FLW Championship 2012

  Overall I had a great time at the FLW Everstart Championship..  I got to meet and fish with alot of people that I would of never fished with.  It was cool participating in a tournament with such a high caliber of fisherman from around the country..  I finished in 77th place out of 153 .. It was the middle of the pack,but, this pack consists of the 153 best FLW anglers from all over the country..  I feel comfortable with my finish and hope to stay within this group of elite anglers..  Next year the FLW will not have a championship due to budgeting. My goal for 2013 will still be to stay in the top 40 of the Pro side in the Everstart series.  With the continue support of my family and friends and the great group of traveling partners, I will continue to promote myself and my sponsors in the 2013 season.
  I would like to thank Sportsman Center,Reileys Outboard service for there support throughout this year.. I am looking forward to working with these great sponsors again for 2013 and I've added Power Pole and Power Team Lures to my team.. With these great sponsors and the support of my friends and family, I am looking forward to a great 2013 season.. 
   THANK YOU !!!

FLW Championship Day 2

  I was partnered with Lamonte Loyd from Gilmer Texas.  Lamonte is a great Texas fisherman and showed me a short ride north about 300 yds from the launch.  We started fishing before the rest of the 153 boat field was even out of the gate.  We were fishing submerged rocky points along the river. The first 2 fish to the boat were caught on a deep diving white crank bait, then the fun started.. Lamonte chose to use a C-Rig on the point and I went with a shaky head with a green pumpkin hula grub. We caught multiple spotted bass and even had double hook ups for the next couple hours... It was a blast catching that many fish...too bad most of them were 11 3/4 inches long..BUMMER!!!!  12 inch limit in this derby!!!  it was fun tho. We then moved into a slough and the fun continued.  My Texas pro flipped every piece of cover while I chose to run a blade by each piece of cover.. I hooked up 4 times on blade fish and lost every one within 2-3 feet of the boat!!!  These fish were just slapping at my blade and not committing to eat it.  I even lost a good 3# fish that would of put me in the top 20 and possibly the top 10.. After I lost my first fish I put a trailer hook to increase the hook up but that didn't cure the problem.. After all was said and done I only weighed in 1 fish on day 2 which put me in 77th place

Day 2

Morning Coffee tent

My Phoenix 721 with Clay Lippencott at the controls

FLW Championship 2012 Day 1

I was partnered with Derick Hicks for day 1, a somewhat local from Georgia.. We traveled 50 miles south of the launch in his Bullet Bass Boat..  We had a good day on the water,conversation was great and he is a pretty good partner for the day.  The water we were fishing was cleaner than any I had fished during practice.  Most of our fish come on spinnerbaits thrown around lay down trees and along the bank.. I did catch fish on a white and black square bill crank, a RC square bill in a ghost shad pattern and a white spinner bait.. My biggest fish came on the W/B crank around a lay down.  I finished 47 on day 1 with a weight of 3.12 ...

Morning launch Day 1

Waiting for Blast Off!!!

Practice Days 2012 FLW Everstart Championship
   We had 4 days of practice for the Everstart championship.  This was the first time I had ever fished a stump infested river system..  There was so much baitfish here!!!  When we idled into the backwaters of the Ouachita River it looked like rain on the surface as the baitfish would jump and flutter around your boat..  Now being from the west , we've learned to target balls of bait,but, when you have literally millions and millions of shad all around you its like a baitfish overload!!
  Practice wasn't too productive,between five of us we would catch 5 or 6 fish a day.. Not too promising!!!  As the week went on the weather got warmer ,fishing got better.  We did catch a 45# Alligator Gar which was impressive!  All and all the confidence was not on the high side.  I did figure out a Drop Shot ,Crankbait bite that I felt would at least put me on stage.

Bass Pro Shop  Bossier City Louisiana

Running the Ouachita River

FLW Championship 2012

FLW Championship Stage

Barge on the river during practice

Phoenix 721 and Ranger( Matt Stasiack) backwaters of the Ouachita River

Running the early morning fog