TBT 9/15 Fishing friends, family and idols

[jim m]

one of my memories is sitting on the bank fishing with my father at the mouth of prarrie creek and white river, now at the bottom of beaver lake

[Browning Guy]

 

2 hours ago, Donna G said:

Nope.  Guess again.

Steven Scott.  He used to do the PPA when it was still alive. I was a marshal for three days when they came to TR.  Lake was at 928 ish that week and I was fortunate to draw two top five anglers and one was Mike McClelland.  It was a neat experience. 

[Browning Guy]

4 minutes ago, BrowningCollector.com said:

 

Steven Scott.  He used to do the PPA when it was still alive. I was a marshal for three days when they came to TR.  Lake was at 928 ish that week and I was fortunate to draw two top five anglers and one was Mike McClelland.  It was a neat experience. 

PAA - Professional Anglers Association fat fingered to get to PPA.  I think that PAA eventually morphed into Major League Fishing.  The PAA drew a lot of big names, but never really got off the water, so to speak.  Watching how efficient those guys were was amazing.  They didn't mess around and they made EVERY cast count.  McClelland made the same cast over and over and over and over in one spot for close to 5-6 hours and caught very few fish, but the fish he ended up with on the final day was good for a 20 lb sack.  He thought he had it won, but King brought in 21 and change.  I think McClelland only culled two times if memory serves. We only moved twice and right back to his original spot.  He told me he needed a break from the same cast. Interesting to watch.

Side note..... Mark Menedez put his Skeeter on top of an island/point in front of Chateau as he was coming from State Park early in the morning coming in getting ready for take off.  He wasn't hurt and enough boaters got together and pulled his boat off.  He still made it to take off. McClelland fished Central Pro-Am for a short time early on when Ernie had it.  I fished co-angler for 5-6 years back then. We talked a lot about that and found we grew up around the same friends and on TR at the same time in our lives.  Sorry Donna, didn't mean to hijack your thread, just took me back to the "old days".  Thanks for sharing the photos.  

[Chunk Rock]

Mark Davis

[m&m]

Gerald Swindle

Mike

[Donna G]

6 hours ago, Map Guy said:

How about Marty Stone

Nope.  Hint, the WBT gals called him Lurch.  Don't know why. Never knew his real name until I saw him on TV in the last few years.

[Champ188]

Bingo, BrowningCollector. That's Steven (Lurch) Scott during a Women's Bassmaster Event a few years back on Lake Dardanelle.

[Donna G]

6 hours ago, BrowningCollector.com said:

PAA - Professional Anglers Association fat fingered to get to PPA.  I think that PAA eventually morphed into Major League Fishing.  

McClelland fished Central Pro-Am for a short time early on when Ernie had it.  I fished co-angler for 5-6 years back then. We talked a lot about that and found we grew up around the same friends and on TR at the same time in our lives.  Sorry Donna, didn't mean to hijack your thread, just took me back to the "old days".  Thanks for sharing the photos.  

I knew what you meant.  Have enjoyed watching the PAA tournament coverage on TV in the past.

We consider Mike a friend and bought our Champion from him that we had prior to our Ranger.  I still have the Mercury cap he signed for me prior to my first WBT derby. I believe that was 2006. He lived around the corner from us in Bella Vista.  We went over there one evening for the express purpose of getting a "good luck" cap signed.  He and his brother, Shannon,we're preparing for a tournament and were working on tackle.  I noticed Shannon tying an unfamiliar knot that got me curious.  I'm not very scientific and half blind.  I tie a Palomar on everything.  Easy to do with cold and / or wet hands and old eyes.  Turns out he was tying a Palomar, but wasn't doubling his line to start.  He would go in the eye of the hook like he was threading a needle and then turn the line around and go back through, still making the beginning loop.  I loved it, thinking it had to be much easier than forcing doubled stiff or thin line through a hook eye. Been doing it ever since.  Champ188 is stubborn so he still squints and cusses and pinches his doubled line as hard as he can to push it through.  I've tried telling him that if a young fella like Shannon wasn't ashamed to do it, he shouldn't be either...and he'd get back in the water sooner.  lol

Mike's oldest boy, Justin, used to mow our yard.  How's that for TBT.  Now he's fishing the B.A.S.S. Opens.  Oh, and Mike and Justin witnessed me catching my first Zara Spook fish on Lake Windsor in Bella Vista.  Mike was practicing for an upcoming tournament working with swim baits.  Champ188 was teaching me how to walk a Spook.  Caught a 5lb LM off a point right in front of him. 

[Donna G]

7 hours ago, BrowningCollector.com said:

 Sorry Donna, didn't mean to hijack your thread, just took me back to the "old days".  Thanks for sharing the photos.  

You didn't hijack anything.  You were remembering your time fishing with Mike and that fits in to the TBT theme.  I bet it was really something to observe.  Hard to concentrate on your own fishing when watching the pros.  I always wanted to draw Dave Barker when we were fishing CPAA, but no luck.  I did get some exciting draws in CPAA and BFL, like Jim Eakins and Jacob Powroznik in FLW.  I was awestruck watching Jim and Jacob flip/pitch beds that were really hard to get to.

[Champ188]

6 hours ago, Donna G said:

I did get some exciting draws in CPAA and BFL, like Jim Eakins and Jacob Powroznik in FLW.  I was awestruck watching Jim and Jacob flip/pitch beds that were really hard to get to.

She'd be even more awestruck every weekend except that I keep my awesomeness turned down so that I don't catch every single fish out from in front of her.

(I'll be here all week, folks.)