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Douglass Lake, TN
2001 Bassmaster Megabucks
May 8-13, 2001
05/22/2001 - Now here is a tournament where I was truly blessed. Never before in my career have I been on so few fish, yet come home with so much money! God has shown me once again that what the Bible says about giving really is true. You know, "give and it shall be given unto you", the law of the tithe. Our church just built a magnificent new sanctuary, and my pastor made a call to the congregation the week before Megabucks for a sacrificial tithe to help pay for the new building. Jill and I gave sacrificially, over and above our normal giving level on Sunday May 6, 2001. Glory to God, he blessed me in a a big way the following week at Megabucks as I finished 4th and won about $33,000. His word is true Church!!! Give and it will be given to you!
After the 3 day practice, I am on dinks and I know it. At the partner pairings before the first day of competition, I got paired with one of the top local fishermen on the lake(thank you Jesus!) Buster Lily said he was on some good fish up the river. I had a feeling I needed to go with him to his water, and I did. Now understand, I have fished about 80 Bassmaster Pro-Ams in my career, and I have never gone to my amateurs water the first morning of the tournament! Never, not one time! It is a hard thing to do. Especially if you don't know the guy. But I could tell this guy knew what he was talking about.
So we blast upriver to his water, and I have 13 pounds in the boat in one hour on a spinnerbait!! I end the day with 15 pounds and am in 2nd place. He had lots of good water, and was gracious enough to share it with me the last 2 days as well. I caught about 9 pounds each of the next 2 days, enough to finish 4th after the preliminary round. I weighed in one fish from the water I found in practice during these three days. I caught my fish on a buzzbait the second day, and a Berkley Frenzy Popper the 3rd day. I was working the same water all 3 days and had to show the bass different baits to get them to bite each day.
In the 10-hole final round, I got off to a good start in hole 3, catching a 4#12oz. bass and a 3# bass on a deep crank early. Unfortunately, I found these fish on a point with only 10 minutes remaining in the hole, and I had to leave them biting, which didn't make me too happy, but I was glad I found them and got the two nice fish. I fished deep the rest of the day, except in the hole in the back of the creek. I caught a lot of bass, mostly on deep crankbaits and 10" Berkley Power Worms. I weighed 12#7oz. and was in second place.
The final day, I drew hole 8 to start in. I really wanted to start in hole 3 again, as I felt I could win the event right there in that hole first thing in the morning. By the time I got to my point in hole 3 it was 11 am, and the big bass were gone. To make matters worse, it was a pure deep crank bite, and the anglers in the holes ahead of me for the final day were Fritts, Clunn and Davis, 3 of the best deep crankers in the world! It was a tough day, I fished shallow way more than I should have that final day, because it was just so tough mentally to follow those guys through the same water deep cranking. They just were not shallow, but I gambled on the unfished water.
I ended the final day with 6# 11oz and slipped to 4th place, but it was still a great blessing from the Lord!
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