takes time. There is quite a bit to get done. There are a number of reporters, radio interviewers, TV stations looking for stories, as well as fans looking for autographs and pictures. There is a P.A. system blaring songs and doing some advertising. Dave Mercer works the docks with a roving microphone all morning.

Once things get within five minutes of take off time, the Star Spangled Banner is played, and they line the boats up numerically 1-99 to go through the on the water check-in. We were boat 53, third flight.

The first flight launches right at 6:45 and is do in at 3:15 p.m. The rest of the flights are due in every 15 thereafter. The system is designed to help keep the weight-in area working smoothly at the end of the day. It is also a system designed to keep the fish from being stressed for long periods.

Take off time is always exciting. It's hammer down time!

Dave with the 250 Yamaha wide open./b>

Dave ran to his first stop on what they call the "Decatur Flats." It is a section of Wheeler near downtown Decatur. In fact, parts of it are right outside Ingalls Harbor where we take off. Dave ran further West, a mile or so. There the pros line up and ledge fish. The "Ledge" is really just the edge of the old river channel. When they dam the river, it obviously overflows its banks and the shallow water runs quite a ways to the bank. This time of year the bass have moved from the creeks to the main river. So, that area right at edge of the old river channel ends up being the place to be.

It's not hard to tell where the channel is. Just look for the line of anglers.

Most of the anglers are throwing crankbaits sitting deep and throwing up shallow. They also are throwing large ten inch worms, and tossing jigs. I also saw swimbaits tied on. I didn't see anyone throwing spinnerbaits. Don't really know why. Seems like they might resemble the shad that you see popping out of the water all over the flats.

Dave's first fish came on a sexy shad crankbait. He also caught fish on a worm and his one ounce jig.

Dave hooks up with a Lake Wheeler bass.

...and he swings it into the boat.

Wolak on the board with a nice keeper.

There definitely seemed to be sweet spots on the Flats. Those areas saw several anglers trying to squeeze their way in. They were fishing quite close to one another. Closer than I normally see guys fishing in local tournaments.

Dennis Tietje, Davey Hite, and Scott Rook were almost rubbing rails.

Dave fished near Kota for a few minutes.

Dave worked it hard right up till the last moment. In fact, he caught two fish on his final two casts. They didn't help, but he hated to leave with the fish biting. We made it back to Ingalls Harbor with 4 minutes to spare. We tossed our float in to the net at check-in, which officially marks us as being back on time. We then meandered our way down the docks to look for a spot to pull in. Being in third flight, there was a pretty good line for bags. They only hand out a given number of bags to control how many people can be in the weigh-in tubs. Too many anglers with bags of fish stresses the fish. Controlling the number of bags thus helps with fish care.

Michigan's Nate Wellman bagging his first day's catch.

There was quite a long line for weigh-in, so after Dave got his fish out of the livewell, I walked down the docks. I saw my Day 2 pro Rick Clunn talking with Skeet. While I stopped to take this picture, the three of us began listening to Davey Hite talking about landing a bass by tossing a crankbait and snagging some line. He grabbed the line and pulled in a jig and a bass! He was talking about it with Boyd Duckett, and asked Boyd if the jig was his. They had been fishing quite near one another. Boyd said it was his bait and line. He told Davey he had broke off on a fish. Davey told him that the fish he pulled up was a five pounder. Boyd's jaw dropped and he stood awestruck for a moment. Davey then told him he was kidding, and that it was really only a two pound fish. Hite had to throw it back because it wasn't legally hooked. Rick and Skeet got a kick out of Hite's ruse with Duckett.

Rick and Skeet take a break from their discussion to listen to a Davey Hite story.

Davey Hite landed a bass that Boyd Duckett lost. Here he is giving Boyd his bait back.

I didn't get many weigh-in shots because my camera battery gave out. I recently purchased a new camera, and am not too happy with the length of batter time I'm getting per charge. I'll have to watch the number of pictures I take tomorrow and space them out a bit to conserve battery. I took 114 pictures today.

Dave Wolak on stage with Mercer and Trip Weldon

Arthur "Ott" Defoe is leading after Day 1 with 18-6 lbs. He says he has two areas to himself, which is a real luxury. With 99 anglers fishing the first two days, some spots are tough to fish. It's surprising how small this huge body of water fishes. Here is a a link to the Day 1 Dixie Duel Story . Here is another link to the Day 1 Elite Series Standings .

One of the big stories in this tournament is the race for Angler of the Year, AOY. KVD is leading. It's pretty much a two horse race between Kevin and Edwin Evers. Kevin finished in eighth place today and Evers was in 43. Kevin has about a 50 point lead so it could be all over tomorrow if Evers doesn't make the Top 50 cut. I like Edwin, but us Michiganders have to be rooting for King Kong. Here is a link to the AOY race: AOY Over? Maybe, Maybe Not

I'm pretty wrapped up in this Elite Series event, however, the FLW anglers began their Kentucky Lake event today. You can check out how the FLW pros did by clicking on this Bass Fan link: Chappelear, Colson Share Lead With 23-05 .

Well I'm literally half baked after a long day in the sun. Temps were in the mid 90's and there was nary a cloud in the sky. There was a little breeze which made all the difference in the world. Without it, it would have been brutal.

I'm hitting the hay, but am excited about riding with a true legend of the sport tomorrow, Mr. Rick Clunn.

Stay tuned, and if I can stay awake long enough tomorrow night, I'll have another blog up.

Take care, and I wish you were here!

June 17, 2011

Day 2 of the Dixie Duel on Wheeler Lake in Decatur is in the books. David Walker, whom I got to ride for a day with this year on Pickwick is currently the leader with a two day bag of 35-3 lbs. Day 1 leader Ot Defoe slipped to fourth. KVD did well. He's in a league of his own! It's really hard to grasp the dominance he has had in the sport. Few athletes can rack up trophies and records like he has.

Here is a link to that shows the Standings Day 2 Wheeler . You may also be interested in reading the story that Bass Fan has up. Here is the link to KVD's 7th AOY All But Assured - Walker, Reese Making Late Charge For Classic .

As I said yesterday, in the blog, I have been a bit preoccupied with the final Elite Series event on Wheeler, but the FLW anglers are fishing a FLW Tour Major on Kentucky Lake. I really haven't had time to even read this Day 2 report from Kentucky, but here is the link: Only Four Over 20 - Colson In Command After Consecutive 20-Pound Sacks .

Yesterday, I told you that my Day 2 Pro was none other than the legendary Rick Clunn! Rick's alarm reset itself during the night because of a storm that rolled through in the wee hours of the morning. He had told me that he'd be there around 6:00 a.m., but he rolled in around 6:35 a.m.

I put my bag in his boat and then had to run and get a Nextel phone. Thursday, I didn't get one because Wolak wasn't in the top 50 in AOY points. Clunn, however, was today, so I had to run the length of the dock to get my phone from young Hank Weldon.

While I was hustling back with with the phone they started playing the National Anthem. I had to stop of course, but I knew as soon as they finished the boats would be lining up and moving through the on the water check in.

I got back to Rick's boat just in time. We were taking off 32 or 33, second flight.

Rick has a Nitro center counsel boat. The steering is on the left side of the boat. The way the dual console is positioned you have to walk around the edge through an opening that is not very big. Not the best set up, in my opinion. Who am I though to critique Mr. Clunn's ride. I was just thrilled to have been given the opportunity to be his observer for the day.

I don't have time tonight to give a detailed account of my day with Rick. (I'll post another blog account once I get home and have more time and more sleep.) I'll try and give you a quick synopsis.

Rick started almost exactly where Dave Wolak, my Day 1 pro, did. We were on the Decatur Flats and he cranked a section of it. He also threw a ten inch texas rigged june bug colored worm. He didn't connect and after a fast drift down the flat a ways, he pulled the trolling motor and we moved to another spot that I fished with Dave the day before. With all that water available, it was funny that the two had the same two spots. Grant Goldbeck was on one end of the drop that Clunn wanted to fish, so Rick moved down a ways and fished toward Grant. Once we got up near his spot, Rick pulled the trolling motor and moved way up inside the bay that we were fishing the outside of.

We moved way back, up near a trailer park. Rick started to crank the point right adjacent to the park. He caught a fish right away on a little square bill. It was a Lucky Craft RC 1.5 chartreuse with black back. We worked the point back along some shoreline concrete chunks, and Rick put together a small limit. I mean a tiny limit. He guessed the five 12 inchers weighed less than four pounds.

We left there and ran up river, again to a bridge spot that I had fished with Wolak. Rick cranked and threw his worm there. As he fished the bridge, it began to rumble and it wasn't long before it was thundering and raining quite hard. It continued to rain for probably 4-5 hours. I actually got a tad bit cold.

Rick worked very hard. The man is a cranking fool. He threw three different Lucky Craft cranks on rip rap points and around bridge pilings. At one spot off a railroad bridge and near the 31 Bridge he caught several largemouths on his worm. He culled all of the fish he had caught by the trailer park, but none of the fish he caught were much over two pounds. He just couldn't find the bigger bites today.

Because of the time, and I'm dead dog tired. I'm just going to post a bunch of the pictures I took today.

Ingalls Harbor. Launch site for the Dixie Duel. Gray skies and sprinkles of rain.

KVD ponders the course of this strategic day in the AOY race.

Nate Wellman chats with Matt Greenblatt

Ike sorting out his poles for the day.

Marshall JoJo Walsh from Kentucky and his Day 2 Pro Paul Elias

Matthew Herren talks things over with Tommy Biffle

The boats begin moving through the on the water check-in.

Take off. One of the most exciting times of the day!

Rick Clunn's first stop, the "Decatur Flats."

Rick hooks up with his first bass of the day.

Elite Series anglers don't use nets so this bass gets a boat flip.

Rick puts the Culrite ball on this fish and in the livewell it goes.

Another bass bites the little square bill RC 1.5.

All aboard!

Trot line "Yo Yo's". Clunn wasn't a big fan of these.

People use them and then waste the fish because their too lazy to check them.

I couldn't take pictures for about 4 hours because of the rain. Here it was afternoon and I could shoot again.

The legend himself, Mr. Rick Clunn!

Terry Butch shared a spot with Clunn

Turning in our number and Basstrak phone at the end of the day.

Fish Fishburne was roaming around the dogs filming.

Dave Wolak bagging his fish Day 2.

Rick and I

Anglers at the tanks awaiting their turn on stage.

KVD had another good day. Here he is bagging his Day 2 catch.

Gary Klein, K Pink, and the Legend at the tanks.

KVD mulling over his Day 2 at the tanks.

Nate Wellman up on stage with Mr. Mercer and Trip.

Dave Wolak makes the Top 50 cut!

Rick was rather melancholic about the end to another season.

Alabama native Matt Herren shows off some Wheeler smallmouth.

KVD almost has this AOY thing hammer locked with these dandies.

Evers, and Kennedy are the only two anglers with a mathematical shot at the AOY title.

King Kong looking like he's getting a little excited and very happy!

Marshals and Pros awaiting the Day 3 pairings.

By the way, I drew Skeet Reese for tomorrow. I'll probably be in and out of the camera boat. When they come to take video, they will put in a camera man and have the Marshal ride in the camera boat for a while. Really looking forward to another great day! I'm off to bed. Take care, and I wish you were here. P.S. Please be tolerant of this poor blog. I didn't proof read it.

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 docks 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 down river.

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. down river 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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The front line of the press crew. That's James Overstreet second from right. Great photographer!

div align="center"> Skeet Reese

Skeet weighed a little over ten pounds. He ended the day in "eighth place."

KVD almost sealed the deal on the AOY trophy on Friday. Evers and Kennedy made the Top 50 cut though, and mathematically could still catch Kevin on Saturday. However, in typical KVD fashion, doing what the greats do, he plopped a good limit on the scales again Saturday and ran away the AOY award. It was his fourth consecutive AOY title. To do that in any sport is almost, and may be for all I know unheard of in any sport. Greatest fisherman of all time in my book! Here are a series of shots as the drama unfolded on stage.

KVD's fish, as Mercer says, "Were flippity floppin."

When Trip finally punched in the weight, it made KVD's AOY win official!

KVD with the AOY hardware. What an accomplishment!

When all the hoopla settled, and the weigh-in was over, I ran into Jo Jo Walsh, my young Marshal. We already knew who we would be paired with for Sunday. I would be riding with the eighth place angler, Skeet Reese, and Jo Jo drew one of his favorite anglers who he's been corresponding with via Facebook, Russ Lane. We were both very happy about our assignments! We decided that we would meet at Big Bob Gibson's for dinner.

Ingalls Harbor had a big construction project going on. They are building a big pavilion. The parking lot was also all tore up, and getting out of it after the weigh-in took forever!

I was following Jo Jo, and as we passed the ramp and got close to the service area, he stopped he and told me he wanted to see Paul Elias, his Day 2 ride, who was having his graph worked on by a technician. I decided I would pull in and wait for him.

Jo Jo was talking with Paul, and I noticed Bill Lowery, my other new Marshal buddy, at Elias' boat talking with the tech. I walked up to him, and he asked me who I had drawn for Sunday. When I told him, he kind of gave me a funny look, and turned to the technician and said to him, "Tell him your Skeet story.".

What came next, I would have never guessed in a million years! The tech told me that Skeet brought his boat to the yard after the tournament. I remembered that Skeet's trolling motor cable came off during the late afternoon, and he remarked as he put it back on, that the cable was quite frayed, and he'd have to get it replaced at the end of the day. The tech continued and said that when they were working on Skeet's boat, Skeet found that he had a sixth fish in his livewell. He had forgotten to cull a fish!

B.A.S.S. rules are such that if he would have noticed it at weigh-in, he would have had to cull his largest fish. That would have cost him about 2 pounds. With that deduction, I think he still had enough overall weight to remain in the top 12, and have a shot, albeit a long one, to win his way in to the Classic. However, the way it went down he had his total weight DQed, dropping him from eighth to thirty-third place. The news made me feel like I had been punched in the stomach, so I could only imagine how Skeet felt.

As I reflected on the day, I was really impressed with Skeet as a person. I know it was only one day, but he was a real down to earth nice guy. He seemed genuine. His self reporting the infraction goes a long way as well in telling you what kind of guy he is, and how much he respects the sport. That sentiment seem to predominate the conversation of everyone I talked to about the situation. Even on stage Sunday, when they talked about the situation with Skeet, Trip, Dave, Tommy Sanders, Zona, et. al. felt really bad for Skeet. They all encouraged the crowd to vote for Skeet for the post season. They like and respect the guy. I know he'll have my vote!

I got Cliff Crochet the "Cajun Baby" to take this pic of Skeet and I.

If you haven't had a chance to read about Day 3 and take a look at the standings this Bass Fan article will get you up to speed: KVD Clinches, Reese's Bag DQ'd Roy Takes Top Slot, But Some Big Guns Are Close

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 down river 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 dissuade 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!