Dusty finally showed up and practiced with me the last day. We went back up to the North end and tried to find more areas like the one I had found out on the flat the other day. We fished around and caught some decent ones, giving me more areas to cover while I was up there. Up until this point, the weather had been beautiful. Of course, the night before the tournament a giant cold front would move in. The wind was supposed to blow 20mph out of the North, bringing possible record lows in the 30's. I was struggling with where to start. I didn't think the largemouth would bite after such a severe cold front. If I didn't start there though, someone else might and then I would regret not going. I called Sam Newby and Scott Suggs to get some advice. They both said I needed to give the largemouth spot a chance. If they were there I could catch 20+lbs in 5 minutes, if not it was only 30 minutes out of my day. I made the decision to run over and fish for 15 minutes and if I didn't get bit I would leave and go fish for the smallmouth. I could barely sleep thinking about the fish I had found. I was pretty sure I could make the cut on either the largemouth or smallmouth I had found.

The morning of the tournament I headed straight for the largemouth. When I arrived at the spot I knew right away they wouldn't bite. The wind had been pounding directly on the shore, blowing the mats right out of the water and muddying it all up. I flipped a few reeds that looked good and then headed to my smallmouth. The bite was tough, but I figured the fish would turn on when the sun got a little higher. At 10:30 I caught a 2.5lber and then lost a 5+ about 10 minutes later. This was the beginning of the end for me that day. I ended up catching a respectable 16 lbs, but I lost 8 fish that would have had me up around 19 or 20lbs. Lost fish were once again going to ruin my tournament. I tell people all the time that if I could land the fish I hook I would be dangerous. I was frustrating to say the least. I still had a chance to make the cut; I would need 20lbs though. I decided to fish my smallmouth hard the second day. I started on them and caught a few good ones. By 12 I had 14lbs, but the big fish had stopped biting. I decided I needed to run over into the inland sea and fish that dock with the big largies on it. I made the 20 minute run over there, stopping about 50 yards from the dock. I started fishing toward the dock and just when I thought my luck couldn't get any worse, out comes a guy talking on his cell phone stomping down the dock. He sits down on the end of the dock and dangles his feet in the water. No chance the fish stayed for that. I ran around not feeling good about anywhere I fished. Nothing felt right. I ended up weighing in the fish I caught out on the flat. Maybe I should have stayed there and hammered it out. If I had known that guy was going to pick that exact second to walk out on that dock I would have stayed where I was. Even my Co-angler couldn't believe that had just happened. I ended up finishing in 40th, 3 places out of the money. The only positive to the 40th place finish was that I moved up to 23rd in the points. With one more tournament to go, I have a good shot at making the Stren Championship. Unfortunately, not winning money makes it difficult for me to continue. Hopefully I can make enough money doing carpentry while I'm home to pay the entry fee for the last one.
Dusty farred far worse than me, finishing somewhere in the bottom 100. He didn't catch them the first day; the second day he did, but the boat broke down and he had to let his 15lbs go. Dusty unfortunately did not win enough money this year to finish out the season. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to make enough money to fish the last one, but I'll be doing it without Dusty's company.

Do you EVER catch a break,...keep at it Jess,..Keep at it.

Liked lemonade?? Good thing man seams like this year has givin ya plenty of lemons!! Hang in there, I think its like a baseball player who goes into a slump, dosn't mean he's not good just has to work his way out of it.

Its always fun to read your reports and i have learned a few things also (mostly what not to do....Only kidding) and look forward to the good luck turning around for ya.

I'd bet that dock guy came down and did that on purpose. I can't count the times they've done that to me, especially at C-mond. Tough luck. It'll turn around.

Thanks for brutal honesty in your reports Jess. Good luck on your next tourney.