If any of you have ever seen the movie “The World According to Garp”, do you remember the part where the main character is looking at a house to buy and a small plane crashes into it? As the Real Estate Agent starts to walk away, just knowing that the sale has been ruined, Garp exclaims, “I’ll take it!” When his wife and the agent ask why he would want a damaged house, he blithely quips, “It’s perfect! It’s pre-disastered! Nothing bad could ever happen in this house now!” The purpose of this little story is to let you know how my year with the WBT started. I feel that everything that could go wrong already has, so I just know it’s going to be smooth sailing from here.
Immediately upon arriving in Alabama, we hooked up with Larry Estvanko, the Georgia BASS Federation President that we had met at the Classic. Larry and his friend came all the way from Georgia and had dinner with us, and told us a lot about the local conditions on Neely Henry, and a lot of information about fishing on rivers, as I had never fished a river before. I cannot tell you how much help Larry was, and he was to be more help in the week to come.
My husband and I arrived the week before the tournament to find that we had some expensive boat problems to fix. We called our friend Larry, who hooked us up with the nice people at Buck’s Marine, who worked on our boat several times during our stay in Gadsden, Alabama. After our trolling motor battery charger was replaced our livewell pumpout was also fixed by Buck’s. We could not get ahold of anybody about our Lowrance problems, but after talking to Larry about it, he called someone he knew at Lowrance and called me with the free fix! Thanks primarily to Larry Estvanko, we were ready to put the boat on the water for the first time in Alabama.
A local friend, Gene Ward, was kind enough to show us a lot of shallow fishing spots, and with water temperature in the 60’s, we were really putting them in the boat! On my last day of practice, I was culling fish with 10 lbs in the boat in only two hours! I felt confident going into the tournament. In addition, many nice local people helped us along the way, including Chief, who fixed my favorite Loomis rod that had broken a guide.
While we were with Gene eating lunch on the Thursday the week before the tournment, the Vet’s office where my two Chocolate Labs Milly and Mudslide were being boarded called. Milly was in renal failure. She was not quite four years old and my pride and joy. Despite every effort, we lost her the Monday of the tournament. Mudslide was pining so much they put him with other dogs. My daughter Jenny went and picked him up so he could go to live with his sister, Dora. I loved those dogs so much. I can’t tell you how much I miss them both.
Overnight, with rain predicted, Alabama Power drained out the shallows on Lake Neely Henry, and all of the spots that I was fishing in practice became sandbars or mudbars. The docks were actually sitting on dry land and the rock rip-rap along the banks was actually several feet above the waterline. Unless the fish had started breathing air, they wouldn’t be where I had pre-fished when I went looking for them on tournament days!
The first day of the tournament, I was up at 2:30 am, driving up and down looking at all of my fishing spots. They were easy to see since they were all on dry land. I had gone to bed studying the map and making a new plan to fish the main river, which was pretty much what was left. My Day 1 Non-Boater was Nancy Oliver, a seasoned veteran who was so experienced that she could even read the boat’s electronics. We fished one likely area without any fish, got stuck briefly, and managed to get out. We went to a point I had pre-fished and Nancy caught a nice-sized bass. I was actually happy that my non-boater had caught the first fish, because I was very concerned about that in practice. It made me relax a little to get a fish in the boat. Did I mention that it was steadily raining all morning and that my Goretex and boots soaked through? I was shivering so much that when I stopped, I wasn’t sure if I was getting warmer or getting dehydrated. Nancy and I later went downriver aways and caught some small fish, and I caught a keeper. Nancy was the first to notice that the dash electronics had gone out. Then the trolling motor stopped responding. Following that, the front electronics failed, and then the trolling motor failed completely. We motored to a boat ramp and tied off to a tree and fished it for awhile. When I went to start the boat, guess what? You guessed it! The battery was totally dead! I kept telling myself all day that with the new battery and new chargers, surely the battery couldn’t be the problem. I was wrong. With all three turbines running full-blast downstream all day, my batteries couldn’t take the strain. I waved to another WBT angler and Pam Bolton in her Yamaha boat was kind enough to tow us back to the ramp in time for our 2:40 pm weigh-in and for her 2:50 pm weigh-in. I was really embarrassed being towed in, but at least I got in, and with fish, no less! I really felt like I had had my trial by fire for my first pro tournament, and told the emcee that I was really proud of my first fish!
We had to leave immediately from the weigh-in to go to Brown’s Marine (since it was an electrical issue, Buck’s referred us to Brown’s). I have to say that, once again, the people of Gadsden came through. Several guys on the dock muscled my boat onto the trailer, without the help of any type of motor. At least three separate people offered me the use of their boats the next day if I couldn’t get mine up and running. After my husband got back from Brown’s, he reported that the boat was “good to go” for the next day.
That night, as I did my daily physical therapy (several hours on the treadmill actually felt pretty good after the cold, freezing hours sitting or standing getting stiff on the boat), I reflected on my game plan for the next day. I studied my map again and made my plan - I was going to start Day 2 with a whole new attitude and forget all of the previous problems!
Day 2, my Non-Boater was Dawn Dudak from Chicago, Illinois. She is younger and has three small children, and I really admire her for coming and fishing the trail. We started in the area Nancy and I had caught our first fish the day before, and Dawn boated a fish. I was so excited! It was a beautiful fish, over two pounds and healthy. We went south and fished where we had caught fish the day before, and both boated several smaller fish. I kept noticing that the current kept getting stronger, and thought it was the combination of the three turbines running like the day before, plus high winds and floodgates also being open. I started my trolling motor on 3-4, then kicked it up to 5, then 7, then was running full out at 10 (Max!), and noticed that I was losing ground. Surely I wasn’t losing power again, after having had the thing serviced the night before! I was wrong. The trolling motor conked out and we were left to fish by pulling unto sandbars and dropping the PowerPole to anchor us and fishing around the boat. I caught a nice keeper that I called “Deuce”, since he was my second weighable fish caught in the WBT Pro tournament trail. That turned out to be a pretty good name, since he also weighed exactly two pounds.
Throughout the second day, wet and shivering as we were, Dawn and I put on a good show for the people of Gadsden who had come to watch. We spoke with fans along the banks as we fished. At one point, I caught a big fish that I had to let go. It was on braid and I made the mistake (with gloves on) of trying to pull us over to it using the line. After tearing up my hands quite a bit and to the fans’ disappointment, I finally had to cut the line and let the fish go since I couldn’t get the boat to the fish to get it loose. It was disappointing to me also, but I just smiled and said we’d just have to catch another big one.
When Dawn and I were beached and fishing, we kept seeing the rescue boat going by. We just kept fishing and smiling and waving. We must have been pretty convincing that we were just out there having a great old time and not a care in the world, because my husband said that the fans that the rescue boat were riding around were reporting that we were having a good time and just steadily fishing. No one could tell that we were having boat problems. Once again, I only had one weighable fish by weigh-in time, but I was very proud of that fish!
Overall, I had a great time in my first WBT tournament. I have had a trial by fire, and survived. I have met many Boaters and Non-Boaters in the WBT, and they are a terrific bunch of ladies. I have also met many of the WBT fans, and they are a great bunch of people also. I want to say a special thanks to the incredible people that I met in Gadsden, Alabama. These people turned out to watch us in not-so-great weather, were cheerful and helpful, and very proud of their town. I would go back there in a minute, just to see the people of Gadsden again. Thanks also to my Guardian Angel of this tournament Larry Estvanko. I don’t know what I would have done without him. Thanks, too, to Gene Ward, a terrific gentleman. To all the guys at Coosa Landing - you’re a great bunch and I hope to see you soon.
Finally, I would like to thank all of my sponsors: Lake Fork Marina and Motel, Lake Fork Trophy Lures, Firetrol Protections Systems, Caves Jewelry, and Champion Boats. I did my best to represent each and every one of you and make you proud. I discussed all of my sponsors’ products with the many fans that I met, and got a lot of very positive feedback for all of my sponsors’ products. I am honored to be representing these great people and their terrific products. Thanks for the opportunity. I’m doing all of my pre-tournament research for West Monroe, Louisiana now. I have high hopes for a better finish for my next tournament, but the excitement and people that I met in Alabama couldn’t be improved on. Thanks again, Gadsden, and I hope to see you next year!
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Apr 09 2009