Bed fishing and breakdowns.
The first day of the tournament didn't go so well. I talked to Art Rife after the first day and he informed me that he saw my partner for the next day weigh in and that he'd be heading straight for a bed fish the next day. I drew out Scott Martin for the second day. True to his word, he headed straight for a 4+ he had found on a bed the day before. He fished it for 2hrs without success. He decided to leave and go for another one on a bed. On our way to his next fish he decided to stop on a deep point he caught a good one on the day before. We pull up and fish for maybe 15 minutes and Scott hooks into a nice spot, probably 3 1/2lbs. We fish for another 15 minutes without a bite. We leave there and head for the bed fish. He catches it after about an hour. On our way to his next bed fish the motor has some technical difficulties. We're 20 miles from the launch and Scott is afraid we won't be able to make it back. He calls the support team and they come out and fix the motor while the boat is sitting in the water. That whole ordeal took about 2 1/2 hrs. While waiting for the support people to show up we fished around a bridge with Scott catching a small keeper. Gabe and I had fished this area in practice and I caught my 2 best fish within yards of where we were fishing. I didn't know that Gabe had been there the fist day and his Co-angler caught 11lbs; so I kept casting in hopes that the fish I had in practice were still there; little did I know that they had already been carted off. The motor gets fixed and we're on our way again. We arrive at the next bed and he catches this one in about 15 minutes. He decides to go hit the deep point again where he caught the nice spot. I was feeling like this would be my only chance at a fish. We fished the area again for about 15 minutes and he decided he needed to spend the rest of the day fishing for the big one he had fished for earlier. So that's what we did. And so ends my awesome Alabama experience. I couldn't get out of that state fast enough. As soon as the Fun Zone ended on Sunday afternoon, I hopped in my truck and drove straight home through the night; 16 hrs stopping only for gas. Man it feels good to be home!