I'm in Little Rock, but My Heart is in Joplin

I made it through practice here in Little Rock. The heat has been overwhelming, but I feel good about things. It was a decent practice for the first couple of days anyway. Day 3 was a little rough, I am hoping that the tournament will fish like the first 2 days of practice. I am planning on locking down, I have a little spot that I found that if nobody beats me to it, should be pretty good. It is loaded with fish, and I say fish, not bass, because it has everything. You can catch a 3 pound bass and on the next cast catch a 10 pound drum. These fish on the river all like the same type of areas, so if you pull up on a spot and catch a drum right off the bat, it is a good idea to stick around for a bit and see what else is there and willing to bite.

This week the pressure has really been on. I have to perform well this time out, not only for our livelihood, but to make the classic and have an opportunity to fish next year. To put it mildly, I am nervous about this one. The plus side, though, is that this event is my kind of event. Power fishing shallow stained water.

During the break we had a lot of things going on. Unfortunately, I didn't get to go fishing with Wayne Simien, but hopefully that will transpire at another time. I really didn't get to do nearly as much fishing as I had hoped, but I feel like I had something more important to do. When the tornado hit Joplin, it was just too close to home for us. I felt like I had to do something, and honestly all I did was send an e-mail and make a couple of phone calls and I had a team of people and a garage full of tools and supplies to truck down to Joplin! It was awesome, and none of us did it for the media attention. Honestly, the guys from the KC Chiefs that came and helped out told me that they would prefer it if the media didn't take notice. We all just wanted to help out our neighbors. All of the pictures and videos of the damage really don't do the Joplin tragedy justice. To understand and grasp the devastation in Joplin, you really had to be there and see it for yourself. The whole event was very powerful and moving, and it really puts things into perspective.

For this week, I am pulling for a top 25 finish. Really, I would like a win, but I would settle for anywhere in the top 25. And, if i can do that next week too, I think I will make the classic. It might be a tall order, but I think that I can pull it out, even with the pressure on the way that it is.