David Walker’s final hours on Ross Barnett Reservoir yesterday would be encouraging for anyone struggling at this point today. It would be difficult to be any more frustrated than Walker was at 1 p.m. Friday.
“I’ve fished a lot of tournaments, and I’ve had some quirky things happen – last-minute heroics and last–minute disappointments,” said Walker, 51, a veteran tournament angler whose record includes 147 B.A.S.S. tournaments and 11 Bassmaster Classic qualifications. “Today was my biggest recovery ever.”
Walker started the day in 91st place after weighing 7 pounds, 2 ounces on Day 1. And he had no fish in the boat at noon.
“I’d caught two, and neither would keep,” Walker said. “They were 11-inchers. I hadn’t even had any bites in awhile. I was pinned down by the wind by that time. So the only thing I could fish was what was available. I just kept grinding.
“But I’d thought, hell, we’ll just go in here pretty soon. Screw it. What’s the point? I’m in the 90s. Then I caught a 4 1/2-pounder that just smoked it. You know, there’s a big difference between working your lure in and just winding your line in. After that, I started fishing.”
Walker caught a 4-pounder and a 3-pounder in the next 15 minutes, made a short move and caught another 3-pounder.
Now we’re running out of time,” Walker said. “I had to be in at 3:20, and I wanted to give myself 20 to 30 minutes to get there because of the wind. My marshal told me it was 2:50.”
Walker stowed all his rods but one, made a short move, dropped the trolling motor, made one cast and, bingo. His fifth fish was a 2-pounder.
“I said, ‘We are gone.’ Mission accomplished. We got back no problem. I drove back smiling. Every wave we hit, I didn’t care.”
Walker weighed the biggest bag of the day, 18 pounds, 5 ounces. It vaulted him from 91st place to 36th with 25-7. He’s moved up to 27th today with a 9-pound, 8-ounce limit, according to BASSTrakk. That’s a long way from 91st place and no bass in the boat at 1 p.m. yesterday.