This has been an interesting year full of ups and downs and learning and second guessing and rethinking and … well, you see where I’m going with all of that.
That was before the Lowrance Bassmaster Elite at Lake Tenkiller.
I worked hard in practice, all the way to the time limits allowed, and to be honest, I only had a few bites. I wasn’t sure what to expect, and in the end, I went where I thought I could get some bites and things just happened.
After Day 1, I was in 11th place after getting to fish areas I thought I wouldn’t be able to. I had a late boat number, so when I took off in the last flight, I did not expect to be able to get on the the areas I had hoped to. To my surprise, nobody was there. After catching 14-12, I’m in position to have a good event.
I was able to get back on it on Day 2 because now I had an early boat number, and 15-13 later and I slid into fifth place. Then on Day 3 I weighed 15-9 and moved into third place.
Being more than 5 pounds out, I wasn’t even thinking about the win. The funny thing is I never felt stressed out or anxious about it. I had this peace that the timing of everything was in God’s hands, and if everything was going to work out, it would.
I just went fishing on the final day trying to do everything I could to put together a good limit and get as many points in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year standings as possible. Then the bites just happened. I caught a 5-1 early and had some good ones to go with it, and I started to feel good about it.
I lost a 4-pounder midday and really felt bad about my chances then. Late in the day, I was reeling my bait out from a pitch when a good one swirled on it and missed. I glanced down when the fish missed my lure and thought I had seen the tail flick and head back toward the tree.
So, I spun my Falcon Predator around and came back to it. I put my Minn Kota Raptors down and made multiple flips to that tree. At just about the time I was thinking it wasn’t going to happen, I got a bite and set the hook. I weighed it and balanced beamed that one and my smallest fish. The one I just caught was heavier – by 2 ounces.
I went to weigh in and took the lead having 16-14 with two anglers left to weigh. When Andrew Loberg needed 11-10 to tie and 11-11 to win, I figured it was over because he had been on ‘em all week. I couldn’t believe it when his weight hit 11-9. I couldn’t believe I had won.
Emotions rushed through my head and my heart, and I did everything I could to keep it together to tell the story and talk about my week with Dave Mercer. I needed to make sure I let the world know how much my family, my sponsors and my friends were what made this all possible. It was an emotional moment for sure – one I didn’t think was possible or that I deserved.
For the record, I caught a lot of the fish I culled with on a 1/2-ounce green pumpkin Randall Tharp Signature Flipping Jig and Zoom Salty Chunk, a 1/2-ounce Ark tungsten weight with a green pumpkin punch skirt, and a green pumpkin Zoom Z Hog on a Gamakatsu Flipping Hook. I pitched those on my 7-foot, 6-inch heavy Ark Wes Logan Signature Series FAFO Flipping Stick with a Gravity G-7 Reel in 7.3:1 ratio and 22-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon. Each morning, I caught my early limit using a 1/2-ounce Z-Man JackHammer in the spot remover color paired with a ghost shad colored Zoom Shimmer Shad.
I didn’t think this win was going to happen. It just goes to show, when it’s your time, it will happen. You just have to go fishing and let things fall into place. It was a blessed week — one that I will never forget.
