Big Show Breakdown

See that arm over on the right side of the photo? That's me. And that's as close as I've come to being famous. The guy in the photo is B.A.S.S. pro Brian Clark, my Day 3 partner.

I guess I should back up and explain. First of all, a lot has happened since my last blog. I moved into a new apartment-good. I have a new roommate-better. I got a promotion and raise at work-sweet. My brother got married-he will be missed. And I was able to participate in the biggest bass tournament of my life-awesome.

I had a great time during the tournament. My first day partner was veteran angler Ken Cook. Ken used to be a fisheries biologist before he began fishing full time. In August 1991 he won the Bassmaster Classic, the Super Bowl of bass fishing. Back then the prize money for that tournament was only $50,000. The Elite tourneys today award $100,000 for first place and $500,000 for the Classic. Fishing has come a long way, baby.

Ken didn't talk much, but nor did I. We concentrated on our task at hand. We both caught plenty of fish and brought in decent weights for day 1. I finished the day in 18th place with 5 fish, 10lb 1oz. My 2nd day partner was Jeff Reynolds. Jeff didn't talk much either
and the fishing wasn't as good as day 1. I finished day 2 in 31st place 5 fish, 6lbs even; good enough to make the top 50 cut for the final day.
Day 3 was Brian Clark. Even though Brian is a big Dallas Cowboys fan and I'm a big Washington Redskins fan we were able to set aside our football fandom malice and have a great time. What we lacked in finding fish we made up for in conversation. And at the end of the tournament I only brought in 4 fish for 5lb 9oz and finished 40th. I brought home a modest $500 check and a lot of experience and knowledge I couldn't have received any other way.

B.A.S.S. has agreed to hold one of their Elite series tournaments out of Paris Landing next year. That will practically be in my backyard. I will definitely be there for that one!