Between Guntersville and Clark's Hill

This past week has been a very welcomed and necessary week off. Got a chance to rest up, and have some fun with the family. I got Mason his very first bait cast set up and gave it to him during the Guntersville tournament. He practiced and practiced with it, and after the tournament Mason and I went and fun fished on Guntersville together. We had a ball, and caught a lot of fish. Mason got to break in his new rod and reel, and he caught a 6 ½ lber with it, his best yet! It was a great moment, and I am so proud of him.

On Friday we were in Birmingham for the Mark’s Outdoors tournament on Lay Lake. That store is so cool, it has everything you could ever want for fishing. Friday night I got to meet fans and do some promotional stuff. On Saturday we fished the big event, which had 500 boats. This tournament is a random partner event, so I fished with a young guy and had a lot of fun. Before take off at this event, each boat is handed a bag of Florida strain fingerlings that are to be dumped out at the first fishing hole of the day. It’s a really cool deal, and I think this tournament has helped Lay Lake to become the fishery that it is today. The tournament, as fun as it was, didn’t come without its share of frustration. When it was time for us to head back to weigh in, I did a final check on our fish. We had 5 fish in the box, that weighed about 15 ½ lbs. However, when I checked them before we took off, our biggest fish was dead and floating. There was no reason for it to be dead, ran the recirc all day and took good care of them. This time of year is just more stressful for the fish than other times of the year. We ended up weighing in only 4 fish, and missing out on some money. If I would have known that fish was dead I could have culled it out with a 2 ½ lber, because we caught tons of fish that size, but by the time we found out that fish was dead it was too late. It was still a fun tournament, and I’m happy to be a part of it.

After the weigh in we headed out for Clark’s Hill. We rolled in at about 3 a.m. Sunday morning, and, needless to say, spent all Sunday resting. Historically, Clark’s Hill has been pretty tough, but I’m still going to aim high. I’m looking for a top 30 finish, and won’t be satisfied with anything less.