Bass Caddy Blog

Welp here we go on our first blob for the American Lady Anglers web site. To let all newbees know I have a sick sense of humor and use it often to describe things going on in my life. This day I have been in the rain working on the tournament trailer and getting frustrated at not being able to paint and decorate the inside.  (The wife’s suggestion, of course).  Personally,  I could work from a mud hut,  but with her in the picture,  I would need curtains to match.  Oh well, on with it.  We are working hard to fit and finish all the necessary T- crossing & eye dotting.  I am so excited about all that is going on since the big boys dropped the ladies in the grease.  Just goes to show you that as an adult you can whine and cry and get what you want just like any spoiled brat three year old.

 There are several folks working extremely hard to get trails started for female anglers. For anyone reading this jot down May 5-,8. On these dates there will be a tournament and meeting on Kentucky Lake. Two days of meetings (one before the fishin’ and one after), and two days of fishing in the middle.  Former WBT ladies,  come out and fish, then go to the meeting and vote.   Most of all it’s for all of the former WBT anglers to get together  and have a good time and get caught up on everyone’s lives, something that usually happens during the year along the WBT Tournament Trail.  It just occured to me that I might have to do my own “Presentation” at that meeting -   can’t wait  to see how THAT goes. 

I’m sure that everyone has heard about the new ALA - (nothing to do with the Crimson Tide) it’s the American Lady Anglers.  We’ve been doing all of the organizational stuff, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is. I’m not going to reveal any juicy secrets right here and now, you’ll just have to check back and I will let the cat out of the bag little by little, as the timing is right.  I will tell you one small thing, though.  The ALA has contracted with its first Sponsor.  Drum roll, please!  It’s Sure-Life!  That’s right, the people who invented and made the best biochemical livewell additive for fish and water care.  Its new Catch-and-Release formula is the only livewell formula that prevents the spread of disease, combats stress, stimulates the immune response, and addresses water quality issues - IN A SINGLE FORMULATION!  It also has added products that help kill and combat LMBV (Largemouth Bass Virus) and other diseases, and has been proven to not only improve fishcare in the livewell, but prevents their death once they are released back into their native waters.  The American Lady Anglers organization is proud to announce that they have partnered with Sure-Life as their first Sponsor.  The Sure-Life product Catch-and-Release will be used in all of the ALA’s live release and holding tanks, and we encourage all of our ALA members fishing our tournaments to use it in their livewells.  Okay, commercial over, but we are really proud to have them as a sponsor and really believe in their products.  Now that I’m through with that, I can continue with our regular programming, or the real reason I wrote this - to tell you about my new tournament trailer. Wait, excuse me, MY NEW TOURNAMENT TRAILER.

Did you hear that? The American Lady Anglers has a new Tournament Trailer.  A sweet 20 car hauler  foot-er that we’re gonna fix up real purty.  It’s gonna have carpet (blue-gray), paint (light gray with darker blue-gray trim), and even a dark blue non-slip flooring in the back where the equipment goes. The carpet goes in my office of course, along with the air conditioning, ’cause fat boy don’t like to sweat as much as you might think.  We put the insulation along the roof and walled off the office today.  A buddy of mine gave me some matching blue/gray(mostly gray as far as I can see) cabinets with color-coordinated countertops.

Next comes the painting. I just CAN’T WAIT for everyone to see the colors my wife picked out for the inside.  She’s so excited I could just scream! I tore up the whole backyard hauling the cabinets back to the trailer while it was parked there.  The wife isn’t too happy about that either. Don’t really know why - we had six trees that we had planted along that fence anyway, what’s one less?  And I’m sure all of the mud-ruts and torn-up grass and tire marks will eventually grow over again, despite that most of them are at least 6-8 inches deep and two to three tire-widths wide. 

 I thought that when you got stuck in the mud (especially when you are trying to get up a hill) you’re supposed to just gun it and gun it, slinging mud all over the 8 foot cedar fence (and across against the neighbor’s two-story brick house) aren’t you?  I thought that the faster you tried to go and the higher you revved the engine, the faster you would get unstuck, right? Turns out that’s not the case. Oh no, you have to go SLOW to get out! That just makes no sense, now does it guys? You guys will back me up on this, won’t you? Guys? Guys? Why don’t I hear a bunch of BOOYAHS! of approval out there? Don’t tell me any of you other guys would have done it any differently, ’cause I’ve got the same testosterone as you running through my veins, and it TOLD me to gun it! REPEATEDLY!  I had so much mud hanging from the underside of my wheel wells that, when it fell off in the driveway, it looked much like I imagine it would look following the Budweiser Clydesdales if you were the one who had to clean up after them when they were in a parade - If the Budweiser Clydesdales were 50 foot tall horses…. Anyway, I quietly drove the truck up to the carwash to pressure-wash some of the mud off of it, hoping that none of the neighbors would see who was makin’ that awful mess in the street.  No such luck!   I slung so much mud from my truck into the street that I was glad to see it was supposed to  rain today.  I thought that would clean it up for sure.  That was a good plan, until it started lightly drizzling this morning before the full rain hit.  The effect was what you would imagine.  The hill in front of my house turned into a giant Slip-and-Slide.   I had to crack a few smiles watching my neighbors were having trouble making it up the hill in front of my house, due to their sliding backwards on the mudslide I’d left them.  It gave me a few minutes’ entertainment watching them , but I was actually glad to see the heavier rain wash it away before the wife caught me grinning at their predicaments. 

Oh well, it’s time to go -  I guess I’d better get back to scraping the mud off the new (used to be white) trailer before my wife sees how much mud and muck got slung on it too.  Oh well, live and learn… Now I know what I’ll do the next time I get my truck stuck  in the mud on a hill - I wonder if the Budweiser Clydesdales are busy? If I’m gonna have the mess, I might as well just have them pull my truck outta’ the mud. I hear they’re real purty close up.

For now

I QUIT

Well, well what a tournament we had. Terri placed 25th overall, and only a slight injury. Maybe in the Rock we can get by with no issues at all.  HA!!!!!!!

Terri thanked everyone in Monroe so all I can do is Caddy Curse  the folks who weren’t quite as helpful as the ones Terri mentioned. First, for the 6 people who pulled out in front of me, while I was pulling a 2500 lb. boat. Yes I have brakes, but that doesn’t make up for your lack of brains or eye-sight.  My ability to stop is hindered by my total disdain for you knotheads.  Second, for the gas station that stays open 24 hrs. a day, but was closed at 3 in the morning when I needed to fill the boat prior to a tournament day.  (Shut-up Steven, I know a good caddy would have done that the day before).   When you say 24 you should mean 24.  Third, on our 5th anniversary the Mexican Resturant that charged us $51.00 for a not-so-good meal - and bad service.  No it wasn’t Taco Bell smarties. Fourth, the prilgrim who walked his pony-size dog around the boat ramp where caddies wear flipflops and open toed shoes. May that dog leave a surprise in your wife’s favorite  night shoes and then see who laughs. And finally. to all those folks , both coming and going, who feel like the fast lane is just a place to keep pace with the guy in the slow lane. Or as I like to call them TRAFFIC CONTROL MONITERS. Kinda scary when you look in that mirror and see a pick up pulling a huge boat coming at you at 90 ain’t it?  MOVE YOU’RE D.A. over.

Remember, its tough being a caddy. We get stressed well in advance and stay that way well after each event so if you can, try to be understanding and make life a little less difficult. Our pros are depending on us to be the rock. You know - like when we get them out of the water we remember to put all the straps and the motor-toter on.  Huh, Steven?

For today.

I quit

As a bass caddy, I have learned much in my first tourney. One item is marking spots. You would think this would be simple, buy a map and a pen. Nope - that’s for wussies, not caddies. As a cadd, you have to take a much more literal, and physical view of marking spots for your angler.   I have found that as a caddy, you drink large amounts of coffee and tea and must use the facilities. However, when marking spots for your angler, you return to the basics of nature. As a dog would do, you literally “scent mark” all spots to be fished.  The reason that the bass caddy must perform this duty is they do not have to urinate in a plastic coffee can first.  Should you follow that strategy, it leaves a scent in the water of plastic baits being used by another angler.  As you go from spot to spot, you must insure that the scent you are dispensing can be well-recognized by the other pro bass caddys.  This will keep your angler from fishing in a “top secret” spot marked by another anglers’ caddy.  You must also be careful that you do not pick up an old scent from previous tournament practices.  The caddy’s responsibility is to insure that the scent that they pick up is fresh and meant for the particular tournament that your angler is fishing.  Should you become confused by the numerous scents that will be on each spot that you look at, always check around for fresh cigarette butts floating in the water.  This is also a good indicator that another caddy has marked that particular spot for their angler. 

As a final note on this particular subject, do not wake up in the middle of the night and use the restroom as this will cause a tremendous strain on your bladder during the next days’ practice.

On a serious note, I would like to thank all of the folks in Gadsden, Alabama who helped us out with all of the problems that I was unprepared for.  If you’ve read my wife’s blog (Terri Talks), you know all of the problems that happened.  These were all issues that I did not address prior to the tournament.  However, who woulda thunk that brand-new batteries would crap out in such a short period of time?  Also, it never occurred to me to try to stop the power company from lowering the river to its lowest level in ten years.  Even though my name is Rod, not God, I also feel responsible for the rainy weather we had during the tournament.  In this next tournament in West Monroe, LA, we have all new batteries, all new raingear, new charger, new JumpStarter, new Navionics chip for our electronics, and new maps.  The only thing left to chance is the weather.  Here again, the name is Rod, not God, but maybe he’ll give us a break this go around. 

For today I quit.