The Bass Fishing Bachelor (and his best girl)

So I admit it. I watch The Bachelor. Sometimes. I never watched any reality shows until Byron made his debut in the genre back in...when was that? Three years ago? Wow, hard to believe.

But since then the lovely woman that Byron chose (pictured above with her man and bass angler Chuck Economou) has become one of my best chicas. Mary Delgado is a gem.

I remember the first time I ever saw Mary (in person). We were at the competitor meeting for the first BASS event of the 2005 season and she was there with Byron. I was looking forward to meeting her, but I have to admit that I was a little incredulous that this glamourpuss would really want to hang in the bass fishing world. Since then I've gotten to know MaryDiva (as I call her) and she is the real deal. She only LOOKS like a glamourpuss. In reality (and I mean the real reality, not the "reality" you see on primetime) she can hang with the best of the bass fishing crowd and is as genuine as the day is long.

So tonight I'm watching the After the Final Rose episode of this season's Bachelor and was so pleasantly surprised to see Byron and Mary make a guest appearance. And my girl was representing. I was so proud to hear her say "I've fallen in love with the sport of fishing." In fact, both of them talked about fishing for most of thier time on air.

After they left the stage and the high drama of the show continued, I was amused when I saw another familiar face in a crowd reaction shot.

First, you gotta know that the ratio of men to women in that audience was about 1 to 10,000. And most of the women there looked gorgeous.

So who is in the audience but Ish Monroe! I have to wonder if he was there auditioning for the next cycle of the show, or to check out all the pretty girls. Nah, not Ishama...I'm sure he was just there to support Byron and Mary. (right)

Bass, money, Clunn, et al

Speaking of Bass Times, this month they ran an article called “Green concentrated at the top.” It’s all about how the top anglers in the Elite Series brought home some serious cake this year. For instance, Skeet headed west with $429,250 in his change jar and Kevin VanDam deposited $404,050 in Sherry’s account. Steady Freddie Roumbanis gathered a nest egg of $381,650 and get this – Peter T has made $735,000 in the past two years.

Now remember these numbers are Bassmaster Elite Series winnings only…no sponsor ching factored in.

There were a few eyebrow raising facts in the article as well. Like “Longest In-The-Money Streaks.” Of course, KVD leads that gang with 10 consecutive money finishes, but lurking back in the 6th position is Cliff Pace with a streak of 6. You have to watch out for those guys that tend to stay below the radar. Pace had a good year and that can position an angler for a great season next year.

But the thing about all those facts, figures and dollar signs that stayed with me for the rest of the day after I read the story was this. On the BASS All Time Money List Rick Clunn is still holding his third place spot behind KVD and Denny.

BASS ALL TIME MONEY LIST
1. Kevin VanDam   $2,604,000
2. Denny Brauer    $2,218,000
3. Rick Clunn        $1,856,000

Now think about that. Both KVD and Denny have won major events in the era of the sport of Bass fishing where purses are popping. Clunn on the other hand made most of his mark over a period of the sport when a win might get you a $28K and the Classic (which he won 4 times) paid $40,000.

Note that the Boyd Duckett took home over $500,000 in the 2007 Bassmaster Classic and his career earnings are just $30,000 short of a cool million. After one year of fishing at the Elite level!

So I think Rick’s accomplishments stand in a league of their own. I mean a "Whew! How'd He DO That?" league. Of course, most fans of the sport would agree with me. What would he have earned if the purses he won back in the day had been of the gigantic proportions they are today?

BASS Times musings

Got my BASS Times for the month. I love the day when BASS Times comes in. I’m excited to pour over it and see the stories that the gang down in Celebration have been working on.

I have a method for going through the pub. I scan through first for the big photographs. BASS Times usually comes to me at work, so I rarely ever have the time to read it right away. Still I love to flip through and see the pictures, before I put it away to read later.

When I get the time (eating a sandwich at my desk, etc) to read it I am almost always delighted to read of some regular, All-American angler out there going about his life, doing his best to provide three squares for his kids but at the same time doing something good for this sport. I love the stories about the Federation Nation and what they do for their communities and fisheries. And I also like to look through the Federation and Weekend Series results in the back of the mag….I’m just interested in how many fish people are catching in different parts of the country.

I tell you all of this because I consume most of my news media on the internet. I love the speed at which I can find an answer to a question about fishing online. I enjoy the vibrant online communities where anglers from all over the country discuss what’s going on in their neck of the woods.

Yet, I still love fishing magazines. There’s something about holding the paper in your hand and being able to bring an incredible photograph closer to your face to examine some detail. It’s just different when you’re not looking at an image filtered through electronics.

I even like to look at the ads. Let’s face it – when you see an ad on the internet your mind might register what you are seeing and then, if you’re really interested, you might click through to find more information. Which is a great and wonderful thing about the internet. But when you see an ad in a print publication that really grabs your attention you tend to study it. Again, maybe you bring the magazine closer to get a better look.

I really did that with an ad in BASS Times for the Plano Flipsider tacklet box ad that KVD in which KVD is featured. Then the magazine sat on my desk, open to that page, and I glanced over at it once in while. It made me wish I was spending that gorgeous fall day out on the water instead of sitting behingf a desk.

So I tell you all this because even though I am in internet fiend, I still think magazines and newspapers are important.

Do you? I would be really interested to hear your (honest and candid) thoughts.

Angler of the Year celebration

LATER THAT SAME NIGHT....

Kim Reese threw a party for her husband to celebrate his angler of the year win. It was a great gathering of Skeet's friends honoring him. Skeet spoke to the crowd about how much this season meant to him, and there was a lot of love in the room.

The highlight of the evening was when Bassmaster Elite Series pro Casey Ashley gave a concert for Skeet and the crowd. Casey definitely has skills. Look for him to go far...in fishing and in music.
Casey sang a Kid Rock song called "Only God Knows Why." If you've never heard this song, you should check it out. The lyrics say a lot. Especially about people who spend the majority of their time on the road. There were many wet eyes in the crowd. This blogger among them.

Skeet Reese Angler of the Year

Skeet finally did it. He clinched the Angler of the Year title today at Lake Toho in Kissimmee, Florida. I spoke to Skeet not long ago and he was ready to bring the trophy home. Today he did it.

I promised pictures of the ladies in Skeet's life. I think you can see how proud Kim is of her husband.


And the photo here says everything about how Skeet feels about his daughters.

Congratulations, Skeeter. You did it.

Steve Kennedy's Heavyweight titles

Steve Kennedy took home two BASS Heavyweight belts last night at the year end banquet for the Bassmaster Elite Series. Heavyweight belts are given to all anglers who caught over 100 lbs of fish in a tournament during the season. Steve also got a belt in the '06 season, so he holds the most titles on tour.

His wife, Julia couldn't be prouder.

Angler of the Year production

We interviewed Jared Lintner for the Angler of the Year show (which will air after this weekend's event on Toho. We also interviewed Skeet Reese and Kevin VanDam....it was interesting to say the least.

Here are three guys at very different places in their careers. KVD talked about how winning a title in no way diminishes his desire to win again. He won the AOY title in his first year on tour - 1992. Then again in 1996 and 1999. But I can tell you from firsthand experience, the guy wants to win it again. He's got quite a task in front of him to take home the trophy this year. Skeet would have to stub a major toe. I have spoken before about what a positive attitude KVD has and that attitude was in evidence today. He absolutely beleives he can win AOY. It inspires me to listen his tenacity. And it makes me want to work harder at what I do.

Skeet, on the hand, is Manwich hungry to win this title. I talked to him a week or so ago while he was still at home in Cali, and I knew his resolce was firm. After interviewing him today, I can tell you nothing has changed. He put it all on the line when he said, "This isn't about sponsors, or fans, or even my family. This is about me achieving a dream I have had since I first became aware of professional fishing. I have always wanted to win Angler of the Year."

Then there's Jared Lintner, who sits in third going into this event. It's his second year on the Elite Series and he's a California boy who has never set foot on a Florida lake. In fact, he's never seen most of the lakes on the Elite Series. Yet here he sits. The former milkman. Humble, a little uncomfortable with where he's at, a lot nervous about doing a television interview....but confident that his versatity as an angler has been proven.

It's going to be a great event.

Bass fishing vacation

Skeet, Kim, and Leah Reese at the '06 Classic (Courtney's in there too!)

I'm a big fan of the Reese family. The picture above was taken at the '06 Classic when Skeet and Kim were expecting baby Courtney. She's toddling around right now in northern California and probably has no idea that her Daddy is in contention to win Angler of the Year.

With almost a two week break between the Bassmaster Legends event and next week's final Bassmaster Elite Series event at lake Toho, I wondered what Skeet had been doing to occupy his time. So I gave him a jingle.

"I've been in the gym and in the office taking care of a little business," he said. "But mostly I've been spending time with my girls."

Skeet's quite the ladies man.....his three ladies of course.

He flies out tomorrow for Florida and he's chomping at the bit to get down there and get started.

If the statisticians are correct, Skeet has to finish 35th or higher to feel safe about winning Angler of the Year. I have no idea how these guys figure this out with the point system the way it is, but they are usually right. He told me that he was anticipating a roller coaster of emotions.

"If I win I'll probably cry like a baby and scream like a mad man."

But he's spent his off time relaxing and I think he's mentally ready. In fact, I don't think I've ever heard him so resolved.

Bassmaster Legends side trip

I had the privilege of accompanying some Elite Series anglers to the Arkansas Children's Hospital today. What a great experience to see these guys spend a few hours making some kids smile. The Angel Anglers rock.


Alton Jones pulled little two year old Christopher around in his wagon.


Skeet had Miss Whitney charmed.


Chris Lane was the piano man.

I wrote a story about the visit for ESPNoutdoors.com. These guys are my heroes.

Bassmaster Dardanelle Course History

In 2004 Dardanelle was host to the first Bassmaster Elite 50 event. It was held in May, so the conditions were very different, but I kept my notes from the last two days when the anglers fished on the course in Illinois Bayou.

Here's how each section of the course broke down in terms of how many fish were caught, when they were caught and in which section they were caught.

HOLE 1
10:00 -11:20 - 4
11:20 - 12:40 -0
12:40 - 2:00 - 3
2:00 - 3:20 - 0
3:20 - 4:40 - 3
4:40 - 6:00 - 1
TOTAL - 11 FISH

HOLE 2
10:00 -11:20 - 4
11:20 - 12:40 -0
12:40 - 2:00 - 4
2:00 - 3:20 - 3
3:20 - 4:40 - 1
4:40 - 6:00 - 0
TOTAL - 12 FISH

HOLE 3
10:00 -11:20 - 3
11:20 - 12:40 -0
12:40 - 2:00 - 0
2:00 - 3:20 - 0
3:20 - 4:40 - 3
4:40 - 6:00 - 1
TOTAL - 7 FISH

HOLE 4
10:00 -11:20 - 3
11:20 - 12:40 - 1
12:40 - 2:00 - 1
2:00 - 3:20 - 1
3:20 - 4:40 - 3
4:40 - 6:00 - 4
TOTAL - 13 FISH

HOLE 5
10:00 -11:20 - 0
11:20 - 12:40 -0
12:40 - 2:00 - 2
2:00 - 3:20 - 0
3:20 - 4:40 - 0
4:40 - 6:00 - 1
TOTAL - 3 FISH

HOLE 6
10:00 -11:20 - 2
11:20 - 12:40 -6
12:40 - 2:00 - 3
2:00 - 3:20 - 1
3:20 - 4:40 - 1
4:40 - 6:00 - 1
TOTAL - 14 FISH

So looking at the map and with these stats in hand, what does that tell us about this lake? Why were Holes 6, 4 and 2 the strongest? (Scroll down or click for a zoomable map of the Bassmaster Elite Series at Lake Dardanelle.)

I welcome your comments. I'd really like to know what can be determined by looking at the map alone. (PS - I thnk the railroad bridge in Hole 6 was a key?)

Bassmaster Elite Series at Dardanelle

The Bassmaster Elite Series will be at Lake Dardanelle next week. I went through some notes from the 2004 Elite 50 event at Dardanelle and found some interesting information that I want to put out there. But first, here's the lake.

Bottom Line Bass

I had a conversation with someone recently in which they bemoaned the fact that ESPN did not run the Bassmaster Elite Series results on the Bottom Line (you know the sports ticker that runs at the bottom of the screen). The thing is - that is not a fact.

I am not the type of sports fan that rushes to ESPN after being out all day to catch the ball scores or any other sports news on the Bottom Line, although I am surrounded by people who do just that. So when I mentioned this person's observation in idle conversation, those self-same, co-worker-sports-fanatics were quick to tell me it was mistaken. Then Sunday morning, I paid attention to the Bottom Line and sure enough there it was....."Skeet Reese leads the Capitol Clash on the Potomac River...." It even gave the Angler of the Year standings.

I don't know when it typically runs, but I'm told it's a regular when a tournament is going on.

By the way, apparently you can get the Bottom Line delivered straight to your PC. If you're an over-the-top sports fan of the stick and ball OR hook and bullet variety - this seems like the ticket.

Alton Jones

Just read a blurb on ESPN Outdoors where they ask the anglers 3 questions about the Potomac tourny. One of the questions is "What does today mean for your season?" Here's Alton Jones answer.

Today is the same as every other day of the year. If you don't make the Classic, you can't blame the last day any more than the first. There are days you wish you had capitalized on, but it's not fruitful to think too much about that. I won't think about it until I come to weigh-in.

I love his way of thinking about this. When an angler is trying to qualify for a year end championship, whether it's at the club level or higher, it's easy to put pressure on yourself towards the end of the season to qualify. But Alton's right - the fish he caught or didn't catch in May is just as important as the one he catches or doesn't catch today. They have to fish with intensity all through the season.

I just can't imagine how these guys go out in March and fish with an intensity they can sustain until September.

Peter T and Nick

I love it when men aren't afraid to hug another man in celebration. Peter T gave his son Nick a bear hug on stage. And if you've ever seen Pete you know that he gives new meaning to the idea of a bear hug.

I'm pretty sure Nick is used to them.
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Dave Wolak needed wind

As he waited to weigh in, Dave Wolak knew he didn't have the weight to win. I think he almost dreaded going on stage after all the drama with Peter T and Kennedy. I felt bad for him. But hey....he's fishing in the finals for $250,000 in a no entry fee event. Life could be worse.

He said he needed the wind to blow this morning to get close to his incredible 22 lb bag he brought tp the scales yesterday.
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Bassmaster Memorial

I forgot that Peter T won the Bassmaster Memorial last year in Ft Worth. And today ensured that he would be the only angler to ever hold the Memorial trophy over his head.

By ONE ounce.
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Peter T says his day was fair

He knows he's close to the winner's circle but Peter T described his day today as only "fair." He says it definitely wasn't as good s yesterday but he doesn't know why. He caught them on a Zoom Super Fluke both days on the outside edges of grass lines 6 - 10 feet of water. He thinks he has 18 lbs. I'm headed over to the stage to see if that's enough to win.
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Steve Kennedy is not sure

Kennedy knows that he and Peter T are close and he was regretting the loss of a 5 pounder earlier in the day. He said he broke 65 lb braid today. Then he got on a swimbait pattern. He was excited about catching a 3 and a half pouind smallie on a swimbait. "I knew they'd hit it but to get one to eat it was fun"
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Murray's smallies

John Murray caught two nice brown fish on Onondaga today. Which was a surprise for him. He caught a half a dozen smallmouth but 2 were back to back and over three pounds. When I was at his boat he was encouraging BASS officials to "lock this lake in for next year."

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Jared Lintner's Heartbreak

Jared was kind of down in the mouth as waited backstage to weigh in. He broke off a 7 at the boat today and in general didn't have a great hook up-to-livewell ratio. "I lost more fish today than I've lost in the last two years," he said.

His heartbreak will soon be forgotten however as his wife Kerri was due to deliver their third child 5 days ago. He's flying home to California tomorrow and will be there for the birth. Lucky dog.
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Backstage with Dean Rojas

Dean doesn't think he has enough to win but says he caught a couple on the Dean Rojas Spro BronzeEye frog. He caught all his fish on a frog during qualifying on Oneida Lake but yesterday all his fish came flipping a Jungle Beaver. Dean loves to fish the frog so he was happy to catch a few on the TV day with his favorite technique.
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James Overstreet

My favorite photographer, James Overstreet, tells me he has taken "the best photograph I've ever taken at a BASS event" here at the Bassmaster Memorial. He says it is a picture of Dean Rojas catching a fish. I can't wait to see the ESPN photo gallery later today to see what the photo is like. Because Overstreet takes incvredible photographs every week. If he's this excited about a picture from this event it must be special. It will probably be in the Zoom Gallery, which is where all of Overstreet's best photography ends up after the event.
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Unofficial Leaders

Just heard that Steve Kennedy and Peter T are tied for first with 38 lbs. Unofficially.

On the competition days when we have a camera in the boat with each competitor, we can estimate what each angler has in terms of weight. BASS Federation Nation volunteers work all day running tapes in from the water so that the editors back on shore can put together footage to show on the Jumbotron during the weigh in and also put together packages for the Hooked Up internet show.

When an angler catches a fish, the volunteer notes the estimated weight in the field notes that come in with the tapes. Then the guys in the TV truck keeprunning tallies for the unofficial leaderboard you see during the live updates. So there's always lots of buzz around the TV truck as tapes come in and the stories from on the water unfold. It's always fun and pros who didn't make the cut will stop by backstage to see what we've heard. Timmy Horton is back here now.
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Steve Kennedy's practice

I just heard a story about Steve Kennedy that made me want to pull for him even more here at the Bassmaster Memorial.

Evidentally Steve's grandmother died last week. She was 94 years old and on here way to get a manicure and pedicure when she was in a car accident. Those details tell you a lot about a 94 year old woman - that she was still driving and that she was still getting pedicures. I bet she was a pistol.

Anyway, Steve only got one day of practice for this event. And here he is on the final day. I bet Grandma is smiling down right now.

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Baggo at BASS

The TV crew is always busy on the last day of the event because we do live updates to the internet every few hours. But between live shots there is usually a tournament within a tournament going on behind the stage - Baggo tournament that is.

Zona is usually the tournament organizer. Today he was teamed with the Bassmaster Elite Series TV producer, Mike McKinnis. They faced off with hosts - Tommy Sanders and Jerry McKinnis.

Baggo is a bean bag toss game, incase you're unfamiliar with it. You play to a score of 21. Today's tournament went 6 games with McKinnis/Sanders taking the championship.

Baggo is taken very seriously around here. Zona is sulking in a corner right now.
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Bassmaster Memorial Live Blog

Test to see if I can blog from the weigh in via my Blackberry.
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Oneida Elite Series

I am lucky enough to be attending the Oneida Elite Series event this weekend, but at the moment I seem to have lost my camera. So I don't have photos to share yet, but I will update tonight.

The crowds have been fantastic here. We are having the late take offs and late weigh ins and it seems to work so well to let the fans see the pros. There are so many people of all stripes here. It just amazes me that we all share this passion for bass fishing. Yesterday, I saw a woman in her 50's with a temporary tattoo featuring a pink BASS logo and the words "Bass Babe" beneath. You gotta love it.

It made me think of Sportscenter producer Don Barone's recent story and how he described the fans of fishing.

To a man, the pros are impressed with Lake Onondaga. This is a lake that's in the middle of town and it is just full of fish. And what a succes story. Because of polllution the lake was declared unsafe for swimming in 1940. By the 1970s, fishing was banned. Because of mercury contamination, the lake's bottom was listed as a Superfund site in 1994.

York State and the federal government continue to pursue remediation of these sites through the responsible parties. The State initiated a national resources damages claim in 1989.

Now professional anglers from as far away as Florida and California are singing the lake's praises.

I bet you will too when you see this episode of the Elite Series.

UPDATE: I just heard Jerry McKinnis and Jason Quinn say that New York had the finest bass fishing in the world on the 10am edition of Hooked Up on ESPNoutdoors.com. Now that ought to get the pot stirred!

Tim Tucker

YOU WILL BE MISSED

The first interaction I ever had with Tim Tucker was on an internet message board. I had heard of Tim, many stories in fact, and to tell you the truth I was a little scared of him. I was working as a producer on the FLW Tour back then and someone on the internet had found fault with the fact that I was fishing an event as a co-angler. A melee ensued and Tim Tucker came to my defense. I'll never forget that.

Here was this guy that I had heard stories about - the hard boiled writer who was tough as nails and held no quarter for any shenanigans when it came to the sport of bass fishing. And if there were lines drawn in the sand between the supporters of the two leagues in bass fishing, Tim definitely came down on the side opposite which I was standing at the time. Yet he sprang to the defense of a woman he did not know on a public message board known for it's ruthlessness toward anyone who disagreed with the pack.

He was a teddy bear.

We later became fast friends with a mutual respect that was drawn from our interest in and passion for the sport. We shared many laughs, gossiped while waiting for countless weigh-ins to start and celebrated the successes of our friends in the sport - both in front of the cameras and behind. Tim ruffled some feathers along the way, but no one could ever doubt where his heart was. He wanted only the best for the anglers he followed all over the country.

When I got the call today that Tim had passed away, it was like a kick in the stomach. You know, whenever these kinds of tragic events happen, it always occurs to me that none of us ever knows how fast we are hurtling towards the end. In my mind I envision it as an object moving at mach speed, with all the associated fireworks and sound efects, and then coming to an abrupt stop at a brick wall. Where it doesn’t matter that you were late to that last appointment, or that someone dogged you out at the office last week, or that you had a spat with your spouse over something inconsequential, or that you haven’t returned that email you meant to answer. We all race through life. Literally race. And when the end comes, most of the things we are so preoccupied with…..don’t matter.

I know that Tim was head over heals about his twins and that he spent a lot of time with them. He talked about them all the time. He seemed to have mastered the balance of work and life. His kids are around 10 years old so, thankfully, we can hope that his influence on them will be felt throughout their lives.

But at the end of the day, the little stuff really does not matter does it? Most of us will never know when the carousel will stop turning. Or when an ordinary afternoon will turn into a life changing event for the people who love us. It’s an old cliché’ but I think Tim would agree that we all need to take stock of our blessings and make sure the ones we love know the depth of our feelings and why we hold them dear.

I hope he had no regrets. And I’m glad the last words that Tim and I spoke to each other were kind ones.

Update 7/18: A trust fund has been set up for Tim's children. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that we honor Tim's memory with a donation to his children's fund.

Kyle and Rachel Tucker
PO Box 140607
Gainesville, FL 32614-0607


Please feel free to share your thoughts on Tim....

Horton's Web Cam

Tim Horton was so confident that he would win the Lake Champlain Elite Series that he came in at 10:00 this morning (the final day of the tournament) because he didn't want to risk the hour and a half run from the south end of the lake as the weather started to kick up. A gutsy move on his part, but he had a solid lead going into the day and 20+ pounds in the livewell. I have a feeling we will all be talking about this one for a long time. He caught his fish in the first 45 minutes after he arrived.

But the coolest thing is that we can watch all this unfold on the internet. ESPNoutdoors.com has an internet show that comes on several times throughout the final day of the tournament and today we got to hear Jerry McKinnis interview Timmy at the dock at noon. Even cooler, they are leaving a webcam up all day as Timmy sits at the dock waiting for the rest of the boats to check in.

In the screen grab above you can see Timmy at the dock and the guy over on the left is his cameraman, Wes Miller. He's on the phone. Talking to me! What a neat thing...I guess it's the next best thing to being there. I got to say congratulations to Timmy and watch him speak back to me through the internet. Relayed through Wes of course.

Moments later Timmy's wife Melanie and the girls showed up with pizza as you can see above. I know Tim appreciated both of those gestures. The women in his life AND the pizza.

I'll be checking on the web cam periodically not because there is anything particularly exciting to see, but just because I think it's so innovative. Of course, I'll also be watching the race and I have TrackPass, which allows me to listen to the crew radios and see what's up with my favorite drivers throughout the race. I can't wait until technology allows us to have a similar scenario in fishing.

I'll be burning up the broadband between fishing and racing this afternoon. I'm glad I got all my weekend chores done yesterday!

PS - Kudos to Timmy for growing his hair out to donate to Locks of Love. What a kind thing to do.

UPDATE: 12:30 Central Time
So Zona calls me having just gotten home from a shoot (which is the reason he couldn't be at the tournament today) and when I tell him to tune in to the web cam, he immediately wants Wes' phone number so he can call him too. The pic below shows Timmy giving us a shout out when Wes told him Z and I were watching. Okay, I admit it. We're geeks.

Tensaw dreams

My brother-from-a-different-mother, Bob Sanders, has an elegant (in a manly way) blog called Bobventures that can be found here. Bob has fished in both BASS and FLW events, and is a great angler. He would probably be on the Eite Series level if he had been born at a different time and had the opportunities presented the pros these days instead of developing into a business man, and now a genteel, southern farmer.

There's a post there where he described fishing in the Big Salkehatchie River swamp recently and he spoke of the 3 generations of men he knows who have fished there. I loved this post because it reminded me of so many stories I heard from my Daddy while I was growing up.

Daddy is from Baldwin County, Alabama and fished the backwaters of the Mobile Delta as a kid and a young adult. He skulled those bayous for catfish, bream and bass (or what my grandmother called green trout) and was also known to bring home the makings for my grandmother's famous turtle soup. My grandmother could bring home dinner from the creek herself as well.

His fishing outings circumnavigated a convenient loop that included the Tensaw River and the Mobile River which I highlighted below on the map. (You can click the map to make it bigger if you're interested.) I grew up hearing stories about places like Live Oak Landing, the Dog River, Polecat Bay, Doctor Lake and even (unfathomably now) a placename that contains a racial slur. He was known to skip school to fish all day. To think that as a youngster of 14 or 15, my Daddy would get in his little tin boat with a 25 horse motor and stay out all day in that swamp seems remarkable now. I doubt my teenaged nephews could do. No, I KNOW my nephews could not do it.

I would love to be brave enough to fish that loop today. But I would most likely find myself lost in a swamp and carried off by mosquitoes before I found my way out.

What does this have to do with professional bass fishing? Not much, other than the idea that everyone starts somewhere and I would be willing to bet almost every angler earning a living by fishing today has a story of how they got started in the sport that includes tales and memories of their father or uncle or grandfather or even a grandma.

Thanks for reviving that memory, Bob.

Bass fishing on Myspace

I'm surprised at the number of professional anglers who DON'T have Myspace pages. Myspace is a great place to let people, especially young people, get to know more about you. Several pros do have Myspace pages and you can figure out pretty quickly which page is a fan page and which page is actually created by the pro.

Take Kevin Vandam for example (okay, this blog is turning into the KVD fan club but whatever...) Here's his "official" Myspace page. And here's a fan site.

And, going down the current Angler of the Year rankings, here's a Skeet Reese page. I can't tell if this is his official page or note because there is another one just like it. Who knows?

Aaron Martens has a Myspace page. I can't tell if it's really his page or a fan site. But he has me in his top friends, so I think it's probably really him. Plus, his blurb talks about his wife, Lesley, and spells her name right. I guess I could just message him and ask, but I hate to bother. Although it IS social networking right? Key word - SOCIAL?

I love Jason Quinn's page and especially his song. But I really love that his wife has a Myspace page. Taffi rocks. She has great pictures there and blogs a bit about what is going on in the Quinn world. Jason's PARENT's even have a Myspace site. Whatchawannabet that Taffi designed it?

Mark Zona even has a Myspace page. I like his interactive map widget that shows where his friends are located.

I searched Myspace for FLW Tour anglers, but I couldn't find any profiles. Not sure why.

KVD definitely has the most Myspace "friends" with over 2100. And just glancing through them it seems that the majority are young people. I think it's great that these pros are reaching out to young kids in a network that young people clearly love. Great way to influence them.

Social networking reaches huge numbers of people. And it is a great way to drive traffic to your personal website, if you have one.

BASS World

Playing around with Photoshop tonight. Hey, it's a great world.....

Fantasy Fishing - Woot!

Are you supposed to talk about your Fantasy Fishing team in specifics? I don't know if that's cool in the fantasy sports world, but I'm psyched about my team (and I'm a rookie girl who doesn't play any other fantasy games) so here goes....I may be breaking some secret guy-code-of-honor here.

Let me start by saying that the group I play against is pretty stout. It consists of camera men, editors, graphic designers, writers and the rest of the behind the scenes team from JM Associates who produces the Bassmaster Elite Series for ESPN. As well as the tournament coverage for ESPNoutdoors.com.

These folks spend the day (literally) in the boat with the pros as cameramen or still photographers. Or they spend the day (figuratively) with the pros as editors who screen every second of tape, including the stuff that hits the cutting room floor. Me, I just go the the events, or watch them on the internet, or watch the finished shows. Fortunately Zona, Sanders and McKinnis formed their own fantasy group, so we don't have to compete with them. (Thank goodness)

So I won the last event at Smith Mountain Lake. Woot! I got to rub it in a little to people like Steve Bowman (executive editor of ESPNoutdoors.com and a guy who has been covering the Bassmaster tour for over 20 years in some journalistic capacity). He's usually at the top of the leaderboard in our group and rightfully so. It should be easy as senko fishing for him, right?

And at this week's Grand Lake event, I was in the lead after the second day of competition. I'm also 8 points behind Bowman for the season and he's leading right now. If I hadn't gotten too busy and forgotten to change my roster at one event (in which I tanked in 20th place) I think I would be leading.

My secret? Well, I like to think it's KVD. I've had him on my team since the Classic, but come on.....I figure 75% of the group has him. How can you lose with KVD and isn't it a wash when so many of us have him in our lineup?

I also have Boyd Duckett on my team and I have had him since the Classic as well, so I got him at a low market value. I talked to Boyd before the Classic and knew he felt pretty confident. So now I've got him locked in on my team.

This week I added my friend Jeff Kriet. Along with Wolak and Jeff Reynolds. It was hard to pick for this event, since all the pros were poor-mouthing the bite during practice. I had Timmy Horton AND Davy Hite on the list at one point, but I took them off. I was thinking they might both be able to get on a deep water pattern, but with the pre-tournament reports purveying doom and gloom out deep, I swtiched them out. Dang, if I had kept them on, I would be spanking everybody right now. My entire team woulda been in the Top 12. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.

It's tough to pick your teams, that's for sure. There's no such thing as a sure thing, unless you count KVD but we already went over that.

So the third day's weigh in is over and I'm waiting for the site to update after today's results, but I think I'm sittin' pretty.

I'm feeling pretty sassy right now.

Cool Fishing Spot

As a television professional, I love this commercial.

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Boyd's Blog

Boyd Duckett has a new blog that is very interesting to listen to. He's doing audio blogs and you should check them out if you are interested in professional fishing. This is Boyd's first year fishing the Bassmaster Elite Series and he started strong....by winning the Bassmaster Classic. What a way to hit the ground running.

Boyd's not a rookie. He has fished professionally at the Tour level, but took a few years to get his business to a place where he could spend his time pursuing a professional fishing career. He owns a tank truck leasing company in Demopolis, AL and chances are you've seen one of his silver bullet trucks on the highway.

So now he's juggling a pro fishing career and a thriving and time consuming business. His audio blog will give you a good idea of what it's like to fish the Elite Series.

And, by the way....this incredible shot of Boyd taking his victory lap at the Classic was taken by none other than James Overstreet....see below.

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Great fishing photography

If you haven't discovered ESPNoutdoors.com's Zoom Gallery yet you are in for a treat. Incredible photography from the Bassmaster tournaments. James Overstreet is the guy behind the camera in most of the shots and he knows his f-stops. Peep the pics when you have time.

Overstreet also has a SmugMug site where you can see his photography covering a variety of outdoor subjects. It's a Photo Blog. You can see it here.

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Guntersville Bassmaster Elite

Watched the Guntersville show this morning and I was not disappointed. I think Kevin VanDam showed remarkable restraint when he caught his big fish. I'm sure he wanted to celebrate. But he has a lot of presence of mind when the cameras are rolling. Now ZONA....on the other hand knows no restraint in his analysis. He'll say or do anything.

Terry Scroggins is showing out lately. Big Show finished 4th at Guntersville and then hot footed over to Santee Cooper to win the Southern Open there. Prior to the Guntersville event, his team won the Toyota Texas Bass Classic. It was good to see him win outside the state of Florida, and now that he has that monkey off his back....look out. Which reminds me that I ned to change my fantasy fishing team roster.

Speaking of Big Show and KVD who are both Toyota sponsored anglers, a cool site that everyone should check out is ToyotaFishing.com. I love their video clips. Very well done. And also good to see Toyota activating their sponsorship of the sport. I wonder how much traffic they get....

Activation in an integral element of sponsorship deals. A marketing executive at a major company who sponsors an individual angler told me that he would use the same budget to activate the sponsorship as he paid the angler. That's a good thing for the sport. A strong sponsorship activation means that the brand - and the angler - will receive more impressions. And those impressions are what keep the sport on the minds of the fan. And I am all for more people being involved in fishing. I can't help but think that the people who are involved in this sport, or hobby as the case may be, are enriched because of the participation.

So Toyota is activating. And they have the platform to go big. And they have a team of pros in place that will be hanging out at the top of leaderboards for a long time.

Anybody want to wager on how Big Show will do at High Rock?

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Saturday with no Bassmaster show

This is Kentucky Derby weekend. No Bassmaster Elite Series show. I'm eager for everyone to see the Lake Guntersville show because it's really good. Kevin Van Dam is a hell of a champion and he puts on a clinic.

At Guntersville, I was lucky enough to be invited over to the house where Kevin, Davy Hite and Scott Rook were staying. They were cooking out on the grill and were nice enough to call. Zona and Sanders were there too. There was a lot of talk about the shad spawn. And how quickly viewers of the Bassmaster shows pick up on what the pros are doing. Nothing is a secret in this sport. The avid fans watch everything on slo-mo, I think, clicking through the footage frame by frame to see exactly where the winners are and exactly what they are throwing.

There was lots of talk about fishing , but Kevin never reveals too much about what he's doing. He is a champion on the grill too, I have to say. Kevin might be the most competitive person I know. Jerry McKinnis is a close second. If there were a competition for grilling, Kevin would enter. And win.

Kevin is known to fish very fast. Last weekend, while the TV crew was waiting for the weigh in to start, one of the camera guys was telling me about covering Kevin. He said that it seemed like he was catching them on every cast. His exact words were, "He was just skiing three pounders into the boat and tossing them off the other side. Then he hooked one and everything got realy slow. I knew he had something special."

Here's my take on Kevin. He is without a doubt, the most positive person I know. My personal mantra has become....WWKVDD? What Would KVD Do? Whenever I am challenged by something and feel myself give in to the temptation to whine or complain about something in this fishing business, I literally ask myself that question. I have learned a lot from being his friend.

You can listen to an audio blog of Kevin's Lake Guntersville experience here.

And you can see the Lake Guntersville tournament next Saturday on ESPN2.

Technorati

Trying to figure this out.

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The Iaconelli Kerfuffle

I find it interesting that anything Mike Iaconelli does tends to be such a flashpoint to fans of professional bass fishing. Last weekend at the Lake Guntersville Bassmaster Elite Series event, there was lots of talk about Iaconelli "going Ike" at some point in the tournament. The rumors were abundant.....Ike went off on his truck, broke the window out, threw a fit, embarrassed himself, embarrassed the sport, embarrassed the pros, embarrassed the sponsors.

The funny thing about it was that I never talked to a single person who saw it happen. There were several versions of the story, whispered in the weigh in lines, but oddly.....no one with whom I spoke actually saw the dirty deed.

As the week progressed, the rumors spread. A couple of internet sites discussed it. Everyone had an opinion it seemed. But still, no one could actually say they saw it happen.

I haven't asked Mike about it. I probably won't. We all know that Ike has a temper. (Who doesn't?) In my experience, he just wears his emotions on his sleeve. You usually know what's going on with Ike....there are rarely any secrets as to his mood.

But he takes a lot of unfair criticism, in my opinion. I've seen him get mad. Really mad. I've also seen him light up a room with positive energy. The thing about Ike is that he is completely and utterly comfortable on camera, in a crowd....anywhere. I don't think I've seen him uncomfortable in years. So he is okay with letting anyone anywhere know what's on his mind. Very little censorship. I grudgingly admire that.

When the cameras are rolling, he's on. He's waited for the big time his whole life. He revels in it. But he also feels bad when he makes a mistake. This I know for sure, because I HAVE talked to him about that fact.

But what's really interesting to me is how fans of professional fishing react in such an emotional way to Iaconelli. Compelling to sit back and watch. In fact, I think last weekend there were a few people who actually gleefully repeated the rumors they heard. This was juicy stuff. Was Ike in trouble again? What would happen next? I mean an Iaconelli meltdown has some intrinsic entertainment value for some. (Unless its 5:30am and he's staying next to you when the meltdown occurs.....that's just annoying... and another story entirely)

I have to admit that I even repeated the rumor. (gasp!)

But the stand up guy I repeated it to very pointedly looked me in the eye and asked if I had spoken to anyone who saw it happen. That stopped me in my tracks.

Hmmmmm.

It's easy to believe that kind of rumor about Ike. I regret passing it along. I regret that I accepted it as probable. I hate that I just assumed it was true.

I still don't know what actually happened. Maybe he did go off. Maybe it was just a burst of frustration that turned bad when the CO2 canister on his PFD hit the back window of his truck as he tossed it (fervently) into the cab. But I know a good friend (who I trust) DID speak to Iaconelli about it and it really sounds like something that was blown out of proportion.

I've been covering professional fishing for about 12 or 13 years. I remember early on some little controversy sparking up that worried me to death because people were speaking of some angler in not-completely-positive terms. Another friend who is a huge sports fan and consumer of sports culture shushed me but saying......"You'll know that bass fishing has arrived as a professional sport when people start loving and hating elements of the sport....publicly."

Every other professional sport has it's haters and it's lovers. But the fans are passionate one way or another and eager to express their opinions.

Well, bass fishing has definitely arrived. There are some serious, hard-boiled, passionate fans out there. They love and they hate in equal measure. They even love one day and hate the next. And they're not afraid to let anyone know of their love or hate.

Gotta love the passion.