2018 Bassmaster Elite Series St. Lawrence River Waddington, NY 31st Place 15 fish | 60-00 The Elite Series has visited the St. Lawrence River three times prior to this season, and after starting off strong with a 3rd place finish in 2013, I struggled the next two times, ending up a disappointing 78th and 99th. […]
OD on B.A.S.S. Miss. River
2018 Bassmaster Elite Series Mississippi River La Crosse, Wisconsin 13th Place |15 fish, 48-08 I have a solid history on the Upper Mississippi out of La Crosse, including an Elite Series victory the last time we visited. Unfortunately, reliance on some of that history may have bitten me in this one. I might’ve overthought the […]
OD on B.A.S.S. Lake Travis
2018 Bassmaster Texas Fest Lake Travis Jonestown, Texas 59th Place | 10 fish, 20-07 My first event in my first season on the FLW Tour back in 2007 was on Lake Travis outside of Austin, Texas. The lake was 45 or 50 feet low, and it was early in the season so I used a float […]
OD on B.A.S.S. KY Lake
2018 Bassmaster Classic Kentucky Lake Paris, Tennessee 13th Place | 15 fish, 52-06 I’ve fished about a dozen tournaments at Kentucky Lake over the years, some as late as the fall, but never before June. I’d always heard about the great shallow bite in April and May, with stories about finding 50 bass in every pocket, […]
OD on B.A.S.S. Grand Lake
2018 Elite Series Grand Lake Grove, Oklahoma 77th Place | 10 fish, 26-07 Although I’ve fished two Classics at Grand Lake and done reasonably well in both of them, I’ve never fished a tournament there when the fish were really, really biting. Each time 13 or so pounds a day has been pretty good, and 16 […]
OD on B.A.S.S. – Bassmaster Classic
2018 Bassmaster Classic Lake Hartwell Greenville, South Carolina 6th Place | 15 fish, 42-13 This year’s Bassmaster Classic marked my seventh in a row, and my second time fishing one on Hartwell. I was excited because they’ve moved it back a few weeks, which meant that the fish were likely to be mostly shallow. On top […]
OD on B.A.S.S. – Lake Martin
2018 Elite Series Lake Martin Alexander City, Alabama 13th Place | 15 fish/35-07 Although BASS had visited Lake Martin on multiple occasions in the past, all of those tournaments predated my time on the tour. Nevertheless, I’d done some research into the fishery and I felt pretty certain that limits wouldn’t be hard to come […]
OD on B.A.S.S. – AOY Championship Mille Lacs
2017 Elite Series Angler of the Year Championship Mille Lacs Lake Onamia, Minnesota 34th Place | 15 fish, 52-05 I entered the Angler of the Year Championship without a lot to fish for except pride. No matter where I finished, I couldn’t rise higher than 4th in the AOY race or drop below 9th. That freed […]
OD on B.A.S.S. – St. Clair
2017 Elite Series Lake St. Clair Macomb County, Michigan 21st Place | 15 fish, 58-08 Throughout multiple visits to Lake St. Clair with both BASS and FLW, the lake had always been a thorn in my side. I think in my best tournament I finished in the high 40s, and that was when the bite was […]
OD on B.A.S.S. Champlain
2017 Elite Series | Lake Champlain | Plattsburgh, NY 7th Place | 15 fish, 55-07 Coming off a 99th place finish at the St. Lawrence, it would’ve been easy to get depressed about losing my lead in the AOY race, but as odd as it might sound it allowed me to fish more relaxed at the next tournament. […]