NATCHITOCHES, La. — Bassmaster Elite Series pro Keith Poche got married Friday evening and promptly, 10 hours later, left his blushing bride and headed toward Philadelphia. (See photos of the wedding here.)
“I’d love to be able to spend time with Brandy and enjoy the moment,” said Poche, “but we live a different life than most people. Duty calls and I gotta go.”
That “duty” is the Bassmaster Elite at Delaware River, Aug. 7-10. Practice begins Monday. Poche will arrive just in the nick of time, after a 21-hour drive, to get his tackle together and rest up for his first day on the Delaware. He’ll compete there, then he’ll drive to Cayuga, N.Y., for the next tournament.
So, after he married Brandy, he left home — not to return for three weeks.
“I’m used to it,” said Brandy with a laugh. She has been dating Keith for four years, and he’s been fishing competitively the whole time.
“We don’t really know what it’s like to have a normal relationship,” said Brandy.
While Keith was en route to Pennsylvania, Brandy was making her way back home to Pike Road, Ala., from Keith’s hometown of Natchitoches, so she could be back at work bright and early Monday morning.
The two will take a honeymoon, but they don’t know when or where.
“That kinda depends on how I do,” said Keith, laughing yet not joking. “If I win in Philadelphia or Cayuga, we’ll go somewhere outside the country. If I don’t, we’ll find something inside the country.”
View photos of their wedding here.