Missile Baits – Toledo Bend Video Recap
Take a listen as John gives a look back at the Toledo Bend event…
Brandon Card – Toldeo Bend: Follow Up – Podcast
We had the Opportunity to day to catch up with Brandon Card to continue our on going series with him..We set back and listened as Brandon gave us an update on the Toldeo Bend event and what he learned from this event that he can use in the future. Take a listen to what he had to say.. Guys this Young man is a Rookie and he is cashing checks…
[podcast]http://thebasscast.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/Brandon-Card-Toledo-Bend.mp3[/podcast]
BRANDON CARD.com
[podcast]http://thebasscast.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/Brandon-Card-Toledo-Bend.mp3[/podcast]
BRANDON CARD.com
Lefebre scores decisive Tour victory on Kentucky Lake
The fish surges one last time. (Photo by Shaye Baker)
Lefebre scores decisive Tour victory on Kentucky Lake
10.Jun.2012 by Jennifer Simmons
MURRAY, Ky. – Dave Lefebre left them biting on Kentucky Lake on day three, and they did not let him down today, as the Kellogg’s pro once again hauled in the day’s heaviest stringer to claim the Walmart FLW Tour victory with 6 ½ pounds to spare.Lefebre’s journey to the top was a rather long one, as he seemed out of contention after day one, having caught a fair-to-middling 14 pounds, 15 ounces that had him all the way back in 40th. Lefebre, though, should never be counted out, especially when he’s found a spot that he knew all along had the winning fish. He bounced back on day two with 19 pounds before really strutting his stuff yesterday with the heaviest stringer of the tournament – a limit weighing a whopping 23 pounds, 15 ounces.That moved him all the way up to second, only 2 ounces behind the day-three leader, Snickers pro Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C. Wind and cloud cover frustrated Baumgardner’s efforts today, while Lefebre’s spot proved its mettle by yielding yet another limit, this one worth 19 pounds, 5 ounces, the day’s heaviest weight. That put Lefebre on top with a four-day total of 77 pounds, 3 ounces that earned the Erie, Pa., native $125,000.
MURRAY, Ky. – Dave Lefebre left them biting on Kentucky Lake on day three, and they did not let him down today, as the Kellogg’s pro once again hauled in the day’s heaviest stringer to claim the Walmart FLW Tour victory with 6 ½ pounds to spare.Lefebre’s journey to the top was a rather long one, as he seemed out of contention after day one, having caught a fair-to-middling 14 pounds, 15 ounces that had him all the way back in 40th. Lefebre, though, should never be counted out, especially when he’s found a spot that he knew all along had the winning fish. He bounced back on day two with 19 pounds before really strutting his stuff yesterday with the heaviest stringer of the tournament – a limit weighing a whopping 23 pounds, 15 ounces.That moved him all the way up to second, only 2 ounces behind the day-three leader, Snickers pro Chris Baumgardner of Gastonia, N.C. Wind and cloud cover frustrated Baumgardner’s efforts today, while Lefebre’s spot proved its mettle by yielding yet another limit, this one worth 19 pounds, 5 ounces, the day’s heaviest weight. That put Lefebre on top with a four-day total of 77 pounds, 3 ounces that earned the Erie, Pa., native $125,000.
Destiny calls
Lefebre could have been undone today with mechanical issues that forced him to switch boats, losing lots of precious fishing time in the process. He also lost two fish that he estimated at 4 ½ pounds each, both of which he had in the net before they jumped.
“To start the day like that and end up where I am is a blessing from God, and I give Him all the glory,” Lefebre said. “I lost my temper a couple of times. I knew if I could get my head together, I could win this.”
Lefebre’s victory, then, feels a little bit like destiny, and it’s a journey that began on the second day of practice, when he found a shell bed full of bass that were eating up his Rapala DT 10 and DT 6 crankbaits.
“I had a strong day my first day of practice, and I had the luxury of saying I was ready for the tournament, even though I really wasn’t,” he said. “So I went out and looked for stupid stuff. Just when I was ready to give up, I got a big bite that made me keep going.”
Though Lefebre found the shell bed with crankbaits, it was a Storm swimbait that brought in kicker fish after kicker fish once the tournament began.
“I threw it every day on that spot,” he said. “Today I threw a hodgepodge of swimbaits – I brought my whole box of swimbaits to Kentucky Lake like I always do. But today was the first day I’ve shown that spot anything but the Storm.”
Big risks paid off for Lefebre
On day three, Lefebre said he left big fish biting on his spot in an effort to manage his fish. That can be risky, as sometimes anglers leave them biting in order to save them for later, only to return the next day and find them gone. For Lefebre, it paid off.
“I fish to win every day, and it’s hard to do that when you need four days together to win,” he said. “I tried to manage the fish and leave them biting to save them for another day. It didn’t have to work out this way, but it did.”
While the story of the week seemed to be relying on electronics to catch bass deep on the ledges, Lefebre’s shell bed was in about 5 to 6 feet of water.
“Early in the day, they were biting,” he said. “Late in the day, I had to throw at a certain angle on that shell bed. Today when the wind laid down, I got back to that spot and caught that big one.”
When day three ended and it looked like it would be a showdown between Lefebre and Baumgardner, both of them were hunting for the same thing – a second FLW Tour victory. Lefebre’s first Tour win came in 2004 on Old Hickory Lake, while Baumgardner won in 2007 on the Potomac River.
“I fish with a lot of my very close friends, and it was Chris’s turn,” Lefebre said on stage. “I went out of turn.”
Clouds roll in on Baumgardner
Baumgardner ended day three on top using a strategy he said was no big deal, and it wasn’t – he was fishing docks on Lake Barkley throwing a chatterbait with a Zoom Super Fluke in glimmer blue. But it was a simple strategy that took him far even if he fell short of claiming the win. Baumgardner’s four-day haul totaled 70 pounds, 11 ounces and earned him $33,287.
He began the tournament in 30th place with 15-9 but changed his fortunes on day two with a limit weighing 19 pounds, 8 ounces. He threw the hammer down on day three, bringing in 22-15 and becoming the man to beat on the final day.
But Sunday exchanged Saturday’s abundant sunshine for clouds and scattered showers, and Baumgardner’s bite suffered. He wound up weighing in a 12-pound, 11-ounce limit, more than 10 pounds less than he weighed in the day before.
“I just didn’t get the big bites,” he said. “It was cloudy, and the fish don’t get around docks as good – they go out in the middle. There was nothing to pull them up to the docks.”
Baumgardner tried to adjust but never keyed in on any technique or spot that would yield the big bites.
“I’m glad he caught 19,” Baumgardner said of Lefebre’s day-four catch. “If he’d caught 15 and beat me by a little it would have been worse. I’ll take second.”
Mabrey moves up to third
Kyle Mabrey and Jim Moynagh switched spots on the leaderboard today, as yesterday’s No. 4 Mabrey moved up to third while Moynagh dropped to fourth. Mabrey had a solid day on Kentucky Lake today, bringing in a 17-pound, 10-ounce limit that boosted his total weight to 68 pounds, 4 ounces, worth $28,520.
“I was looking for areas where fish had recently spawned and were making their way back to the main lake,” Mabrey said of his tournament strategy. “They were still in that shallow mode, which is not typical on Kentucky Lake this time of year.”
Mabrey found a gravel bar that was about 12 feet deep that had a little ditch running through it about 14 feet deep. That fell off into a creek channel 24 feet down that ended on a big flat.
“It was jam-packed with baitfish,” Mabrey said. “I was catching fish averaging 3 pounds. Often I’d see an enormous tail in their mouth, so I started fishing bigger baits.”
Mabrey relied on swimbaits this week on a Yellow Hammer Rig, and in fact, cameras caught Mabrey landing three bass at one time today on that Yellow Hammer Rig.
“I was bummed out – I thought it was going to be a giant,” he said.
In addition to the 6-inch swimbaits on the Yellow Hammer, Mabrey said he also caught fish on a Zoom Magnum Ol’ Monster worm. In today’s cloudy weather, he switched to a swimbait with blades, which he thinks helped the fish to see his bait.
“It totally seemed to get the bigger fish to bite,” he said. “When it’s harder to see, you’ve got to give them a little more flash.”
Mabrey credits not only the baits but also the rest of his equipment, including a 775 Powell Endurance Rod that he rigged up with 65-pound braided line.
“It’s a great rod for throwing those heavy rigs,” he said.
Moynagh, Yelas round out top five
Finishing in the fourth spot is M&Ms pro Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., with a four-day catch of 67 pounds, 2 ounces that earned him $23,753. The finish put him just one point behind David Dudley in the Angler of the Year race.
“I had one spot that produced quality fish, and on day two it really panned out,” Moynagh said. “It was a one-spot wonder tournament for me.”
Chevy pro Jay Yelas of Corvallis, Ore., ended the tournament in fifth with a combined weight of 67 pounds, good for $18,987. He too was among the pro leaders bucking conventional wisdom and fishing shallow, and he caught his bass on Lake Barkley.
“I just like to fish shallow,” he said. “You can do whatever you want to catch them here. The deepest I caught them all week was probably 4 feet deep.”
Best of the rest
Rounding out the top 10 pro finalists:
6th: Straight Talk pro J.T. Kenney of Palm Bay, Fla., 64-15
7th: Todd Hollowell of Fishers, Ind., 63-6
8th: Fatheadz Eyewear pro Jacob Wheeler of Indianapolis, Ind., 61-8
9th: Snapple pro Jacob Powroznik of Prince George, Va., 60-1
10th: EverStart pro Ron Shuffield of Bismarck, Ark., 59-3
Special Thanks to the guys at: FLW Outdoors
Classic qualified – again – By Deb Johnson
Kansas’ Brent Chapman wins first Elite Series title at Toledo Bend
James Overstreet
Brent Chapman and his family celebrate his first Elite Series win.
By Deb Johnson
MANY, La. — Brent Chapman will turn 40 in early July. That’s a milestone he didn’t want to celebrate without having ticked the box next to a top career goal: a Bassmaster Elite Series win.
Let the party begin.
Starting at 11th place on Thursday, then jumping up to lead for the next two days, the pro from Lake Quivira, Kan., closed on the Toledo Bend Battle trophy Sunday. His winning weight of 83 pounds, 9 ounces gave him a margin of victory of 4 pounds, 4 ounces over Cliff Pace of Petal, Miss., who tallied 79-5 for second place.
“I feel awesome,” said Chapman. “This is one more check-off on the list of my goals.”
His Elite win was worth $100,000, enough points to take over in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race, and a berth in the 2013 Bassmaster Classic.
The Classic qualification was his second of the season; the first one came by winning a Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Open in February. Because he already had the 2013 Classic entry sewn up, it was the Elite victory that made his day. He was never sure he had the win until the scales stopped moving on his Sunday bag.
“I truly felt I needed 20 pounds today to have a shot at winning this,” he added. “I had a lot more than I thought I did.”
The Sunday scales settled on 23-11. The icing on the weight was a last-hour bass that almost offered itself to him.
“I throw my spoon out, go to reel it in, and I see the spoon at about 5 feet from the boat — and a 4-pounder is behind it. I ‘killed’ the spoon — kind of dropped it — and the bass sucked it in. I just whipped it into the boat. When stuff like that happens, I think, ‘Maybe I am supposed to win this deal.’”
Throughout the week, the winner’s focus went much deeper. He worked several spots, but particularly one area that held schools of big bass 25 to 30 feet deep. He used a 5-inch, 1 1/4-ounce flutter spoon with a silver finish modified with a 2/0 Lazer TroKar treble, or worked a Tightlines green-pumpkin UV Hog on a 3/4-ounce football jig.
The spoon was a lure he picked up at a tackle store, and it had no brand name, Chapman said. A lover of fishing banks and shallows, Chapman steeled himself to going deep during the Toledo Bend Battle, and turned to the spoon to help him.
“It’s a thing that Kelly Jordon made famous, and it’s a bait I’ve really fallen in love with over the past few years when it comes to this time of year and fishing deep,” he said.
Chapman had declared after Day 3 that in the final round, he would not live and die on the same spot he’d worked all week. Come later Sunday morning, he was ready to move, he said, but the bass changed his mind. He caught a 5-pounder and then a 6-7, his largest of the day and also the Carhartt Big Bass on Sunday in a tie with the 6-7 brought in by Greg Hackney. Then Chapman moved off his spot, but later returned for another dip. No go.
“When it dries up, it dries up in a hurry,” he said.
Through Sunday’s win, Chapman earned enough points to recover his early-season lead in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race. The closest he’s ever come to the AOY title is eighth in 2007.
But with three more Elite events remaining in the regular season, Chapman said he’s not obsessing over the crown. He’s not centering his fishing strategy on winning the AOY prize.
“Angler of the Year, I’ve got to keep off my mind until the last day at Oneida (the season’s final event). You’ve got to focus on one fish at a time, one day at a time, one tournament at a time,” he said.
Pace pulled up to finish in second place after leading the first day, then dropping to fourth by Day 3. His Sunday catch of 21-9 revived his bid for his first Elite win, but in the end fell short.
“Anytime you get to fish all four days, you’ve had a great week,” Pace said. “Second place is a great tournament. A win would have been much better, but that’s just part of life. Brent had a better group of fish found, and he beat me.”
Pace’s strategy was to work deep schools slowly and thoroughly.
“That was the whole deal for me,” he said. He made long casts with a 3 1/4-ounce V&M football jig, and spend about three minutes dragging it back to the boat. When the wind died, he turned to a Carolina rig with a redbug V&M Super Finesse Worm, same slow technique.
“When I say drag it, I mean at a snail’s pace,” Pace said.
Like Chapman, Robinson of Lyman, S.C., started slowly on Day 1. He bagged a modest 15 1/2 pounds, good enough for 23rd place. Then on Day 2, armed with a 21-12 bag, he fought his way up into sixth place. The third day was almost a cookie-cutter of the second: 21-5, but it did him even more good. He advanced to second place, just 1-5 behind leader Chapman.
The final day he pushed hard, finishing third, the best showing of his Elite career. He bagged 19-2, ending almost 6 pounds behind the winner.
“I just didn’t get a lot of big bites today. I had one place where I had caught some big fish, but I couldn’t get them fired up,” said Robinson, who used a peanut-butter-and-jelly Buckeye Mop Football jig in a 3/4-ounce size, and a Fish Stalker Lures’ Party Marty football jig with a Zoom Critter Craw.
Finishing fourth was Greg Hackney of Gonzales, La., with 76-1. Fifth was rookie Cliff Prince of Palatka, Fla., who had 69-9.
Several anglers earned bonuses at the Toledo Bend Battle:
* Carhartt Big Bass of the tournament, which paid $750, plus another $750 if the angler was wearing Carhartt clothing: Terry Scroggins for his 9-pound, 3-ounce largemouth on Day 3.
* Berkley Heavyweight Award of $500 for the best five-fish limit: Tim Horton’s 27-9 of Day 3.
* Power-Pole Captain’s Cash of $1,000 if the winner has Power-Poles installed on his boat: Brent Chapman
* Toyota $1,000 bonus to the leader in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Brent Chapman with 417 points
* Luck “E” Strike Comeback Award of $500 to the most-improved pro in the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year points race: Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C., from 63rd place to 41st place
The Toledo Bend Battle will air on ESPN2 at 8 a.m. ET June 16.
Special Thanks to the guys at : Bass Masters .com
Brent Chapman redux – Don Barone – Story
Brent Chapman redux
Don Barone
Brent Chapman and his wife, Bobbi.
“You’ll need a good companion for
this part of the ride…”
Dateline: One year later
Tell me.
Is it our soul,
or
The soil we stand on.
That makes stuff like this happen.
Is it who we are,
or
What we are.
That makes stuff like this happen.
Tell me.
In the land of hope and dreams,
is it the hope,
or,
the dreams.
That makes stuff like this happen.
Tell me.
Of spirit.
Is our spirit, built in.
Or sent, our way.
Tell me.
“…leave behind your sorrows…”
When my fingers will no longer be able to type.
When the words leave me, and all that I have left is the images of events in my brain.
When the movies behind my eyes run, in that film, there will always be this image amongst but a few.
It will not be the perfect hair.
Not the perfect makeup.
Not even the tear on her cheek.
It will be the tremble in the hand that wiped the tear away.
In all the images of all the sports I have covered, the one that will always play over and over in my brain will be the one of a tiny hand that tried to wipe a large tear away.
Bobbi Chapman’s hand.
And the soundtrack for that image will be the whispered: “….db…”
And the soundtrack for that image will be this: The sobs coming from under the flowered blouse.
And the soundtrack for that image will be this: The shaking of her body as I hugged her and told her it would be alright, even though I wasn’t sure.
When I close the laptop for the final time on writing about sports, it is not the strongest whom I will remember.
But the frailest.
Not the points scored, but the people met.
“…let this day be the last…”
It was a year ago today that this story, “How Fragile, We…” ran on Bassmaster.com
Brent and Bobbi Chapman sat in their boat in Little Rock, Ark., and told me how their dreams were turning into nightmares.
They were about to fall off the tightrope we all walk in this game. It was not their lack of love of the sport that was causing their slip, it was the lack of success, the lack of money causing the spill.
How fragile they.
How fragile we who chase treasure lake to lake across the land of hope and dreams.
Except for one thing.
The Land, of Hope, and Dreams
The soil, or our soul.
Freedom to succeed.
Freedom to fail.
Freedom to do it on your own.
Freedom to chase, and capture your dreams.
“db…back a year ago when we first talked, we did not like where we were, financially, or otherwise.”
Bobbi Chapman is sitting in the exact same spot in the boat as she was last year. Brent is next to me on the deck working on tackle, same as last year.
“db I have to tell you, it was a gut check, a real gut check, a body punch, but you know what, you can take only so many punches before you punch back.”
And punch back they did.
Following that story Brent placed in the top 20….twice, and made the 2012 Bassmaster Classic.
And the success continues…
Out the gate Brent WINS the 2012 Bass Pro Shops Central Open….then follows that up with a 4th and two 5th place finishes in the last four Elite events…total cash and prizes so far this year…$96,160.
He has already qualified for the 2013 Bassmaster Classic.
Today he is in 1st place for the coveted Angler Of The Year prize.
Tell me.
“…tomorrow there’ll be sunshine…”
Why are we tested, and who sends the test.
Are we graded, and by whom.
Or what.
And why.
“db,” Brent says while tying some tackle on his line, “It was very humbling, it opened one’s eyes to how quickly you can lose focus…”
Bobbi jumps in, “…we were trying too hard to focus on things, instead of just letting things happen…”
I catch the quick wife to husband glance between the two of them, two people who over the past couple of years have become very close friends of mine.
Bobbi continues “…focus db…not on ourselves…but…”
It is not the strong, but the fragile, whom I will never forget, as the tear rolls down her cheek “….but on others….”
And Bobbi can’t finish the sentence, the handoff between husband and wife happens, “…this is the year we appreciate things, others more, a lot more.”
Why the tests sent our way, maybe this.
During the past year Brent’s mom has had two surgeries for Cancer….just recently Bobbi’s mom had a stroke and is now living with Brent and Bobbi and their family.
Brent, “Last year brought our family, brought US much closer together,” all Bobbi can do is shake her head yes.
“…and all this darkness past…”
Tell me.
Not the how,
but.
The why.
Why the smackdown.
Why me, why now. Why ever, what’s the point, why have a point.
Come on, give me a break.
Tell me.
Brent: “From what I’ve learned you can have a bit of a falling, failure, but if you focus and work hard, you can come back…”
I’m standing next to the proof of that.
“…but I’ll tell you db, it makes you humble.”
Bobbi: “We’ve also learned that with success comes responsibility, comes the obligation to do good with it.”
“Brent…Bobbi…bottom line…what did you get out of last year.”
Bobbi, sitting on the wall of the boat, turns from me and looks at Brent who is sitting on the deck of the boat, he slowly looks away and into the eyes of his wife.
Bobbi smiles, as does Brent, “We learned db that we weren’t ready….”
Brent picks up the sentence, “…weren’t ready, up until last year we were not ready, would not have been able to handle success in the right manner.”
Neither one ever took their eyes off each other while saying that.
Tell you.
Brent and Bobbi Chapman have passed the test.
It is not the success that makes us stronger.
It is the tests.
The drive to succeed comes to us not on the straight-aways, but in the high bank turns that come our way.
The test, is not about what we get.
The test, is about what we give.
The soul, of the soil, beneath our feet is one of hope and dreams.
Hope, that it is to others, we give dreams.
And that when we do, dreams come true,
for us all.
“…big wheels roll through fields
where sunlight streams
meet me in a land of hope and dreams.”
Land of Hope & Dreams
Bruce Springsteen
Region 2 – Buggs Island – Results 6-3-12
Winners of the Region 2 event held on Buggs Island was the team of Billy Strain & Don Wheeler of Rustburg with 6 fish weighing 16.59 lbs
________________________________________________________________
Region 2 Buggs Island Winners Billy Strain & Don Wheeler – 6-3-12 from CentralVabasscast.com on Vimeo.
Take A look at the Updated Points Bellow Click on the Image to Inlarge
Kevin Hawk – Pre Kentucky Lake – Podcast
As we continue in our ongoing series with FLW angler Kevin haw Wayne catches up with him before the Kentucky Lake Event. Kevin Gives you an en site to what part of the lake he will be fishing and what he will be suing to catch the big ones. Check back with us after the event hear what Kevin had to say about the tournament..
[podcast]http://thebasscast.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/hawk-ky-lake.mp3[/podcast]
KEVIN HAWK.COM
[podcast]http://thebasscast.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/hawk-ky-lake.mp3[/podcast]
KEVIN HAWK.COM
Brandon Card – Pre Toledo Bend – Podcast
Wayne Catches up with Brandon before the Toledo Bend event and gets his thoughts on what this tournament will be like..We are looking at a hard weekend at Toledo Bend states Brandon, so check back with us at the end of the event and we will see how hard it really was.
[podcast]http://thebasscast.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/card-toledo-bend.mp3[/podcast]
BRANDON CARD.com
[podcast]http://thebasscast.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/card-toledo-bend.mp3[/podcast]
BRANDON CARD.com
Failure is the ONLY option – Don Barone – Story
Failure is the ONLY option
Don Barone
Elite Series pro Britt Myers
By Don Barone
“That’s the way that the world goes ’round…”
Dateline: 99th
Imagine this.
Rewind a month or so…I’m walking through the 2012 Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport and see one of the nicest guys in the game, Britt Myers, at a sponsor booth. So I stop, we talk and he tells me something like this…”You know db, I finally think I have this sport figured out, I’m looking for good things to happen this season.”
“Great dude, let’s do a story once they say ready, set, go.”
“Done.”
Fast-forward to Palatka, Fla., and the St. Johns River Showdown.
Britt and I are at “Big Show” Terry Scroggins home, a huge feast of BBQ, steaks and seafood…I have a plate of BBQ…steak…cake…a cake made in the shape of a bass…a careful measurement might, MIGHT show more cake than steak on my plate…so Britt and I are off to the side of the party and we are talking…just friend stuff about wives and family…and cake…and then I start slipping in some interview questions.
Not sneaky-like because I have to put my cake fork down right in front of Britt so it’s not like I’m sneaking up on him.
So, somewhere between dumplings and cake, Britt says this to me, and I manage to write it down darn near exact like but close enough where I can put quotes up around it and not worry about court appearances.
“db…bud, failure is not an option.”
“…FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION.”
“….NOT AN OPTION.”
Three days later…Britt comes in dead last in the tournament.
Dead…last.
99th.
Now what do I do?
I like the guy, like him and his wife a lot.
Could run the dude up the flag pole…remember “…failure is not an option.”
Gotcha dude.
Or.
Hold the story.
Ain’t done told my editors I was going to do it.
Or.
Just let the conversation go…take the no harm, no foul route.
Never happened.
What to do, what would you do.
Think about it.
Go on. I’ll give you some time.
Time.
I hold it.
Not going to hang the dude with his own words…not my style. In this business, you do that once or twice and you find yourself running short on getting interviews.
Plus, it is just plain candy-arse…if you want to confront the dude, you do so right then, right as he walks off the stage…not some stealth attack while he is off practicing and you are sitting writing in your PJ’s.
Nope, not doing that.
Never happened.
Can’t. Plain talk…it did happen…what am I supposed to do… pretend like I had some sort of brain-you-know-what? You look the other way too often in this business, and you’re journalism career will be one of mostly waiting tables.
So, I held it.
Told Britt…”Don’t worry about it dude, let’s see how this rodeo plays out.”
But, in my head, this is what I’m thinking….EXACTLY!
“Show me what you got, son…show me what you got.”
Because, my friend, in fact…failure is the ONLY OPTION.
“…you’re up one day,
the next you’re down…”
Dancing in the end zone does not teach you how to score touchdowns.
Getting stopped on the 1-yard line teaches you how to score.
Striking out teaches you how to hit.
Want to be a better free throw shooter, toss a few bricks from the foul line.
You want to succeed, fail.
Failure is the key to success.
Let me see what you got…loser. Pretty boy over there has a limit of 5 biggins.
Loser, you got a sack full of nothin’…you got a limit of air.
Trip is looking at you.
Mercer is tongue-tied.
And the scales are laughing at you.
You have a choice; you can scrap all of this and go back to whatever you got that you can go back to.
Or you can be a scrapper.
An old word lost on many…scrappy.
It means this…no give, no quit, no white flags.
It means this…failure is not the end of game.
It means this…success comes to those who fail but who never give up.
If you are scrappy, you don’t believe in luck.
You believe in work.
You believe in sweat.
You believe in yourself.
When most don’t.
Scrappy
Terry Bradshaw…scrappy.
Yankees Billy Martin…scrappy.
Every offensive/defensive lineman on the planet…scrappy.
For you real old guys, like me, Bart Starr…scrappy…drafted in the 17th round…in his last season at Alabama, he rarely even played…drafted by the Packers, he was pegged as a backup until 1959 when a new coach was hired, a dude by the name of Vince Lombardi…Starr…scrappy, MVP of 1st two Super Bowls, 4 Pro Bowls, League MVP in 1966, 2nd highest playoff passer rating in history, Hall of Fame 1977.
BTW…his exact pick in the NFL draft…number 199.
Same as Tom Brady.
Scrappy.
So here is the bottom line on all of this…Britt Myers had just sat in front of me, a reporter with a notebook and a pen who he saw writing stuff down, just sat here and told me “…failure is not an option.”
And then went out and failed.
Miserably.
Came in last.
Like I said, could have run him up the flagpole, did the story right away, written this guy off quick to the scrap heap.
Or sit back, and watch.
It is my goal on every story to tell you the WHY, give you insight into how these best of the best do what they do.
Suddenly, with nothing brilliant on my part, I had in front of me the petri dish of the sport…
And I knew, if I just held it, you would get your best inside feeling of how the B.A.S.S. world goes round and round.
So, here’s the interview I did with Britt back when the season looked so bright.
Back before the young man learned that failure is the only option…to success.
Here goes:
“…it’s half an inch of water…”
Some background on Britt Myers…not all of it but the stuff I think is important.
He’s a working stiff.
A blue collar dude, through and through. Listen to him:
“I’m not the smartest guy out here, but what I have going for me is a strong, strong work ethic. Success is achieved through hard work and dedication, work at it until however long it takes to get it right.”
At the age of 19…NINETEEN…Britt started a business, decked out car stereos in Gastonia, N.C. …this is how he did it…scrappy.
“I took out a title Loan on a car I had…got $5,000…worked a loading dock from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. every morning then went to my place and opened it from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.”
Not exactly the Warren Buffet approach to starting a new business. And pretty soon afterwards, things business wise were not working out well…then came Burger King…
“I was pulling into Burger King to get something to eat and this guy rear-ended me…the insurance company paid me $2,000 to fix the car but instead I took all of that and put it into my business…let the car be. That accident there; that got me over the hump.”
Now he has a 23,000-square-foot facility, and his shop, Audio Excellence employs 16 full-time employees, and one VERY full-time dude.
“I get into the shop early, work late…I get home from work and from 9-10 p.m. every night I work on my fishing stuff, work on tackle, maps…then at 10 p.m., we (he and his wife Missy) always spend an hour watching television together…together time.”
Brett began his fishing career in 1994, “Fishing is a business that you get out what you put in, but db I thought I was ready, I actually had no idea how unready I was. I had no idea what I was in for.”
“…and you think you’re gonna drown…”
“I just want to be good at what I do.”
“You are only as good as you perform.”
“Success is competing higher and higher at the highest level.”
Quotes from Britt…quotes I have heard from just about every professional athlete I have ever interviewed.
3 days later, Britt finished last.
Gut check.
You tell me you’re ready.
You tell me you may have finally figured this out.
You come in last.
During our interview, when he told me, “failure is not an option,” I just scribbled that down…no annotated notes to myself.
But then he also said this, “You learn from your mistakes; you build on it.”
That quote I circled in my notebook.
The great ones, and those going down the path to greatness have always told me the same thing, and have always added something to the effect that they HATE losing more than they LOVE winning.
I have been in this business more than 30 years now.
Have won some, have lost more.
Still have nightmares, a lot, of being fired.
Still scared, scared of losing.
I remember every moment of sitting somewhere and hearing someone else’s name read as the winner…stood up, shook their hand, said some nice stuff that I didn’t mean, then went into the fancy hotel bathroom, and puked.
So I held the story.
Held it to see if Britt would puke.
See what he would do.
This here, in my opinion, being what they call a “seminal” moment in this young man’s career…you say you have turned it around and then you end up last.
No bigger gut check in this sport.
First up after last place….the Power-Pole Slam on Lake Okeechobee and Britt comes in 16th place…up 83 SPOTS.
I start thinking scrappy.
Then the Elite Series TroKar Quest on Bull Shoals and Britt comes in 2nd place…2nd….up 97 SPOTS.
I’m now thinking Scrappy with a capital S.
Comes the season turn, event number 4, the Douglas Lake Challenge…and Britt does it again…comes in 2nd…back to back.
Up 97 spots…in 49 days over 3 events.
A long time ago, when my son Jimmy was a young high school athlete, he walked onto the Farmington, Conn., High School Boys Volleyball team.
And got his head handed to him.
I knew nothing about volleyball, couldn’t coach him if I wanted to. So one day when he was out somewhere I walked into his bathroom and pasted on his bathroom mirror a saying I had heard once, pasted this for him to read…
“A Champion Is Someone Who Gets Up Even When They Can’t”
I was surprised to see that he didn’t take it down.
The following year, his senior year, Jimmy once again played on the volleyball team…the team won their division and Jimmy was named to the Connecticut All-State Volleyball Team.
Years later, as a Physical Education teacher and volleyball coach, I noticed that when he moved out he left a lot of stuff in his old bedroom…everything from old semi bitten power ranger toys to athletic trophies…
…but the handwritten pasted up sign was gone.
Britt Myers…you, my friend, now deserve your own handwritten sign like that.
Someday you will look at that 99th place and know it was the real turning point in your career.
You will look at that failure as the first step towards success.
Love the wins that will come your way son.
But hate the losses more.
You told me “I just want to be known for what I do.”
To me, you will always be known as, Scrappy.
And every champion I have ever known,
was a scrapper.
Every champion I have known has had their butt whipped.
And yet, they still came back.
“A Champion Gets Up Even When They can’t”
Just like Britt.
“…that’s the way that the world goes ’round.”
“That’s the Way the World Goes Around”
John Prine
Going Against the Grain – By Will Petty – Story
Going Against the Grain
By Will Petty
As the hot summer weather starts to set in around this area, most everyone starts to turn their attention to deeper water and structure fishing. After all, that is the only way to catch fish this time of year right? Wrong! Structure fishing doesn’t have to be the only way to target fish this time of the year. There are more fish that stay shallow than most people may think.
While structure fishing can often be the most reliable pattern during the hot summer months, shallow fishing possesses the potential to keep you competitive a whole lot more than you know. All you need is a little colored water and some cover and you can put together a pattern fishing visible targets while your buddies are dragging around on the same deep spots hoping to run across a school of fish. Don’t be afraid to fish extremely shallow as well. Just this past weekend, I caught a solid limit of fish from water that was two feet deep and water temperatures were in the mid eighties! The kicker is that the tournament was won doing virtually the same thing and that team had over twenty pounds which was good enough for a brand new TZX 190 Skeeter with a 150 hp Yamaha HPDI.
Another beautiful thing about this type of fishing is that you can keep your bait selection very simple. It is mostly a power fishing deal that involves a lot of flipping, topwater, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits. All of our fish in the Carolina’s Bass Challenge division championship on High Rock Lake came on 4” Big Bite Baits Fighting Frogs in either Okeechobee Craw or Hematoma colors, 20lb Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon, 1/4oz weights, and 4/0 Gamakatsu Superline EWG hooks. I also like to throw a Spro Fat John around blow downs and docks as well. This bait is key for me as well since it only runs a few feet deep and heavy line doesn’t seem to impede the bait’s action like some other baits do. I typically put the Fat John on 16lb to 20lb Sunline Super Natural mono since I am throwing this bait in the middle of blowdowns or other heavy cover.
If you aren’t a fan of dragging a worm or deep cranking, don’t put your big sticks away after the calendar flips to June. Find some colored water and don’t be afraid to rub the paint off of the bottom of your boat. You might be surprised at what you find occupying the shallow water!