First off I would like to say thank you to everyone, it has been overwhelming the last few days with all the positive feedback from everyone.  I don't think you realize how much that means to me.  It is truly an honor to realize how many people support me in this crazy game that I love to play.

The last two weeks have been a great time.  First we fished the Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Fork.  That event is sanctioned by the PAA and it was an unbelievable tournament.  I really think that event is becoming the highlight event of most of our year's events.

I drove straight from that event over to North Carolina for the FLW Tour event.  I knew driving over there that it would be a spawn/post spawn deal on Lake Norman.  I only had two days to practice so I broke it down into sight fishing one day and post spawn the other.

The first day of practice I tried to locate a shad spawn bite around marinas/docks.  I ended up only getting one bite off a dock that day swimming a white Hoern Toad tackle jig but it was a 4 pounder.  I didn't get the bite till around noon so I had a good feeling if I arrived early when the shad were still spawning that I could get a few more bites in there.

The second day of practice I spent looking for sight fish.  I really didn't lock a lot of fish on the GPS on beds just a few simply because I felt that a lot of those fish would be gone two days later after the off day and in that situation I felt I was better off just running "fresh" fish I found during the tournament rather than wasting time force fishing a bed fish I found two days prior that may or may not be there or want to bite.  They had already come up in a big wave many days prior so I knew it was going to change during the event and I hate to get locked in on specific fish.

Day 1 of the event went smooth as can be.  Started on the main lake marina and busted 12+ pounds right off the bat on the white jig.  That gave me the ability to fish real "loose" the rest of the day.  I started getting pickier on my sight fish and covering more water quicker.  I realized real quick that if you simply hustled and only fished for the better quality fish that there were enough quality fish out there to catch 5 each day.  I ended up culling 4 of my 5 fish that I caught from the marina and ended the day with 5 clone 3 pound fish @ 15lbs and finished the day in 2nd.

Day 2 of the event my goal was to simply make the cut and worry about the rest later.  The shad didn't spawn on the docks so I ended up with only one small keeper that I later culled out.  I hustled all day sight fishing and ended the day with 12lb 11oz. and finished the day leading the event.

Day 3  My goal for this day was to simply put myself in position for a chance to win on Sunday.  Started off on the docks and the shad were not spawning again this morning.  I really felt that any day they would fire again since they were spawning so good the first morning but they never did the rest of the week.  I did notice a 3+ suspended up under a house boat that I snuck up on and caught on the white jig so that did put me one good fish up starting off the morning before I had to go sight fishing.  The sight fishing was getting tougher simply because it was tailing off from the major wave of spawners earlier in the week.  My game plan each day was to run new water and leave most of the old stuff behind.  I ended the day with 13lb 5oz and leading the event after day 3.

Day 4  This is the day that matters.  I try to just think of the other days as just qualifiers, this is the day that counts.  The weather was also different from the previous three days so I knew I would have to change up a little also.  My goal for the day was to catch the best stringer I had caught all week.  The night before I had looked over my maps and located several places that to me looked like they were not convenient to access.  After 200 boats pounded the lake for a week the lake was getting a little stingier.  I looked for places with No Wake zones and off the wall places that were off the beaten path and that was the key for the final day.  There were several "fresh" fish in these places and that really made the difference on the final day.  The other deal I learned was that they would not react to the Porky's Revenge shaky head like they had in the past three days so I settled on a weightless wacky worm and that was the deal for the final day.  I had a good limit that I felt gave me a chance until with about five minutes to fish I caught a 4 pounder and it became one of those classic "last minute" seal the deal finishes.  The most common question I get asked by people in everyday life is "Why?"  Why do you do it?  When I caught that final fish and had that adrenaline rush and was filled with emotions during the run back in to weigh-in the answer was pretty clear to me why I play the game!