My Flw Experience

[derekburleson]

I got the opportunity to fish the FLW last week as a co-angler, and even though it didn't end up turning out like I wanted it to on the fishing end, it was a great experience regardless.

Wendesday nights pre-tournament meeting was like walking into a who's who of bass fishing. Gary Yamamoto, Roland Martin, Jason Christie, David Fritts were just a few of the pros I sat by. Irwin Jacobs, the CEO of FLW, spoke for about 20 minutes, which apparently he rarely does. He talked a lot about wanting the pros to talk up their sponsors at every opportunity. Harping a lot on how important they are to the sports success. He also talked about how he just got back from a week in China. How they want to be like the U.S. when it comes to tournament fishing. How he wants to help globalize the sport. But China has a long way to go, where it's apparently illegal to pull boat down the road on a trailer. Afterwards, met up with my day one pro, Joe Don Setina from Texas.

Thursday, I think we were boat 112, and about 110 of the boats in front of us ran north to the clear water, where we were headed. I've been in a number of pro boats and been through several takeoffs, but that one Thursday had me gripping the "Oh sh** handle" on that Ranger to the point of cramps in my forearm. Like a NASCAR race on the water. We fished around Big Clifty all day, except for a little bit by the the Sail boat club. Is that Lost Bridge south? My pro threw an a-rig and wiggle wart in the back of creeks all day long. That afternoon, we just kept cycling through the same 3 creeks, looking for his fish that were biting in practice. He ended up with 5 keepers. I ended up with 2: a barely legal largemouth and a barely legal spot. Caught mine on a shaky head with a 4' Keitech and a shad rap.But, we were 3 minutes late to check-in, so my 2-11 got zeroed and his 8 pounds got knocked down to 5. Oh well. Got to walk across the stage and weigh in my fish before they were zeroed! Still a great day and I had some confidence I would catch at least a couple more keepers Friday.

Friday I was paired with Billy McDonald from Indiana. Super nice guy, but he kind of struggled Thursday and planned to just "go fishing" Friday. He too, was fishing in the "Cliftys". He threw the a-rig about 90% of the time on windy points, picking up 3 keepers throughout the day. I chucked that thing all day too, thinking 5 chances at a bite are better than one. Somehow I couldn't connect with a single green fish. Several white bass and a 6-7 pound striper, but that was it!

In the end, I zeroed. Frustrating on one hand, but I got to live a dream for a few days that a lot of folks don't get to experience. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Plus, I got paired with two very nice, down to earth pros who let me fish. And if you've ever been in the back of the boat in tourneys like that, you know that's not always the case.

All in all, a great time, but the competitor in me was definitely left wanting more.

[kjackson]

That was a nice report; thanks.

[J-Doc]

Cool report. Thanks for sharing! I too want to do this one day. Just for the fun of it and to get a taste of how the big tournament world is. After that.....I'm done. Just one time for me. :-). Too expensive to do it often.

[Guest]

Its funny how you can catch numbers of short fish but still zero as a co-angler.

That might appear like you had a tough day to people reading the stat sheet.

Its tough to catch any legal fish behind a pro.

So, I can empathize with all the co-anglers who zeroed.

I know what you mean by "nascar racing".

The same kinda thing happened to me at Pickwick in 2007.

I view that type of driving as hazardous and dangerous, but its part of the pro experience for some.

It got real scary when there was a 30 min fog delay on day 3, only to run into dense fog 2 miles from the blast off.

At least, that pro slowed down and pulled over as other boats were screaming by in very heavy fog.

You could hear them coming but couldn't see them until the began to pass about 15 yards away.

Fast boats and thick fog make for a nightmare scenario.

Honestly, I would rather hire a quality guide vs fishing as a co-angler.

[jeb]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Sorry it didn't go a little better for you, but maybe you'll get 'em next year.

[Versatile Futurian]

Great report. Really enjoy hearing ppl's experiences on the water with the best in the world. Thanks for sharing

[Champ188]

Too bad your first-day partner wasn't responsible enough to make it back on time. Good grief, it's a 27,000-acre lake and he was only 12 miles or so from Prairie Creek at Sailboat or the Clifty's. Not like he was making a 2-hour run and misjudged it or got caught in a river lock.

[fishinwrench]

That's kinda what I was thinking, champ.

A "Pro" Tournament Angler with 5 in the box is not late for weigh-in. LOL

[Quillback]

Thanks for sharing that. Interesting that most of them headed for the clear water, I always heard if you want to win a tourney on Beaver you need to fish the river arms, but maybe they are chocolate milk with runoff?

[Jerry Rapp]

what is sad is that the guys who did good mostly relied on the chandelier. Blauket did great on day 1, and then fizzled, he did not use it. I have been beat in little tournaments 3 or 4 times in the last year with guys throwing it. I won't do it anymore. I will fish a few derbies in May and June maybe when a topwater bite exists. I did have a fun day today. Kruger and I fished a 100 acre lake from 9 to 2. Two 13 inch crappie, 30+ smallish bass on flukes, and a ton of sunfish on Road Runners and crappie tubes. I have never seen a sunfish bite like today. They were in attack mode. They would keep biting until they totally ate it. Nothing over 5 inches, but on micro lights they were fun. Water temp was 59.