I fished a Skeeter only tourney tourney back in 2002 up in Lake Erie. I was walking down the path passing the boats and I see this dude with sunglasses and his arms crossed, leaning up against his boat with a smirk on his face watching everyone walk by. People would occasionally come by and ask him questions and he wouldn’t look at them, he would answer their questions while staring out in space. Thought it was odd. I later turned to a guy and asked who this guy was...he said that’s Joe Thomas. I said never heard of him. Alton Jones was there the next year at the same tourney and he couldn’t have been a nicer human being. Introduced us to his wife and kids one by one. Stark difference in personalities between those 2 people.
Alton Jones won the tourney and so did Joe Thomas the year before. Joe took out a local guide and caught a 7 lb 2 oz smallie. I stood right by him when he weighed it in. He did win a skeeter boat and donated it back to the tournament. So I guess I changed my opinion about him pretty instantly.
Alton Jones won the tourney the next year with his young son...pretty impressive. We ended up third place that year and Alton Jones daughter drew our name out of a hat and we won a brand new 19’ skeeter. My partner was Rick Lapoint, the Table Rock guide. I bought Ricks Half of the boat from him.