This has been the worst start to a tournament season I’ve ever had, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, the Bassmaster Opens and even local tournament circuits in Canada. I finished just outside the Top 50 at the St. Johns River and nabbed 36th at Lake Okeechobee, which was decent.
Then I bombed at the Pasquotank River, landing way down in 77th place. I’m now 64th in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year points, well outside the Classic.
It doesn’t matter how good you are, how long you’ve been fishing or even if you’re Kevin VanDam, every tournament angler has a bad year. After fishing the last three Classics, I never want to fall short of getting there again.
Throughout the season, the Classic is constantly on my mind. I need to avoid getting down on myself and focus on the next tournament at Lake Hartwell. That’s where I fished a Bassmaster Open in 2022 and qualified for the Elite Series.
The Pasquotank River
Even though I did poorly at the Pasquotank, I really liked it. It’s a cool place to fish. I spent four days there a few months back. I honestly think that hurt me.
On the official practice days, I scrambled around trying to check too many places. I wish I had picked one or two creeks and learned them. There’s a lot of dead water on the Pasquotank, but most of the creeks have good bass in them.
The fans there were incredible. The weigh-ins drew some of the biggest, most fired-up crowds I’ve ever seen on the Elite Series. They made it that much more enjoyable.
It was crazy to see Kyle Welcher win by as much as he did. He truly made history. Going in, I thought it would take 100 pounds to win. After we were hit with heavy rain and a cold front in practice, I figured it would take 85 pounds.
I was wrong. Many Elite pros caught big bags every day. Had the weather been warm and stable, I believe the weights would have been insane.
Celebrating my birthday with strangers
Wherever I travel to fish the Elites, I enjoy acquiring new friends. That happened while I was practicing in a creek for the Pasquotank tournament. I was flipping a dock when a man came down from his house. I thought I was about to get some grief for fishing his dock.
Thankfully, he just wanted to chat. His name is Gary. We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes, and I told him about the tournament. He enjoys fly fishing from a kayak and knew little about competitive bass fishing.
The next day, Gary sent me an email. He had looked me up on Bassmaster.com and saw that my birthday took place the following day. He invited me to his house for dinner and said his wife, Manua, would bake a cake for me.
I accepted the invitation and celebrated my birthday with two random people. Gary and Manua are now good friends.
They invited me, my dad and my buddy Ethan, who does my videos, to stay with them during the tournament. They had dinner ready for us every evening and Manua had lunches packed for us every morning.
I often stay at the homes of friends between tournaments. But I typically avoid doing so while competing because it can be a distraction. When I come off the water after fishing all day, I just want to eat, rig rods, film some videos and go to bed.
Gary and Manua were gracious enough to let us do what we needed to do. I regret that we didn’t have more time to just hang out with them. They’re the nicest people you could ever meet.
