Start of TNT Series and Goals

What a day! I got up this morning with tourney fishing on the mind, and that's all I can think about. I can't wait until I am at the lake and making that first cast.

Today is shaping up to be quite a day. It has been lightly raining since this morning. The wind is slowly picking up. By 5:00 when i reach the lake we are supposed to have heavy rain, 15-25 mile an hour winds with gusts up to 35 mph and possibly lightning and hail. That kind of weather is not what I'm used to fishing in. I've always made a habit of staying off the water in those kind of elements. If I'm gonna be a tournament bass fisherman I better get used to it though. They don't schedule the tournaments according to weather conditions.

I have a rain suit so I am o.k. with the rain. I've never liked the wind. Growing up in Kansas that is all I ever had. The pontoon is a good boat for high winds. It cuts through the waves for a smoother ride and keeps you dry. It is tough pulling it in the wind. Mizike is picking it up from storage and pulling it to the lake though so I don't have to worry about that today.

I guess I should have practiced for more extreeme conditions like the Jamaican bobsled team did in the movie Cool Runnings.

I am still excited about this evening even with the bad weather and a boat that is not fully operational. I grew up fishing and I've always believed that as long as I am fishing it is a good day. It might even be a great day if we find the bass and can pull off a win.

Mizike thinks the bass will be deeper with the rain and the cooler weather. I think they will still be in the spawning grounds or close to them. I think with the winds churning up the water they will even be actively feeding. We'll see who's right.

I am going to start out with a Brown 6" curltail worm. On my other poles I have a jig and crawtail, a spinnerbait, a crankbait and a swimbait. I will probably only try the swimbait for a short time if it isn't working. I think it could pull out some big fish but what we really need today is a limit. If we get 5 bass in the boat we should place. Even if we get 3 in the boat we might place with this weather.

The big tournament is after the season. My first goal is to do good enough to get into that tournament. I also want to win one tournament and place in several others. The last goal I have is to come out of this series with enough winnings to pay for the entry fees. It would be nice to win more but I would feel successful if I got our money back. I would gladly pay the fuel cost and other costs to go fishing anyway. Oh yeah, more importantly than all of the other goals, I am going to have fun the whole time. I'm fishing with my best friend every week for 20 weeks. This will definately be a memory building season.

Someday when we're sitting around the dining room table talking to our kids and we'll bring up, "Remember the first year we started tournament fishing", and "We had to walk up hill both ways through 6 feet of snow just to make it to the lake, dragging the boat the whole way."