I won $ 75,000 at that Cup , which allowed me to buy a new truck , pay all my entry fees for the 2010 FLW Tour , and pay the taxes on it . That was my plan at the time : This is my one shot at the tour . Here we go , let ’ s see if we can make this work . I won something like $ 30,000 that year on the Tour , finished 43rd in the points . I knew that I couldn ’ t afford to do it again on $ 30,000 , so I thought ‘ Cool , at least I got to try it ’ – I ’ d planned to just go back home and go back to work .
But then along came the 2010 Forrest Wood Cup at Lake Lanier , which you qualified for through the old National Guard Series . You finished second in that event to Kevin Hawk , and picked up a paycheck for $ 100,000 . Is it safe to say that that event gave you a second chance ?
I had the one-year plan that turned into a two- or three-year plan because I hit that big one for $ 100,000 . It allowed me to go on for at least a couple more years – I set that money aside for entry fees and travel , went out and had some success the next few years on Tour . But how many guys don ’ t get that lucky break ? I just happened to do good on Lake Lanier and it gave me the break I needed to really go after it .
Your typical travel year as a West Coast resident fishing as a tour-level bass pro is pretty astounding . I understand that was especially crazy this year , not only because of COVID , but because you recently moved to Idaho after living your entire life in Northern California . Talk about your 2020 schedule .
On a normal year , I drive back East one time , to go to Florida or wherever we happen to start the season . I make one four-day , 3,000-mile trip from California , leave my truck and boat at friends ’ houses in Alabama or Arkansas or Tennessee , and fly back and forth between tournaments . It ’ s still a ton of driving , but I ’ ve figured it out enough that it ’ s manageable . This year , though , I started off the year fishing a ton of stuff in Northern California , made the long dive to Eufaula , Alabama for the first Bass Pro Tour event , and then did the usual drive-and-fly schedule for Lake Okeechobee and Lake Fork .
But when this COVID stuff all hit , I flew home from Lake Fork and then had to fly back out to Texas to get my rig and drive it all the way back out to California . I then had to drive it all the way back out to Florida for Heavy Hitters . We finished up there , went straight to Lake Chickamauga for the Pro Circuit event , then to Sturgeon Bay . I went from there to the World Championship , then to La Crosse , then to Lake Erie for the final Pro Circuit event . I ’ d fly home for two or three days to help my wife Keri pack for the move .
I ’ ve never driven back-and-forth across the country more than two times in a year , but I did it six times this year . I say this all the time : I ’ m a fulltime trucker and part-time fisherman , but this year was by far the most I ’ ve ever driven .
You have the best / worst truck-storage story I ’ ve ever heard . Remind me again of your ‘ rats nest ’ experience on the FLW Tour .
That ’ s quite a story , isn ’ t it ? I had fished a tournament on Beaver Lake in Arkansas and had gone from there to my buddy Stetson Blaylock ’ s house , about three hours away . I left my vehicle there for two weeks , flew home , and then flew back out to go to the next tournament at Table Rock Lake . I jumped in , cranked it over and … nothing . Totally dead . I popped the hood and found a GIANT rat ’ s nest on top of the motor . They had eaten a bunch of the wires in my motor . I got the truck towed to a dealership , and it cost $ 2,500 to fix it up .
I drove from there to Table Rock in Missouri . After that event I popped the hood before I flew home and saw some acorns sitting on the motor . I thought to myself ‘ Huh , that ’ s odd ; they must have not cleaned the motor good after they fixed it ’. I drove 10 hours to Montevallo , Alabama from there , left my truck with my buddy Clent Davis and flew home again . But I had this weird feeling , so I asked Clent to check my truck , and what do you think he saw when he popped the hood ? Yep , another rats nest , bigger than the last one . They ate all the wires again , but even worse .
Apparently , this family of rats had been living somewhere in the truck , and had travelled from Benton , Arkansas to Table Rock to Alabama . That ’ s about 20 hours on the road . Those rats were some travelers .
Now that you ’ re finally off the road and settled into your new place near Boise , Idaho , I ’ d imagine that you ’ ve already started to figure out where the best bass fisheries are .
We haven ’ t been here long , but I can tell you that I absolutely love it here . The rest of the world underestimates just how good the bass fisheries are in Idaho . There are tons of big smallmouth to catch all around here . The Snake River is three hours away , the Columbia River is close , and there are all kinds of little out-of-the-way largemouth lakes that I guarantee you ’ ve never heard about before . There are so many cool , underestimated fisheries that are going to be totally new to me .
When I ’ m fishing those places in Northern California that you see on my social media – Lake Shasta , Bullards Bar , Clear Lake – I ’ m super familiar with all of it . I ’ m definitely not bored with any of it , but I can ’ t wait to get to places like Lake Owyhee , Brownlee Reservoir , Dworshak Reservoir ; all of these places where I keep hearing about guys catching big ones . I ’ m stoked about all of them . We still fish the ‘ mystery lake ’ format in the MLF Cups , where we have to fish new lakes that we ’ ve never seen before , and just figure them out on the fly . That ’ s what I ’ ll be doing at these new lakes around Idaho .
Having said all that , is it still safe to say that you ’ re going to be fishing in Northern California this fall and winter ?
Of course ! My year definitely isn ’ t over . It ’ s my wintertime ritual to go to Lake Shasta , Bullards Bar , all those places that I ’ ve fished for years . Also , there ’ s a Toyota Series scheduled for January on Lake Shasta that I ’ m really looking forward to . I just love those spotted bass fisheries , and I plan to keep fishing them every fall and winter that I have the time .
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2020 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | FLWFISHING . COM 71