This is what the room looks like when someone else is paying for it! I was living large down in South Carolina.


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Sorry to leave you guys hanging like that. It's been a little over a week since I left South Carolina. I fished with Kevin Vida on the second day and caught a big fat goose egg. I dropped into 38th place and made enough money to pay for gas to the next tournament on Thousand Islands. I left the Fun Zone at 5pm on Sunday and drove through the night arriving home at 4am. I slept until 10am, got up, packed my boat (I say that loosely), went to lunch with my wife, and was on my way again. I drove for another 5 hours to Thousand Islands for the second Stren Series event of the year. I arrived about 6pm into what looked like a scene from the movie Twister. The sky was filled with crazy black and grey clouds, it was pouring and lightning was striking about every 30 seconds; so much for getting my stuff ready for my one day of practice. I was rooming with Dusty at this one and he had been there practicing with Dennis. Dusty and I got up the next morning at 7. It took me about and hour and a half to get everything I needed from the truck into the boat. I wanted to spend my time practicing out on Lake Ontario because I thought that would be where the biggest bags would be caught; unfortunately the wind was blowing about 25mph. Apparently if the wind blows more than 5mph hour the lake is wicked rough. So Dusty and I practiced in the river. I poked around for a few hours and then Dusty took me to some of the places where he's caught good fish in the past. After our 6 hours of practice I was confident I could catch 12-14 pounds, which Dusty assured me would keep me near the top 10 cut. I caught 10lbs the first day which I didn't think was half bad until I got back to weigh in. I ended the day in 103rd. The weights that came in were unbelievable; I had missed the boat. I decided to run out onto the lake the second day as long as the wind didn't blow. It didn't and I caught a respectable 15lbs. I climbed a little higher in the points up to 85th. I was figuring the fish out, unfortunately a little too late. By the last day I knew exactly where to find them and what they wanted to eat (if you go to Thousand Islands make sure you bring plenty of Berkley Gulp). The problem I had the last day was I lost some fish. I ended up with 14lbs, and my Co weighed in 18lbs. I finished the tournament in 75th; a comeback of sorts. One more day and I'm pretty sure I could have come in with a 20lb bag. Not having any practice on a lake I had never been to before really hurt me in this one. Dusty had 16lbs a day of course, and almost won it. The luck of the draw on the Co-angler side can be a killer. That's alright, anyone who knows Dusty is kind of relieved, because there would have been no living with him had he won. Save your win for a big payday Dusty! I left for home straight from the weigh in at 5pm on Friday night and arrived home at 10pm. I was exhausted!
I will leave you with a picture of what the hotel looks like when you stay with Dusty and have to pay out of your own pocket.


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