One week before the Elite Series started I still did not know if I would compete this season. I had fished a total of eight hours (filming for Strike King) since the end of October. I don’t hunt. I had opportunity to fish. My elbow would not allow me to hold a rod. It is a scary thing making a living with your arms and one just won’t allow it!
My doctors changed my exercise therapy and gave me an additional shot of cortisone. I am on the mend in a matter of a few days.
On the way to Florida, I made a stop in Atlanta and had my boat wrapped. Arko Customs wrapped my truck last year and did a wonderful job on it. They were more than willing to wrap the Tacklewarehouse.com Skeeter. It only took one day to complete the wrap. This gave me an extra day to prepare for the opening event. It also gave the elbow 24 hours to calm down. A “win-win” situation is always a good thing!
The St. John’s River was the opening venue for the Elite Series. I finished 35th place here last year. My practice was tough. I found a very few small bass on beds. The second day was spent looking for postspawn bass offshore in the river. It was a good day and gave me a building block pattern. This river is tidal. It will rise and fall twice in a 24-hour period. Timing is everything for the event.
Day one I headed to the bedding fish to get a limit. It was a whopping 6-pound limit! On my way back downriver, I saw a dock. It was old with big wooden posts. The first pitch of a Strike King Finesse worm yielded a 3½ pounder. A few minutes later a 2½ ate a KVD 1.5 chartreuse/black squarebill. It is time to get to weigh in. The 10 pounds, 7 ounces placed me just outside the top 50. The next two days saw me fishing that same dock and landing several good fish. The final tally was a 36th place finish and a $10,000 check. My elbow had survived to live another day. This was a good start to the season!
We traveled further south to Lake Okeechobee for the second stop of the Elite Series. The Big “O” has always had my number! It is responsible for a Bassmaster Classic appearance in 2001. That is about the limit of my success here. The wind blew from the east the entire practice. I had an old favorite area that seemed to have the potential to earn me a check. I had the area to myself as it was hard to get into fishable water. I landed 9 pounds, 15 ounces on Day One. They all came on a junebug Strike King Gamehog. I had two missed opportunities that would have given me a much better bag.
On Day Two I find myself at noon with a 6-pound limit in the livewell. I had run completely new water and struck out. I headed to my secret area with two hours to fish. Ten bites later, I had landed two fish and watched my second $10,000 finish swim off as I lost eight good ones. It was enough to have landed in the 50 cut! I can blame this one on my lack of time on the water. I was so rusty that I was unable to land those fish. The Big “O” had kicked my behind again!
The second event was a series of good decisions followed by poor execution. The strategy would have earned me the check. The elbow complications took me completely out of the game. As I traveled to Tennessee to practice for the fourth event of the season, I could visualize all of the lost bass. I have put it behind me and I am focusing on the upcoming events.
It is good to be home!!