As the tournament season has officially begun, I have big goals in a quest to make this year my best yet. My main goal is to qualify for the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens Championship as a co-angler. Anticipation and preparation is greeted with the first Opens event to kick off 2018. Fishing as a co-angler, my biggest asset is to capitalize on each learning opportunity. I was very fortunate to finish sixth in the first Eastern event on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes.
Josh Douglas helped me prepare on the water during official practice. I set out to find key confidence baits for each given area of the water. We primarily focused our time on Lake Kissimmee, leaving our last day of practice to look around Lake Toho.
Day 1, I was paired with local David May. We took off on boat number 50 going out in the third flight. We started our first day in Lake Toho and I was able to boat one keeper before we locked down towards Kissimmee. Fishing up to the last minute, I weighed in 8 pounds, 1 ounce, my biggest catch being a 4.5- to 5-pound kicker.
Day 2, I was paired with my peer, Mason Brown from Northern Florida. Setting out for a longer day of fishing, we were due in at 4:45 p.m. in boat #159. We caught bass after bass, slowly upgrading our limits and capitalizing every minute of the day to catch the bass needed to make the cut for championship day. I was grateful to land in ninth place for Day 2, weighing in 7 pounds, 12 ounces.
Being able to make the cut for championship Saturday is always the biggest blessing, but pressure hits hard. The co-angler leader had a hefty 7-pound, 8-ounce lead over me, but big fish live in the Kissimmee Chain and that gave me plenty hope and opportunities to make up that deficit. With high hopes, I set out to bring a heavy bag to the final weigh-in. I was paired with another great young fisherman, Garret Paquette from Michigan, who I also fished with on the James River during another championship Saturday in 2017. We both caught plenty of fish and slowly upgraded our limits as the day progressed. Again, I utilized every minute to catch what I did. My Day 3 weight was 6-pounds, 3-ounces, allowing me to move up to sixth. With everything learned from this tournament, I am always grateful hard work pays with a much needed check at the end of a long week. I had another great time fishing on the final day and I never take that for granted. It’s hard to make the Top 12 no matter what event it is.
The most valuable lessons I learned from this tournament was fishing as hard as possible during the entire day. Each day I caught a fish that gave me an upgrading cull in the last minutes of the day, just as I was starting to think time was up. Most of my successes came using soft plastics behind my pros and slowing down my approach, targeting isolated areas they missed.
This first tournament has given me the momentum and hunger for the next one, in pursuit of another Co-Angler of the Year title and qualification for the Opens’ Championship event. I’m excited for the tournament in May at Lake Norman, where there is more to learn at a new lake. Overall, I’m comforted by the results at my first 2018 B.A.S.S. event. Stay tuned to hear more about my co to pro journey.