It has been a good while since I last wrote. My family and I have been so busy traveling that I simply haven’t had any free time. Next season will be different I hope.

Well, I’ve been turning things around a bit lately as far as my chances for making the Forrest Wood Cup in Pittsburgh, PA are concerned. I still have a little work to do, but at least I’m in striking distance after having good finishes at Beaver Lake and Kentucky Lake. We are getting ready to head out for Champlain, the last Tour event, on Thursday morning. We are taking the camper up there for the first as we usually stay in a cabin. I guess the campground has a nice pool and a lot of fun things for the kids to do.

Our practice starts on Friday and this is one time I’m happy to have four days to look around. I need a solid finish, I’m currently about 100 points inside the Cup qualifiers and sitting in 21st, so I figure I need about a top 80 finish at Champlain. Needless to say, I’m going to work extra hard at finding some close fish so I don’t have to worry about that 80-100 mile run I usually make. A lot can go wrong, especially with the wind the way it is there sometimes. I’m looking forward to getting there and seeing what’s going on.

I just returned home last night from the Stren event on the Potomac River, MD. As you know, I was not going to fish the Strens this year, but I got in it at the last minute to help out with the College tournament that was to be held there on Saturday.  As it turned out, I made the top 10 cut and didn’t get to fish with the college kids….bummer, kinda! What was a real bummer was not winning that event, I came in 3rd. I had it in the bag, and if I hadn’t been totally encroached upon on day 2, it would have been an easy win. I may, or may not elaborate on that story at some point, but I can tell you it was the worst experience in my tournament history and that includes the local stuff from many years ago.

Some people just loose there senses and morals when high stakes are on the line. I know this was just a Stren event, but remember the top guy gets an automatic birth into next years $million dollar Cup, so that makes these tournaments “high stakes” I guess. I am really sick about what took place, but that is just the way it goes sometimes. I handled the situation calmly and professionally, but I simply couldn’t talk sense into this guy. On this note, I do want to thank Doug Cooper, the only fisherman that shared the spot with me on day 1. He volunteered to leave me the area on day two to give me a chance to win the event. I’ve had to do that a few times myself over the years, and that’s the way it should happen every time. If you had 10 pounds out of an area and the other guy had 20, you need to go somewhere else the next day, that’s the classy thing to do and an unspoken rule in our sport. I could go on and on, but I think I’ll leave it at that for now.

All my sponsors are doing well, Tabu Tackle is growing slowly but surely too. Two of my three co-anglers at the potomac were using Tabu Jigs and that’s pretty cool to see. I only had one day to practice for that tournament and I just covered a ton of grassy water. I threw a chart/blue Rapala Fat 3 crankbait with the trolling motor on high to locate fish in practice and then caught them on the Tabu blue crab 5/16 and 9/16oz jigs and Blue Fleck Berkley Flip Tail worm during the tournament. It was a simple approach and it worked out pretty well.

There are some cool new things my sponsors are coming out with, first Yamamoto has a new 10 inch cut tail that is a must have big worm. I had some at Falcon Lake, TX in the spring and they really worked. I caught a bunch of fish on them at Kentucky lake last month too. Also, we are working on a new Kinami Bug that will be coming out soon, the old one is great, but the new one will be even better and I can’t wait for you to see it. Even though my Berkley sponsorship does not include “baits” only reels, line, and gulp, they are coming out with some new hand pour shapes and colors that are a must have. They also have a new swimbait called the Ripple Shad that was featured in the  July/Aug issue of Bassmaster Magazine, pg 22, so check that out. I’ve done a total switch over to Berkley 100% fluoro this season, and I am so pleasantly surprised I’m giddy. I was honestly worried about changing, but Dudley told me I’d be impressed and he was right…for once…ha ha. I love the line and it’s priced right, I can’t say enough about it. Solar Bat has a new website, click here to check it out. Finally, Reel Grip has been selling the new Rod Grips like hot cakes. I plan to use them during the Cup in Pittsburgh…if I make it? You can see those by clicking here!

Well, I’m off to start cleaning out the boat. I’ll talk to you again soon, hopefully during the Cup in Pittsburgh. Take care and God Bless!

Dave