Arrgh! More bad news. I need to get through this year and forget it ever happened. As much as I try and stay positive, I'm constantly faced with more challenges. I just got the call today from Berkley letting me know that they've cut their FLW pro staff almost completely, including me. All Co-anglers were cut and because I didn't know if I would have someone to sponsor me on the Pro side for the trail next season, I had to be cut. It's a big business thing I guess. Things don't look good for next season. At least I still have the Stren Championship to look forward to. My new gps arrived earlier today, so my drive to Alabama will be a little easier. As of right now I'll be sleeping in my truck down there. I don't have a wireless card, so I don't know how often I'll get to post. I guess the fishing has been really good the last few months. I'm going to concentrate my efforts on the Western end of the lake; that's the far end about 55 miles from where we launch. Supposedly that's where the majority of the grass is and that's where most of the top 10 usually catch their fish. I'm looking forward to this tournament; maybe this will finally be the one. $115,000 sounds really good to me right now!
"Momma told me when I was young.... Be a simple kind of man, oh be something you love and understand" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some...." - Jason Mraz
"Give me one moment in time, when I'm more than I thought I could be. When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away and the answers are all up to me" - Whitney Houston
"Im'a be what I set out to be, without a doubt, undoubtably. And all those who look down on me, I'm tearing down your balcony. No if, ands, or buts, don't try to ask him why or how can he..." - Eminem www.go-fish.biz visit my homepage
TEAM SERIOUSFISHING TEAM RUMSWIZLER TEAM RED NECK CAMPER TOURS TEAM "NO GUN ZONE" TEAM PANAMA TEAM GEPSIKCEHEHTEREHW TEAM Swizzle
www.joinrfa.com Contact Capt Mike Marro Bluefin Charters, Clinton Ct. 203-245-7742 www.bluefincharters.com As if the colassal middle finger hasn't been jammed up our asses far enough, the NMFS and ASMFC carry on with their daily masterpieces of saving species in peril..........We as recreational anglers serve thanks for all the fine "work" you do........ Fishin Factory III Middletown Ct 860-344-9139 www.fishinfactory3.com www.jigheadlures.com www.castlebaits.com
Stren Series Championship Lake Pickwick Florence, Alabama Water Temp: 60
The 17 hour drive went by fairly quick. I left the house at 3:30am and drove until I reached Waterloo, Alabama at 8 in the evening. Waterloo is about 30 miles west of Florence. I arrived at Hart RV Park in the pouring rain, and not knowing which site was mine, I decided to park right where I was and go to sleep. I had my bed set up in the back of my Yukon and it was lights out the second my head hit the pillow. I was a little confused when I woke up about how light out it was. I set my alarm for 6:30am and woke up before it went off and the sun had already risen. Apparently besides the hour change in time between the two time zones, daylight savings had also taken place. I was 2 hours off and this would confuse me all through practice. I picked the lower section of the lake because it had the most grass, which always seems to hold the best bass. My plan for the first day was to go look for schooling fish. The first creek arm I came to I idled all the way to the back and started fishing. Within minutes, the water erupted with bass and shad. I cast my swimbait in and pulled out one over 3. The fish went back down and I kept throwing my swimbait around. About 10 minutes later they came up again and I caught another one, this one just under 3lbs. I ran around the midsection creek arms finding more areas that had schooling fish. It was pretty awesome to see the largemouth blowing shad clear out of the water. I needed to get off the water a little early to go meet the people at the RV Park to find out where my site was. I got off the water at 4, got gas and headed back to the RV Park. I was the only one staying there, so I picked the site that was easiest to pull in and out of. The park was right on one of the creeks, so I could sit and watch the fish go crazy on the bait. At one point there were so many bass eating shad that it looked like the water was boiling. I considered fishing from shore, but I had to run out to the store to get some jelly and shampoo. Come to find out, the closest store was 37 miles away, so after driving 25 miles I decided to turn around and go back; I could do without those things. When I got back, I ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (minus the jelly), watched a movie on my computer and went to sleep.
"Momma told me when I was young.... Be a simple kind of man, oh be something you love and understand" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some...." - Jason Mraz
"Give me one moment in time, when I'm more than I thought I could be. When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away and the answers are all up to me" - Whitney Houston
"Im'a be what I set out to be, without a doubt, undoubtably. And all those who look down on me, I'm tearing down your balcony. No if, ands, or buts, don't try to ask him why or how can he..." - Eminem www.go-fish.biz visit my homepage
I called my cousin who lives in Birmingham on my way down to see if he wanted to come up and practice with me as few days. I told him I was camping in my truck and that he would have to bring a tent. He was good with that and said he'd come up sometime Sunday afternoon. I got out early Sunday morning and ran to the farthest part of Pickwick that we could fish. The creek had lots of arms and points. I looked around for schooling fish with no luck. I fished the points and back into the very backs of the creek arms. I caught one good one in the middle of one on a Carolina rig, but had no luck otherwise. I decided to run out onto the main lake and fish some of the drops and humps out off shore. My Humminbird side imaging unit is unbelievable when it comes to looking for spots on spots. I found a small rock pile on the end of a long point. I marked it on the gps and got right over it with the boat; it was in 22 feet of water. As soon as I got over it I saw and arch, I dropped my drop shot down and the fish immediately swam over and ate it. The largemouth weighed about 3.5lbs. I ran around trying to find similar offshore structure. I found other spots like it, but couldn’t get any other fish to bite. I got a text from my cousin that he was about 30 minutes away, so I ran back to the camp ground and picked him up from the dock. We ran across the lake to some of the creek arms that I had found schooling fish on the first day just so he could get out and have some fun. Unfortunately every creek we went into locals were already on them. We ran back across the lake into the creek that the campground was on and absolutely crushed them. It was insane fishing. I think I caught 14 over 2lbs and my cousin who only fishes every few years caught 7. When he said he wanted to come practice with me I was concerned he might not even catch a fish. It was awesome! We fished until dark, went back to the camp ground, ate some fried chicken, drank some beer and watched Talladega Nights. It doesn’t get much better than that!
"Momma told me when I was young.... Be a simple kind of man, oh be something you love and understand" - Lynyrd Skynyrd
"I reckon it's again my turn to win some or learn some...." - Jason Mraz
"Give me one moment in time, when I'm more than I thought I could be. When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away and the answers are all up to me" - Whitney Houston
"Im'a be what I set out to be, without a doubt, undoubtably. And all those who look down on me, I'm tearing down your balcony. No if, ands, or buts, don't try to ask him why or how can he..." - Eminem www.go-fish.biz visit my homepage
you do........ 
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