Sorry to leave you all hanging like that. After the first day of the tournament I didn't feel much like talking about it, much less writing about it. If you ran this scenario by me before the tournament, I would tell you it could never happen. Like I said, for me to win AOY I would have to have a spectacular tournament and the guy in first would have to bomb. The first day of the tournament I had one of the best days I've ever had on the water. I could see the fish sitting on the bottom, and it was as easy as throwing the dropshot within 2 feet of them. I had 17.5 lbs by 10am. I was ready to go back to the dock and order pizza. My pro on the other hand had only 3 fish for 5 lbs, so he spent the rest of the day trying to catch a limit. He thought we were supposed to weigh in at 3:30, so we were fishing around check in so he could upgrade his 11 lb limit. I looked at the flight card and realized that he was wrong and we were due in at 3:10; unfortunately it was already 3:14. We ended up being 11 minutes late and instead of having 17-5 and being in 3rd place I had 6-5 and was sitting in 128th. To make matters worse, the guy who was leading AOY had bombed and was in 100th. How could it all have gone sooooooo wrong? I realize it was partially my fault not knowing the correct time to be in, but come on, he's the pro. I hear all the time as a Co, "you pay the big bucks and then you can make all the important decisions, until then you just fish out the back". I was paired with Kim Stricker the second day, and I had a very difficult time even fishing. Not only was I depressed, but Kim was fishing 100mph because his fish weren't biting and he was searching for new ones. I ended up catching 4 fish for 6 lbs, dropping me to I don't even know where in the tournament. Even more unfortunately, it dropped me out of the top 10 for the year. It was about as bad as it could have been. When things go this bad, i just thank God for my loving wife and 2 healthy, beautiful children. As bad as things seem to be, there's always someone who's got it worse. Even so, hopefully my bad luck streak is over with this episode; I don't think I can take anymore heartbreak like that. I left straight from the weighin and drove to Thousand Islands to start practicing for the second Stren event of the year.

Damn.......................................we're still pulling for you Jess.

With an attitude like you have, immediately moving onto practice, i dont see how things cant get better for you. I think your thought process is right on.

I agree with Don, you seem to do all the right things. Your approach is professional, your time will come! Good luck on the next one.

Stren Series #2
Thousand Islands(St. Lawrence River/Lake Ontario)-Clayton, NY
Water Temp: River-69 Lake-61
Spawn/Post Spawn

After the ordeal at Champlain had ended, I drove the leisurely 3hr drive over to Clayton, NY. I arrived at about 8pm. The trailer we were staying in was pretty small, but it had a bathroom, stove and dining room table. We filled the little trailer with the CT contingency; 5 of us piled into the lunchbox on wheels. For the first 3 nights it was me, Dennis, and Kenny; we each had a bed. Dusty was still at work and would be up on Monday evening. On Sunday, the forth member arrived and claimed the dining room table which converted into a bed. Being the last guy to get to the room is never a good thing. When you're dealing with a first come first serve basis, it's best to get there early. Unfortunately for Dusty, all the beds were taken, and he would have to sleep on the floor between my bed, the stove, and the dining room table/bed; it was tight! Anyway, the first day of practice I was on my own. I decided because the wind was supposed to blow 25mph that I would spend the first day in the river. I started out fishing some areas I fished the year before, but had no luck. After allot of driving around, I settled on some off-shore humps that came up to 10' on the top. My first cast with a tube and I caught a decent smallie. I caught 2 more on that hump and continued to run that pattern around the upper part of the river. By the end of the day, I had 5 waypoints that I felt I could catch 18lbs off of. Not a bad first day of practice. When I got back to the trailer, I talked with Dennis and he said he hadn't caught them so great today, making me feel even better about my day of practice.