2018 Bassmaster Elite Series Angler of the Year Championship Lake Chatuge, GA Hiawassee, GA 18th Place | 15 fish, 33-10 Normally I don’t pre-practice for Elite Series events, but in this case I made an exception because I figured there’d be a chance I’d be in the running for the Angler of the Year title and […]
OD on B.A.S.S. Lake Oahe
2018 Bassmaster Elite Series Lake Oahe Pierre, South Dakota 34th Place | 15 fish, 31-12 Prior to this tournament I’d never been to Lake Oahe. In fact, I’d never stepped foot or made a cast in the state of South Dakota. Nevertheless, I was excited for this event to start. The very limited information that was […]
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. – Sabine River
2018 Bassmaster Elite Series Sabine River Orange, Texas 14th Place | 15 fish, 28-00 The Sabine River has never really been my friend, and with changing rules about where we could and couldn’t fish, I broke my cardinal rule and pre-fished before the place went off-limits. With the changes to the playing field, there was one […]
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. 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. […]