Clearly not my best work

Right now there are dogs and kids playing together, the women are chatting and the men are talking fishing and retying baits and stuff. When I look back on seasons past, it's times like these that I have the fondest memories of.

Today (Thursday) is a typical post-tournament day. I'm sitting here with a few close friends — James Niggemeyer, Takahiro Omori, Brent Chapman and Randy Howell — talking about the day. They all caught 'em better than I did, but in our little group we share things about the day and know it won't go beyond us.

It's not like "Here's where you want go fish," rather we share things that worked for us as well as what didn't work. I was disappointed I didn't catch 'em very well. Now I have to play catch up.

Right now there are dogs and kids playing together, the women are chatting and the men are talking fishing and retying baits and stuff. When I look back on seasons past, it's times like these that I have the fondest memories of. There is so much camaraderie in camp; it's kind of like deer camp, but with bass fishing.

Well, I hope our chatting will help me get a better stringer tomorrow and the next days. Anyhow, we shot a newKeeping up with the Joneses today. Keith Alan helped me out with it. We show my $600-plus swimbait collection that I lobbed periodically throughout the day and then the 10-cent Yum Dingers I actually caught my fish on!

Speaking of swimbaits, I think I'll stick with it more tomorrow. To get your stringer into the mid-20s you've got to be throwing one quite a bit. I had two big followers, but none committed to it. I know Byron has some history here (three-day weight record), and he's pretty handy with a swimbait. I think he can keep it up and be hard to beat.

On a different front, Jimmye Sue drove Little Alton to Sacramento to put him on a plane to fly back home to Texas. This weekend he's got a tournament on Lake Amistad. He's turning 18 in just a few weeks, and we just recently let him start fishing his own tournaments out of his own boat. That was a big step for us. However, letting him fish in a whole different state was another big step for us. But, like I said, he's turning 18 soon and he's ready for this and he wants it.

On yet another front, I want to congratulate coach Scott Drew of Baylor University for his Round 1 win in this year's NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. I think they have a good shot at going all the way in this thing, and it's always fun to see your friends do well. Sick 'em Bears!