Stopped

Well my 2011 FLW season is officially in the history books!  My two day total on Pickwick weighed a whopping 20 pounds 4 ounces landed me solidly in 84th place, smashing all hopes of qualifying for the FLW Championship. Ouch!

 I am writing this blog on my phone as I drive up I-65 North towards home.  Yeah, I know I should not be emailing while driving, but its all good as I have been sitting in stopped traffic for over one hour now! Please Lord..... I just want this week to be over!

Give-Away:  Brandon Adams!  I will send to you a Stihl shirt and hat if you send your snail address to jtpfishing@insightbb.com.    Keep watching, everyone, for the next give-away.

Headed Home

I couldn't get my truck headed home fast enough after today's weigh in.  I took a gamble today to try to catch up after a bad day yesterday and it only got worse. I ran to Lake Barkley (which is connected to Kentucky Lake) to an area I knew from an earlier event. The area historically has good fish and I did catch two nice ones, but only two! It is so hard to go to an area without first practicing there. If it works you are a hero, if it doesn't your a zero! Well, in my case.... 

Kentucky Lake - Day One

A small KY Lake 15" keeper

I caught more fish today than in any day of practice, but never caught a decent fish. My five keepers weighed in just under ten pounds.... I got crushed! I'll have to have one of those miracle stringer tomorrow if I'm going to take home any cash.

Kentucky Lake

I actually slept in yesterday morning until 7:30, then headed north from Pickwick Lake on the Alabama border to Kentucky Lake. It was a real nice drive through some country I hadn't seen before. I checked into my motel near Paris around 11 A.M. My plan is to stay on this end of the lake during practice since this is the end I plan on fishing in the tournament. On the off day, I'll move to a different hotel closer to the dam where we will launch from in the tournament. I can only hope I'm picking the right end. This is a big body of water and definitely can't see it all in three days of practice!

Crossing Tennessee River heading up to Kentucky Lake

Give-Away:  The Boomerang pliers and holster were thrown out there but came back!  Remember, to win a give-away you must check the blog daily and respond within a week.  doverchip@gmail.com, send your contact information to JTPFishing@insightbb.com and you'll receive these great fishing pliers in the mail.

In anticipation of our great new episodes starting July 2nd on Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors, jeffbtripp@earthlink.net will receive a Stihl tshirt in the mail if he sends his contact information to the above email.  Want to celebrate with a shirt of your own?  Check back tomorrow to see if you won!

Pickwick Lake Smallies

Yesterday, I got up very early and drove seven hours to Pickwick Lake which is the site of our final FLW event next month. Since my schedule won't allow me any other time to pre-fish before the off limits begins, my goal was to get a half day on the water just riding, graphing and GPS'ing any potential deep water spots for next month's tournament.

Even after my terrible finish at Red River, I am still in contention for the FLW Championship if I can do well in the last two events. It was definitely a productive afternoon and worth the extra driving and a day away from home. I even got a bonus, when right before dark a big school of Smallies came up chasing shad on a point I was graphing. I grabbed a Lucky Craft gunfish out of my rod box, made one cast, and caught a beautiful smallmouth! Hey, a guy's gotta have a little fun! Today, I headed on up to Kentucky Lake to get ready for practice which begins Sunday.

Give-Away Day:  I'm sending a Stihl shirt and a hat to follower Mac McBroom!  Mac, send your snail address to JTPFishing@insightbb.com and I'll get it right out to you.  Sadly, the Boomerang pliers and holster, a $40 value, has not been claimed.  I'll be drawing for that tomorrow morning.   Will you be the lucky winner?

Red River

As I write this blog it is 9:15 PM. I put in an extremely long final practice day today, trying to figure something out. The Red River is fishing so tough I can't believe it! I did catch a few decent keepers today though, including this nice Spotted Bass in the photo. I honestly think about 6 or 7 pounds a day here will make the money cut for $10,000.

Flooding

I left Benton, Kentucky early yesterday morning and headed south towards Shreveport and the Red River. It is only about an eight hour drive, but I wanted to get there early enough to prep my boat and tackle for today's practice. Near Memphis, I saw first hand the extensive flooding from the Mississippi River. In places, it came within several feet of the highway. I can only hope the water levels on the Red River continues to drop as projected.

Give-Away news:  We've heard from Roy Mims!  Congratulations, Roy!  Check here tomorrow evening for the next lucky winner and what I'll be giving away this week.

UMF: Do You Have What It Takes?

One question I get a lot is, "How do you pick the anglers for Ultimate Match Fishing?" Well, there are a lot of qualities that the Outdoor Channel Producers and I look at when selecting fishermen for UMF. The first is obviously their tournament history. We typically only choose anglers from the top two pro circuits, the Bassmaster Elite Series and the FLW Tour.

The second thing we look at is personality. UMF is a personality driven show and we need competitors who are able show their emotions on camera! We also like a variety of anglers. We try to pick both young anglers and older veterans. We have ones who are household names as well as little known up and comers.

Finally, we like guys guys who are hard core competitors because their passion, tenacity and desire to win really comes across on the show. Not to mention the fact that those are the guys who give our referee Mark Randolph the most grief over his calls and everyone knows I like it when Mark catches heat!

Who would you like to see on UMF?  Remember, one comment per day per person is another entry to win two Lucky Craft lures!

Exciting!

Ok, I know I'm sounding like a broken record but yesterday was another great UMF Match! Our competitors were Scott Suggs from the FLW Tour vs. Dustin Wilkes from the Bassmaster Elite Series. It came down to the wire and was super exciting to watch.

FLW announced today they have re-scheduled our canceled event for late July. Unfortunately for me, it falls right smack in the middle of my "High Places" hunting show shot in Africa.

Follow this blog and win!   Readers who follow this blog or subscribe to the blog by email will be entered into a random drawing in two weeks to win a Lucky Craft Pointer 100SP in Aurora Black.  The winner will be announced in two weeks on this blog, no later than May 9, 2011.

UMF: Another Great Match

We had another great UMF Match on Lanier today between Anthony Gagliardi and Gerald Swindle. G-man kept my crew laughing all day with his one liners and "Swindlisms".

Shooting Plano Tackle Segment

UMF Referee Mark Randolph

We also got word today that the FLW Tournament on Table Rock Lake was canceled due to record high water. Looks like I will get a much needed week at home!

Big Fish

Today's UMF Match between Bryan Thrift and Aaron Martins was awesome! Lots of big fish caught! Should make an outstanding episode. 

My zany UMF co-host Fish Fishburne

Got word today that the FLW Event on Table Rock might be canceled, due to the Noah's Ark flood they are having in the Midwest.  I almost hope they cancel the tournament since I don't really look forward to fishing picnic tables and parking lots!

Packed with Meaning

There are two things that I really hate about my job. One is the packing for extended road trips and the other is saying good-bye to my wife and daughters. Today, I got to do both!

It is especially tough when it is an long trip like this one, causing me to be gone over Easter! The first week of this roadtrip is to shoot the first round of UMF 2011 in Georgia on Lake Lanier, and the second is my 4th FLW Tour Event on Table Rock Lake in Missouri. Right before I left, my seven year old, Gracelyn, handed me a picture she drew of herself waving bye to me through the laundry room window.

Ouch, that hurt! Funny how you never read that stuff in the "Bass Pro" job description. 


Happy Easter, everybody! 

Looking to Tomorrow

Morning

Tough day today! I caught pretty much the same number of fish today as I did on my practice days, about 12 or so, but I just didn't have quite the average size. The water continues to fall, leaving a lot of the cover I'm fishing too shallow to be productive now. My 12 pounds 14 ounces has me right in the middle of the pack in 77th place. I am disappointed, but the weights are tight and a good day tomorrow could put me back in $10,000 territory!

Pattern on the FLW-Lake Hartwell

I was blown away by the size of the crowd at the final days weigh in at the Coliseum here in Greenville. It was a real grind on the water for me, only getting six bites all day, but my 11-15 limit was enough to move me from 10th to 7th place in the final standing on Lake Hartwell. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't extremely happy! I felt like I maximized what I had to work with, only losing one fish the whole event! 

 For those wondering my pattern, here goes: I was fishing a 1/2 oz. Chatterbait on 17lb fluorocarbon line, which I was slow rolling in the back of stained water pockets up in the Tugaloo River. The key for me was targeting shallow pockets off the main river with shallow flooded shoreline grass. The key, though, was that they had to have a ditch with a little deep water running into them. A pretty basic pre-spawn pattern, but for me it was with $16,500 and a smile on my face!

Day 3 - FLW Lake Hartwell

It was a squeaker, but I made the Top Ten Cut! I finished the day in 10th place with 11 pounds 4 ounces. Had it not been for an unfortunate mechanical failure causing Jimmy Houston to be late and ultimately disqualified, I would have finished 11th and sent packing.

The weigh in was held at the Convention Center in Greenville

 and the fans really came out in force.

We signed lots of autographs and met some great fans!

Regardless, I'm in and proud of it. My only concern now is that the massive amount of rain we are getting will blow out the backs of the shallow pockets I'm fishing. I'll just have to wait till tomorrow to see if I'll need to go to Plan "B". Oh yeah, I just remembered, I have no plan "B"!

Made the Cut

I made the 20 cut! It wasn't pretty, but I hung in there. The cold, bright, calm conditions were really not conducive to the shallow water fishing I'm doing. I got just enough bites on the Chatterbait I've been using exclusively to get the job done. I weighed five fish for 11 pounds 4 ounces.

I'm hoping the forecast of rain will help me tomorrow. Either way, I'm in the top 20 cut and very, very happy!

Before the Big Day

I slept in 'til 9 A.M. today. I love the FLW off day between practice and competition. It gives me a chance to catch up on emails and phone calls, work out, and prep my tackle. 

We had to drive 30 miles to Greenville for the pre-tournament meeting. The facility was very nice and they provided us all with a great complimentary meal of traditional southern barbecue. Tomorrow is a big day. Hope it goes better than practice!

Heading Out

Another full day today! I hit the gym this morning at 6:30 AM for an hour and a half then headed home to pack my clothes and tackle for my ten day road trip which will consist of shooting on Dale Hollow in Tennessee for Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors and then on to the FLW Tournament on Lake Hartwell near the South Carolina - Georgia border. Before I could head out though, we had to shoot a promotional piece for Arkie Jigs for a new Signature Swim Jig we recently designed. As soon as it was in the can, our editor, Larry, headed back to our studio to begin rough cutting it and our producer, Jim, and I headed out on a five hour drive to Dale. The hotel bed will definitely look good tonight.

Whistling Dixie

Today was definitely a catch up day for me after being out of town for the FLW Tournament all last week. After my 6 a.m. trip to the gym, I headed straight to my office to catch up on emails and go through my regular mail. After that, I hooked up the Ranger and headed over to my home dealer, Dixie Marine in Fairfield, Ohio to have them try to figure out a problem with my GPS fading in and out. 

I had to get it handled immediately since tomorrow I'm headed to Pickwick to shoot an episode of Stihl's Reel in the Outdoors and will definitely need it for the open water fishing we'll be doing.

As always, Dixie owner. Bill Lewis, got his guys right on it for me and Stevie found the loose wire under the console that was causing the problem. In my situation,  it is so important to have a home dealer who takes care of you right away. My hat's off to those guys at Dixie Marine for all they do to keep my down time to a minimum!

Pointed Home

Today was not nearly as exciting as the comeback on Beaver Lake yesterday, but it still started very early. I left Rogers, Arkansas and pointed my rig toward Ohio at 5:15 a.m.!  It took a hard 11 hours and 45 minutes of driving, much of it in pouring rain to reach my home in Milford.


I had to push hard to make it home in time to help my son, Ryan, with a video project he had booked this evening. Driving is definitely a big part of doing what I do and I've always been able to make those long forced marches without any problem. By the way, the drive is definitely a lot easier after a money finish!