Last Sunday 12 members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our February tournament at Lake Lanier. After eight cold hours of casting we brought in 20 keeper bass longer than 14 inches that weighed 46 pounds. There was one five-fish limit and four members didn’t have a keeper.

Chuck Croft won with a nice limit of spots weighing 14.09 pounds and had a spot that weighed 4.46 pounds, a big one! My four weighing 10.95 was second and my 5.34 pound largemouth was big fish. Third was Don Gober with three weighing 6.39 pounds and Travis Weatherly, Chuck’s partner, came in fourth with two weighing 4.46 pounds.

I had heard a lot of big spots were being caught on a Fishhead Spin in the ditches at Lanier. But I have never been able to catch a fish on one even though I have been in the boat with guys catching them on it. So I have no confidence in it.

I started at daylight fishing that bait and others in ditches and on points. After almost three hours with no bites I went into Mud Creek to a deep brush pile I had been shown for a magazine article. It looked like fish were on it 35 feet deep on my depthfinder so I started jigging a spoon, and caught a 2.5 pound spot. That encouraged me!

Three hours and several brush piles later I had not had another bite. I decided to do something different the last two hours by going back in a creek and fishing the way I like to fish.

I was riding one last point looking for brush pile when Chuck pulled up to talk to me. He seemed surprised I had only one fish – he said they were hitting in the backs of the pockets on the Fishhead Spin. Of course I thought he meant in shallow water in the backs of the ditches but found out later he was catching them 30 feet deep!

I started to try that but went back in Flat Creek instead, going to my first idea. I smiled when I stopped on a rocky point and saw the water was a little stained and 52 degrees, several degrees warmer than the lake.

I quickly caught a keeper spot on a DT 6 crankbait, then missed a bite on a jig and pig in a shallow tree top. The next small pocket had a log in the back of it about two feet deep. I could see the whole thing, the water was not that stained. As soon as my jig and pig fell by the end of it the five pounder hit. It was great to catch a largemouth at Lake Lanier

The next small tree top about two feet deep produced another keeper spot, giving me my four. I am very glad I guessed right and went to shallow water and used baits I have confidence in!

What a difference a week makes! After my best catch ever at Sinclair two weeks ago I could not wait to go to the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament there last Sunday. And in it, after eight hours of casting, I had exactly one bite and caught one Lake Sinclair bass!

In our tournament ten members and two youth fished from 8:00 AM till 4:00 PM on a day that started very cold but warmed up a lot. We landed 11 keepers weighing about 25 pounds. There were no limits and six fishermen didn’t land a keeper.

Sam Smith won with four bass weighing 9.87 pounds and Niles Murray came in second with two at 5.54 pounds and his 4.34 pound largemouth won big fish, beating Sam’s 4.33 pounder by one one-hundredth of a pound! Robert Proctor had one keeper weighing 3.21 pounds for third, Raymond English finished fourth with two t 2.71 pounds, my 2.15 pounder was fifth and Russell Prevatt round out the folks catching fish with one at 1.68 pounds for sixth.

Sam said he caught his fish on a spinnerbait fished beside dock post first thing that morning. Robert said he caught his on a jig head worm. Raymond and Niles fished together and said they caught their fish on Carolina rigs.

I had my good catch the weekend before on a Rapala DT 6 crawfish colored crankbait and I made hundreds of casts with it, but got only one bite. Garrett Macyszyn fished with me on the youth side and cast a variety of baits but I just could not get us where the fish were feeding.

At Dennis Station at daylight the water was in the low 40s, about ten degrees cooler than the week before. But down the lake I saw water as warm as 52 degrees, only a few degrees cooler. But the sun was bright after the cold front that came through here after the snow, and I think bluebird skies and high pressure always hurts the fishing. Bass just don’t like those conditions and don’t feed much.

The water was still very muddy but that had not stopped the bass from feeding. The day before we fished, on Saturday, I heard there was a 12 team tournament in the high winds. Only five of the teams caught fish but two of them had limits, and there were three bass weighing over six pounds each weighed in.

As the water starts warming the end of February Sinclair should produce some outstanding catches since there seems to be a lot of four to six pound bass there this year.

On a fun note, I finally joined the Potato Creek Bassmasters. I had been thinking about it for years but fishing three tournaments a month seemed to be too much. But now I seem to only get the energy to go fishing when I have a tournament or an article to do, so I joined to make myself go more.

There is an old saying “even a blind hog will find an acorn every now and then.” I got real lucky in my first tournament with the club at Sinclair last Saturday and felt more like a pro than a Joe. Days like that make me wonder why I can’t do it more often.

In the Potato Creek Bassmasters January tournament at Lake Sinclair, 16 fishermen brought in 25 bass weighing 58.59 pounds. There were two five-fish limits and four people didn’t land a 12 inch bass in the seven hours we fished.

I won with five weighing 17.98 pounds and had a 5.59 pound largemouth for big fish. Niles Murray came in second with a limit weighing 11.39 pounds, Raymond English had three at 7.24 for third and Buddy Laster was fourth with2 at 5.76 pounds.

I had the kind of day I usually only dream of having. We started at 9:00 and at 9:15 I landed a four pound bass on a DT 6 crankbait off a dock post. Then at 10:15 I caught the five pounder on the same crankbait off a boat ramp.

For the next four hours I fished docks and rocks and landed two more keepers off dock post and lost two.

Then at 3:30 I caught another four pound bass on a clay point, again on the same crawfish colored crankbait.

The Sportsman Club is at Sinclair today for our February tournament. I probably used up all my luck last week and won’t catch a keeper today!

After an unusually warm, wet December the weather turned normal just in time for the Flint River January tournament, making for a slow January tournament on Lake Sinclair. It was very cold and windy all day last Sunday. But the lake water was still unusually warm. And it was as muddy as I have ever seen it from the December rains. You could almost track a deer across the coves.

Back in the 1970s and 80s Sinclair got muddy every winter. But even when the lake was muddy some of the lower lake creeks like Island and Rocky stayed relatively clear. Not this year. On most of the lake a chartreuse crankbait disappeared when it was about two inches deep. It was not much better anywhere I checked.

The water temperature was in the mid 50s, almost ten degrees warmer than most years. It was 55 at Dennis Station where we launched and I saw water as warm as 58 degrees in a creek near the dam. When I saw the temperature I was just sure I could catch lot of bass, especially after hearing about the Berry’s Tournament on Saturday.

In that tournament about 140 teams competed. It took five bass weighing 24 pounds to win! That is a lot but sometimes a team just gets lucky. But this time the top four teams all had five bass weighing more than 20 pounds, and it took five at almost 14 pounds to finish in 21th place and get a check!

As I talked about last week, our club fishermen are the “Joes” when it comes to fishing and some of the teams in the Berry’s tournaments are the “Pros.” The conditions didn’t change much from Saturday to Sunday so we can’t blame that. And the fish did bite for some on Sunday.

I was meeting Grant Kelly after our weigh-in to get information for my February Georgia Outdoor News Map of the Month article. He lives on the lake and is good friends with guide Matt Henry. Grant had called Matt and asked him to try to catch a big bass for us to use for pictures. Matt showed up at 3:30 with four bass, a five pounder, a three pounder and two more about two pounds each. And he said he had just lost another five pounder that jumped and threw his bait. So bigger fish did bite for some on Sunday.

In the Flint River Tournament eight members and one youth fished for eight hours to land 14 bass weighing about 29 pounds. There was one limit and four people didn’t have a keeper.

Don Gober had the five fish limit and it weighed 9.59 pounds for first. My three at 7.87 pounds was second and I had a 4.43 pound largemouth for big fish. John Smith had three weighing 5.98 for third, Niles Murray’s two at 3.22 pounds was fourth and Jack Ridgeway had one weighing 2.40 pounds for fifth. That was it!

Tyler Gruber fished with me as a youth. All our tournaments are adult and youth tournaments. I was worried since I knew fishing would be tough and I was afraid Tyler would get discouraged, but he fished hard the whole eight hours.

We started on a steep bank with rocks, fishing crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jigs. The wind was already bad, making it cold and hard to control the boat. For over an hour we did not get a bite, then something thumped my crankbait between two docks. I never hooked it and suspect it was a small white bass or hybrid.

After working into a creek we came to some brush off a seawall. I pitched my jig right to the seawall and moved it a foot or so and hit the brush, then a fish grabbed it. When I set the hook I yelled for the net since I could see it was a good fish but it was so close to the boat there was no time for Tyler to get it.

I lifted the four pounder out of the water, it hit the side of the boat, balanced there for a second and then came into the boat – and the hook fell out of its mouth! I came that close to losing it. That is why I hate lifting one over the side.

After spending another half hour fishing up the river we ran down to the dam. One of my favorite banks had wind blowing down it so it was hard to control the boat and cast, but on one of my cast with a crankbait right beside a seawall a keeper bass grabbed it before I could even turn the reel handle. I fought it to the boat and Tyler did a good job netting it. It was barely hooked on one of the back hooks.

An hour later, just after noon, I realized my trolling motor batteries were almost dead from fighting the wind. They are supposed to hold up better than that, they are only 14 months old. So I went to a protected area on a different sea wall to fish.

Some brush just off the seawall caught my eye and a pitch to it with jig and pig brought a thump. When I set the hook a two bass flew out of the water over my head into the water on the other side of the boat. When I got it back over the boat it fell off the hook. That made two of my three I really should have lost!

Not long before we had to head in I felt a thump on my jig and pig in front of a dock and landed a two pound catfish! That was the only other bite we got.

When fishing is tough like it was Sunday all you can do is make a lot of casts and hope.

Had a very good day for me at Sinclair today – my first tournament with Potato Creek Bassmasters. Had five weighing 17.98 pounds – my best five fish limit ever, I think, and definitely my best ever at Sinclair. All hit a dark brown crayfish DT 6 – three around docks, one on a boat ramp and one on a clay point. Biggest was 5.5 pounds, other two in pictures were around 4 each. One four pounder was first fish at 9:15 this morning, other four pounder was last fish at 3:30 this afternoon

The last tournament of the year didn’t go exactly as planned for me. I fished hard for eight hours and got exactly one bite. A fish hit my crankbait and jumped and threw it. It looked like a throwback but that was the way my day went. Congratulations to the folks that did catch fish.

At Jackson last Sunday 23 members of the Flint River Bass Club and the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our December tournament together. There were 37 keeper bass weighing about 54 pounds brought to the scales and all but 13 of them were spotted bass. There was one limit of five fish and 8 of us didn’t catch a keeper.

Chuck Croft won it all with a good catch of five fish weighing 12.34 pounds and his 4.85 pound largemouth was big fish. Brandon Stooksbury had three keepers weighing 5.12 pounds for second, third was Niles Murray with four at 4.98 pounds and Brian

Bennett had four weighing 4.40 pounds for fourth.

The water was in the upper 50s, three or four degrees colder than when I had fished with Jordan McDonald there on Tuesday. And it was much more stained. On Tuesday I could see a crankbait down about a foot, by Sunday I could see it down about four or five inches.

Now that the tournaments are over the clubs have their top six set. Those top six fishermen are the tournament committee in each club and the top fisherman is the tournament chairman for the coming year.

In the Spalding County Sportsman Club Raymond English won the point standings and had big fish for the year with a 6.61 pound largemouth caught at Clarks Hill last April. Zane Fleck was second, I came in third, Chris Davies placed fourth, Sam Smith was fifth and Billy Roberts rounded out the top six.

In the Flint River Bass Club I won the point standings, Chuck Croft came in second and had big fish for the year with a 6.02 pounder caught at Clarks Hill in August, Niles Murray placed third, Jordan McDonald was fourth, Jack Ridgeway came in fifth and Don Gober was sixth for the year.

At each tournament during the year the members catching fish earn points. In the Sportsman Club 1st place gets 25 points, 2nd 24 on down to 1 for 25th place. In the Flint River club 1st gets 100 points, 2nd 90 down to 10 for tenth place.

Some clubs use total pounds and ounces for their standings each year. The point system seems fairer to me. With points each tournament is worth the same. With weight the tournaments in the spring and fall are worth a lot more than the winter and summer tournaments when fishing is tough.

A January tournament is usually won with less than ten pounds, but in April a two day tournament may be won with 25 or more pounds. That makes one tournament worth a lot more based on pounds and ounces.

I keep a spread sheet for both clubs showing total fish caught each year as well at total weight. It is amazing how close the weights follow the points. For example, in Flint River I had 47 keepers weighing 85.23 pounds, Chuck Croft had 27 bass weighing 63.93 pounds and Niles Murray had 45 fish weighing 82.5 pounds. So Niles and Chuck would have changed places based on weigh.

In the Sportsman Club Raymond English had 52 bass weighing 88.68 pounds, Zane Fleck had 46 weighing 71.97 pounds and I had 51 weighing 94.46 pounds. The top three would have stayed the same with a pounds system but we would have changed order.

What really hurts is to zero a tournament. When that happens you get no points and no weight! It is very hard to win the points standings for the year if you have even one zero in the 12 tournaments.

All three Griffin clubs start new years in January. The Flint River Club meets the first Tuesday each month and fishes the weekend after the meeting, with tournaments on Sunday. The Potato Creek Bassmasters meets the Monday after the first Tuesday and fish their tournaments on the Saturday following the meeting. The Spalding County Sportsman Club meets on the third Tuesday each month and fish the following Sunday.

This is a good time to get in on the fun and join a bass club, or two or three of them! I fish with two clubs but some of the members fish with all three. We have a lot of fun, learn about bass fishing from each other and each tournament, and enjoy a little competition.

You don’t have to have a boat to join a club. Dues are about $75 per year and each tournament entry fee is about $30. There are also a variety of side pots in each club. There is not much money involved and you can’t really win enough to even pay for gas for your two vehicle and boat in a tournament, but it is not about the money. For those wanting to win money there are all kinds of pot, buddy and individual trails for that.

I joined the Sportsman Club in 1974 and the Flint River club in 1978 and have not missed many tournaments in either club in all those years. I do enjoy the meetings and the tournaments and plan on fishing club tournaments as long as my health will allow.

Last Sunday at Lanier 12 members of the Spalding County Sportsman Club fished our November tournament. In 8.5 hours we landed 14 keeper bass weighing about 34 pounds. All were spots, not a single largemouth was weighed in. There were no limits and four people didn’t have a keeper.

I managed to win with four weighing 11.84 pounds and my 4.30 pound spot was big fish. Niles Murray came in second with three weighing 6.49 pounds, Raymond English placed third with two at 4.71 pounds and Billy Roberts was fourth with one at 3.26 pounds.

I was looking forward to this tournament since I had won the Flint River tournament at Lanier two weeks earlier. In that tournament I landed three keepers the first two hours on three points not far from where we launched. So in this tournament I headed to those points as soon as we blasted off.

After three hours of casting with nothing to show for it I was real frustrated. In the Flint River tournament wind was blowing in on the three points where I caught fish but in the Sportsman Club tournament the wind was not hitting them.

A little after ten I ran to Mud Creek and stopped on a rocky point where I had caught my biggest spot ever, a 4.27 pounder, in a club tournament about ten years ago. The wind was blowing in on this point, so hard I had trouble fishing it, even with a spinnerbait.

As I rounded the point I saw some brush on my depthfinder but the wind was too strong to stop on it. After I got around to the lee side of the point I put down my spinnerbait and picked up a rod with a four inch soft swim bait on a quarter ounce jig head tied on it. I had never caught a bass on a swim bait but I knew it should be good.

After a few casts on the point I felt my line tick as the bait sank in about 15 feet of water. I managed to set the hook and finally land a spot that weighed 4.03 pounds. That really cheered me up!

I made a few more casts with the swim bait then picked up a jig and pig since I was in a good position to fish the brush I had seen. As the jig came through the brush a fish hit it and I landed the 4.30 pound spot, my biggest ever! That gave me two four pound spotted bass at Lanier in one day! Enough to win the tournament, but at the time I didn’t know that.

I got those fish recorded on my GoPro camera and it is a real comedy watching me try to get the fish to the boat, pick up the net and get them in the boat since I was by myself. What you can’t see is the fact I could see the fish in the clear water the whole time I was fighting them and was scared I would lose them.

I fished that point another hour without a bite then tried a couple more similar rocky points with wind blowing in on them but didn’t catch anything. At about 1:00 I went to a point back in Mud Creek and found a brush pile on it. After throwing out my marker I cast a jig head worm to it and landed a spot that was just barely 14 inches long.

When I got on top of the brush I used a drop shot and immediately got a bite. After a long fight on the light rod and eight pound test line I landed the two pound spot. That was it for the day although I fished hard until the end at 3:30. It was weird, I caught two fish two times within ten minutes of each other but nothing else in the 8.5 hours! That’s tournament fishing.

What Young Fishermen Should Do To Become A Pro
Professional Bass Fishermen Give Advice To Young Fishermen

Almost all young bass fishermen dream of becoming a professional bass fisherman in the future. A very few will. The idea of fishing every day, winning tournaments and being admired by other fishermen is enticing. But it is a hard life, and you must work, even in high school and college, to make your dream come true.

Fishing almost every day in tournaments and practicing for them sounds great. But it means long, hard days on the water no matter what the weather. And most don’t think about the travel to lakes all over the US with long drives, little sleep and being away from family and friends all during the tournament season.

Even in the off season a successful pro will spend many hours away from home while working shows. Presenting your sponsor’s products at boat shows, fishing shows and other events is critical for success, but it means even more travel.

You can be good at catching bass but there is a lot more that goes into a pro career. If you can’t get and keep sponsors you can not stay on the tournament trail. And those sponsors need people that can represent them well to the public, not someone that can just catch fish.

So how should a high school or college fisherman prepare for a professional fishing career? Some things may seem simple and straight forward. But others may not be so apparent. Who better to know and explain the things that you need to do than the guys fishing the Bass Masters Classic? As the BASS motto goes, they are living the dream.

At the 2014 Classic at Lake Guntersville and Birmingham I got to interview some of the pros fishing it. These pros ranged from first timers fishing the Classic to some who had fished more than a dozen Classics.

I asked them what a young fisherman needed to do to plan for a professional career. Their answers will give you good guidance in your planning to make your dreams come true.

Greg Vinson

Greg Vinson was fishing his third Classic at Guntersville after placing second in the 2012 Classic. I spent the practice day in the boat with Greg and he gave me detailed answers to my questions.

“Stay in school,” Greg said. “No matter what happens in your fishing career, a good education is important for the rest of your life,” he added. If your fishing career works out your education will help you. But if it something keeps you from being a professional bass fisherman, a college degree is very important.

Greg also said a young fisherman should fish every chance he or she gets. Join a youth club and fish those tournaments. Join a regular club as soon as allowed and fish them with more experienced fishermen and learn from them.

“Many young fishermen get too excited and don’t pay attention to detail,” Greg said. Learn to pay attention to detail. Make sure all your hooks are sharp and your reels are in good shape.

Also learn to pay attention to detail when on the water. Greg is good at this. He notices every bird diving, every circle of feeding fish and every change in wind direction.

All those are obvious but he also looks for little details like the size of the baitfish the bass are eating. One shad floating in the water can tell you what size bait to use. If a fish you catch spits up a crawfish, use baits that imitate them.

“Get the basics down,” Greg said. Learn to fish patterns, not places, and apply them to every lake you fish. Work on baits you don’t have confidence in until you do. Remember where you get bites, and learn from every one.

“Electronics are critical in fishing now,” Greg said. Learn to use them and what they mean. Work on all your techniques and get the mechanics of pitching, flipping and casting down so well you don’t even have to think about them, even if you are practicing in your back yard.

Patrick Bone

Patrick Bone was the only Georgia fisherman at the 2014 Classic. He qualified by winning a Southern Open but has done well on both the FLW tournament trail as well as BASS trail tournaments.

“Decide where you want to go,” Patrick said. Do you want to fish the top trails and travel all the time, or would you rather learn you home lake in detail and concentrate on tournaments on it. It is much easier to learn one lake and stay near home that to constantly travel all over the US fishing tournaments on new lakes.

“Remember you are starting at the bottom,” Patrick added. Don’t expect to hit the pro trail and instantly win, or to do well in every tournament. Don’t let bad tournaments hurt your confidence.

“Support at home is critical,” Patrick said. For a high school or college fisherman, support from parents and mentors can make all the difference. If married, lack of support from your wife will mean either the end of your career or the end of your marriage.

“Fish with clubs, youth teams and enter draw tournaments as a co-angler,” Patrick said. Learn from every day on the water. Try to find a mentor, an experienced fisherman to teach you as you fish. There are a lot of good people out there that can make your learning curve much steeper.

David Kilgore

David Kilgore lives in Jasper, Alabama and was one of nine contenders from Alabama, the most of any one state. He was fishing his first Classic at Guntersville but had won over $200,000 in 50 BASS tournaments in his career. He has qualified to fish the Elite Series three times but has turned each opportunity down. He cites the expenses of fishing the trail and time away from his family and business as reasons to not fish it.

“Join a high school team or youth team in your area and try to fish every tournament,” David said. “Pick a college with a fishing team and fish all those tournaments, too,” he added. There is no substitute for time on the water to learn the habits of bass.

Fishing high school and youth tournaments are likely to put you on lakes close to home, and you can learn from them. But college teams travel well away from their local area and that will teach you to find bass on unfamiliar lakes. You have to learn bass patterns that hold up no matter where you fish.

Fish other tournaments as a co-angler, and learn from every trip. Pay attention to everything you see and every fish you catch. David says you should keep a detailed fishing log of every bass you catch to help you learn how a bass’s brain works under different conditions. Keeping a good log you can review will help you learn.

Randall Tharp

Randall Tharp was fishing his first Classic at Guntersville after winning the FLW Championship that year. He had concentrated on the FLW tournaments but decided to fish the BASS Opens to qualify for the Elite trail, and won an Open so he qualified.

“Don’t get in a hurry to fish the pro trails, get an education first,” Randall said. Randall didn’t get his first bass boat until he was 30 years old so he got a late start, concentrating on education and business first, and now he is one of the top pros on both trails.

“Be true to yourself first,” Randall added. Don’t let your fishing take over your life. But fish every day you can within reason. Enter as many tournaments as possible as a co-angler, but don’t ever get into debt from your fishing.

Learn from others you fish with, but also figure out your own way of doing things. Every lake and every day is different. If you figure out your own way of fishing after learning from others, you can go to your strength in all tournaments.

“If you have a God given ability to catch bass, that special quality that sets you apart from weekend anglers, use it in the way that suits you. Develop your own style of fishing and don’t let dock talk make you change from your strengths.

To develop this skill, learn from others by being a Marshall in tournaments, fishing as a co-angler put time in on the water. Develop your confidence, probably the most important quality of a successful pro. But don’t let your fishing interfere with your home life.

Clifford Pirch

Clifford Pirch was fishing his first Classic in 2014 after winning over $213,000 in 32 BASS trail tournaments. He is a hunting and fishing guide from Arizona and has been successful on the FLW trail, too, winning over $740,000 there.

Clifford agreed staying in school, getting a degree in public relations or marketing, and spending time on the water is the way to go. But he also said there is a tremendous amount of information out there on learning to catch bass.

“Study magazine articles, information on the net and even newspaper reports,” he said. You can learn a lot and get some good ideas from them. Then put it with your information from time on the water and put all this together for your use.

“Make a pre-tournament plan and stick with it,” he said. Too many young fishermen try to fish every thing they can and miss a good pattern by not sticking with their plan. If you have put in the time studying for a tournament don’t waste it by not following your plan.

Kevin VanDam

Arguably the top bass fisherman of this century, Kevin VanDam has fished 24 Classics and won four. He is well known to most fishermen and a great role model for young fishermen.

“Stay in school and get a marketing degree,” Kevin said. If you can’t market yourself and your sponsors you will not be able to have a pro career. Kevin is a master at both, and his advice is critical for your success.

“Fish high school, youth, club and college tournaments,” Kevin said. Learn from experienced fishermen and get the basics down. But you also must learn to budget your time and energy in a tournament, and fishing them is the only way to do that.

Skeet Reese

I got to eat lunch with Skeet Reese at the media day and he spent time talking with me even though several of his sponsors were at the table. Many of the top pros were overwhelmed with media and sponsors demanding their time, but they all had a good attitude and were willing to answer questions. That willingness is critical to a pro’s success.

“Start out with high school and college teams as well as one day tournaments,” Skeet said. Don’t try to go too fast. Work your way up through Opens with the goal of qualifying for the Elite trail. Learn in every tournament as you go.

“Find a good partner to marry,” Skeet said. Support at home is critical for you to be successful. A good marriage will help you on the tournament trail. If you have problems at home, you will have problems in tournaments.

Aaron Martens

Aaron Martens lives in Leeds Alabama and was fishing his 15th Classic. He moved to Alabama to be closer to the bigger tournament trails and for the variety and quality of waters to fish in Alabama.

“Fish, fish, fish,” said Aaron. Fish a lot to get productive at it. But he warns if you don’t love to fish and fish competitively, you won’t do well. If it is a job rather than a pleasure you will have a tough time. It has to be in your blood.

Hank Cherry

Hank Cherry was fishing his second Classic at Guntersville and has won over $275,000 in 30 BASS tournaments. He placed third in his first Classic on Grand Lake in 2013 and has done well in FLW tournaments, too.

“Put fishing the pro trails out of your mind until you get a college degree,” Hank said. Your degree in marketing or PR should be your priority. Fish youth clubs, high school teams and college teams, but get your education then concentrate on your pro fishing career.

Edwin Evers

Edwin Evers has won over 2.2 million dollars in his career and is one of the most popular fisherman on the trails. He placed third at Guntersville in the 2014 Classic, his 13 trip to them.

“Stay in school, get a degree in marketing and fish a lot,” Edwin said. Fishing high school, youth and college teams is a great help, but don’t overlook other possibilities. You can learn a lot by being a marshal at tournaments, too.

“Learn from everyone and everything, but develop your own style,” Edwin said. Don’t try to get information about a lake that can mislead you. Consider anything you hear, but get on the water and confirm it but don’t get locked into something others have told you. Time on the water is the only way to learn this.

Jordan Lee

What better fisherman at the Classic for advice for young fishermen than Jordan Lee. He fished at Guntersvile as the college trail representative and placed sixth in his first Classic. Just 23 years old, he is the youngest Elite Series fisherman this year.

Jordan got hooked on bass fishing when he was ten and knew, after catching his first bass in his grandfather’s pond, that he wanted to be a pro fisherman. He went to Auburn University and fished the college team there and has done well in other tournaments, too.

“Fish a lot as a co-angler, make friends with the pro fisherman and learn from them,” Jordan said. That is the way to learn patterns and techniques to catch bass. Fish a variety of lakes so you can be adaptable.

“Learn to use electronics,” Jordan said. They are critical for catching fish in tournaments now. You have to get all the basics down, but electronics will show you the structure and cover to fish, and even the fish in it.

The obvious things a young fisherman should do, according to these pros, is to fish a lot, learn the basics and get a degree.

Less obvious is the consistent recommendation to get a degree in marketing or PR so you can market yourself and represent your sponsors. It might seem a degree in fisheries biology would help more, but you can learn the basics of catching bass on the water while getting and keeping sponsors so you can keep fishing.

Make your plans and start working toward the dream of being a pro fisherman now.

Last Sunday nine members of the Flint River Bass Club fished our November tournament at Lake Lanier. I think the rain scared off many of the members but it was weird. It was raining hard at my house at 3:30 AM when I was hooking up the boat and I had my windshield wipers on high all the way to I-85. Then it quit raining.

Everything was wet and misty, but during the tournament I never put my hood up on my rainsuit. Then on the way home I had to turn on my windshield wipers on high about the time I got off I-285 and on I-675 headed back. I am glad it held off while we fished.

In the tournament the nine of us cast for eight hours to land 12 keeper 14-inch bass weighing about 28 pounds. There was one five-fish limit and three fishermen didn’t have a keeper. There was only one largemouth – the other 11 were spots.

We did catch some good spots. Five of them weighed over three pounds each, and the biggest one weighed 4.79 pounds. That is a big spot. Spots fight harder than largemouth and are fun to catch.

I managed to land a limit and won with 8.87 pounds, Sam Smith had three weighing 5.56 pounds for second, Chuck Croft had big fish and third place with his 4.79 pounder and Don Gober was fourth with one at 3.77 pounds.

I started fishing a spinnerbait on a rocky point at 6:30 and landed my biggest keeper, a spot just over three pounds, on my second cast. At 8:00 I landed my second biggest fish on a jig head worm on another rocky point, then got my third keeper on the next rocky point I fished with the jig head worm at 8:30.

Catching three keepers in the first two hours made me feel pretty good, but I did not hook another fish until 2:00 when a keeper largemouth hit my jig head worm back in a pocket around some brush. With 15 minutes left to fish I ran to a rocky point near the ramp and, when I looked at my watch and saw it was 2:25 and I had to be at the ramp before 2:30, said to the fish and myself, ‘Ok, this is my last cast.”

As the jig head worm sank I saw my line jump and set the hook on a 14 inch spot, filling my limit. That is why I never give up and never go in early. You just don’t know which cast will result in a fish.

Fishing was tough for us at Lanier but folks that fish it a lot and know it are doing well. On Saturday it took five spots weighing over 17 pounds to win a tournament there and many teams in that tournament had five fish weighing over 12 pounds. And fishing there and on other area lakes will get better and better until Christmas if the weather this year is like it usually is here.