This past weekend I fished a 2 day tournament at Kerr Lake, NC. After a struggle to find quality fish on day 1 I swung for the fences on day 2 and hit a home run.
The event I was fishing was a North Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation Federation tournament. The top 3 boaters and the top 3 non-boaters of this tournament would qualify for a B.A.S.S. Regional Qualifying event at Douglas Lake, Tennessee.
Not only was I fortunate enough to be in the top 3 on the non-boaters side, I actually won the non-boaters side and had the biggest fish and biggest bag of the entire tournament weekend.
I am so humbled to just have the opportunity to be on the North Carolina State Fishing Team. To be able to travel to Tennessee and fish an actual Bassmaster Event is an honor I’ll always cherish. For a long time I’ve been saying people are just fishing for the wrong reasons. This past weekend I fished for the right reasons. I fished hard for 3 days straight trying to find fish, trying to figure out a pattern, a color scheme and reel cadence… something, anything that would give me an edge.
I was paired with a phenomenal boater, Allen White from Clayton, NC. It was a privilege to ride on the back of his coat tails. He put me all over fish the entire weekend. And for that I am very grateful for him. He’s well experienced on that lake and a great young angler that’s making big impact on local tournament trails.
So what’s next for me? Fishing… that’s whats next. I’ll soon begin preparing for the B.A.S.S. Nation event in Tennessee. Over the next 6 months I’ll learn everything I can about the lake and do my best to succeed when I head that way next May.
This is only one leg of the race. If I perform well enough and beat other non-boaters within the state of North Carolina then I’ll have the opportunity to fish the B.A.S.S. Nation Championship the following fall. I am a very long ways off from that… so for now all my focus and attention is on Douglas Lake, Tennessee.
