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5/23/2008
Beaver Lake/ Texoma FLW/Stren Tour RecapIt's been a busy few weeks since Norman. The win was a great feeling and I want to thank everyone
for all their support and kind words since the event. After Norman I stopped off to visit my friend Terry Grimes who
works at Hendrick Motorsports. He has been inviting me up for a long time to come and tour the Hendricks facility and
it was unbelievable! As most of you know if it has wheels and you can race it then I'm interested in it. That
was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed meeting all the guys in the shop. Thanks guys!
Made it home for a few days
spent most of them on the phone with media and friends, did manage to sneak an afternoon in on the Yamaha 450 and play in
the dirt a while. Riding is really my true stress outlet. A few hours on the bike and I feel brand new again.
The next day it was off to Lake Texoma for the FLW Stren Series event. I figured I would hit this event just because
it was on the way to Beaver from my house and I always enjoy fishing Lake Texoma for some reason. Texoma was a little
behind from usual due to the late spawn this season. I ended up finding a mediocre dock pattern but there were still
many fish left on the banks, I was hoping the docks would get stronger throughout the week but it never really did materialize.
I ended up pounding the docks for two days struggling outside the money cut, I had a couple key bites that would have really
helped but it wasn't where I thought I could be so on the final day I scrapped everything and started over. Since
I wasn't in for the points I was simply there for the top ten cut and I knew I needed at 15lbs the last day to make it
so I started from scratch and just went fishing. I ended up flipping pieces of wood in spawning pockets and had my best
day and finished in the money when it was over. Didn't make the cut like I would have liked but I did manage enough
bites the last day to get me there I just didn't get the breaks to get me inside the top 10 so I can't complain too
much. Off to Beaver...
Drove all night to make it Beaver for the first official practice day of the FLW Tour.
I was like a kid in the candy store when the sun rose the next morning. Finally! A Beaver lake that doesn't
look like a fish aquarium in a dentists office! Yes! Maybe I can fish an FLW Tour event without a spinning rod
in my hand. I kind of forgot what that would be like. I broke practice up into two variables: Clear
and Dirty water. Spent two days in the clear and two in the mud. Mud was by far the winner in that category
after practice. The fish were right on the bank in about 8 inches of water and when that happens I'm not going to
miss out because it's too much fun. It seemed in practice as if the fish were suspended, not really on
the bottom so when you would flip it was more productive to swim the bait rather than just a straight up and down presentation.
My traveling partner Mike Hawkes clued me in on swimming the jig up in the water column and that helped me bigtime in
the event.
Day 1 was overcast/rainy and that led to trying a spinnerbait most the day, I didn't catch much on
it in practice but that day it seemed like it was the deal. I caught 15+ keepers the first day just never could
get a big one. Day two was totally different. The sun popped out and I never even picked up the spinnerbait, I
flipped all day and that is what they wanted. I caught a limit doing that and then started running around fishing
the dead shore grass swimming the jig, ended up catching a 4lb+ Largemouth on the jig and that gave me
a shot at the cut if I could manage one more 3lber with 2 hours to go. Ended up finding a little stretch that had them
on it, caught a few more and manged two more 3lb bites but just couldn't keep them on the jig, they weren't eating
it too good, the 4lber I caught earlier was on the trailer hook on the jig and the others came off on the way back to
the boat. That's just the way it is though. I had my chances 2 weeks in a row to fish the final day but
it just didn't work out. Don't think I'll complain too much after Norman though. Ended the tournament
21st and put myself in good position for the FLW Championship at Lake Murray this summer and that is the main goal for
the remainder of the season. Next event is up in Knoxville, I'm looking forward to it should be a blend between
off shore structure fishing and even some shallow stuff too. See ya.
2:36 pm
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