Before we get into the how and where of the derby win on T-Rock last week, let me clarify a statement that opened the tease for this. In the tease, I said that money was tight in the K-Pink hacienda and it was. Not so tight that we were in fear of losing the farm or anything like that, but K2 and I were working very hard to be even more frugal than normal. When your accounts payables are way more than you’re receivables, guess what? It’s pretty simple math; you better have some jack socked away to pay the bills. After doling out almost $51K in entry fees for the Elites, Northern Opens and Northern EverStart’s and winning a whopping total of $28,731.00, it doesn’t take a CPA to realize that red ink is flying. Add to that 51K figure travel expenses for 15 plus weeks, a truck, a boat, and the assorted tools of the trade, and there was a LOT of red ink spilled on the carpet. Fortunately, I had banked a big chunk of the past two Elite wins and we had a cushion, but the cushion had limits and we were efforting to be smart.
Be smart - that’s one of the things I’ve always tried to do when it comes to the business side of fishing. I can’t say that every decision I’ve made has been spot on, but I’ve always looked at this thing we call pro bassin’ as a business venture. I told K2 when I first began tourney (that’s a stupid word for a derby) angling that we were in it as long as we could make it pay for itself. We both agreed that we had no desire to go into debt to chase fish. Period. Fortunately, I, or in some cases we, had been able to catch enough and win enough along the way up from local tourney’s (stupid word) to the Elite Series to cover expenses and even show a profit in some years. That’s what you’re supposed to do in a business. Going into 2012, there were obviously bigger numbers on the Loss side than the Profit side of the P&L sheet. Very frustrating.
I know there are quite a few out there in the bassin’ fan world who believe that we pro’s have everything handed to us on a platter. No charge boats and motors, no charge rods, reels and line, trucks to drive off the lot at no charge, sort of like a smorgasbord of free tools of the trade. Not true, Batman. Sure, there are a few guys who get a no charge hull – very freaking few and the number is dwindling rapidly. When boat companies were selling 1000’s of boats a year, they could afford no charge hulls. Now? Even the biggest bass boat companies are only selling 100’s a year and that number is declining with just about every report. Do you really think they can hand out a no charge hull to every Elite angler? Do the math on that one and it won’t add up. We pay something for just about everything we use. Might be a healthy discount in some cases and there might be some smaller items that are n/c, but for the most part, we pay something, so get off that “free stuff for all” crap; it just ain’t happening. Now that we have finances out of the way, here’s how T-Rock was won.
After making a detour to BassCat on the way up the hill, we arrived at The Rock late Thursday afternoon. Friday morning, K2 and I ran up to Springfield to visit with the folks at Lew’s. If you haven’t checked out the new Lew’s Speed Spools at your local dealer, you need to take a drive. That afternoon, James Niggemeyer and I hopped in the BassCat and ran up to Long Creek for a few hours. Shad, shad, and more shad. There was one section of the creek that had scads of shads bunched up in it. We caught a few small fish (no keeps) and I thought it might be worth a little more exploration later in the week. I spent all day Saturday fishing deep; 25 – 50 foot. The last time I had been on the pond was September of 2006 when I had finished third in the Elite Series event. Those fish had come from 30 – 40 foot on a Carolina rig. With the extended summer, I felt like those fish might still be out there and some of them were. Over the course of that first full practice day, I managed to catch several decent keepers and one monster spotted bass, mostly on a drop shot fished in or next to brush and rock piles. Fortunately, I had found 10 – 15 piles on that previous visit and had a good start.
Day two of practice, Sunday, I drove up to Cape Fair and fished the James Arm from dark to dark. Fished everything I could find that I thought would hold fish. Fished hard and caught between 40 and 50 fish. 3 keepers. Not 3 whoppers, either. Justakeeps – just barely over the 15 inch line. One came on a WEC Hicky from a gravel pocket, one on a War Eagle buzzbait from a tree suspended over a channel swing, and one on a WEC E1 from a log laying on a flat. Yep, I really had a pattern going here. Monday and most of Tuesday, I stayed in the mid section of the lake and worked to refine my deep bite. I felt like I could catch 11 – 13 pounds and be fairly consistent. Late in the day on Tuesday, I ran back to Long Creek to see if a shallow bite had developed. I spent less than an hour in there and caught two fish on the E1 that weighed between two and a half and three pounds each from isolated wood. Hmm, I thought. This could be my backup, in case the deep bite goes FUBAR. I felt like I might even be able to run to it first thing on Thursday AM and pluck off a couple on a spinnerbait or buzzbait before working over the deep bite.
Thursday, Derby Day 1, started out cloudy and windy. Perfect conditions for rolling down the bank and throwing a Wiggle Wart or spinnerbait, which is how several of the top weights were captured. Only problem I had with that was the fact that my Wiggle Wart box was on the shelf in Mayflower (stupid, stupid… how can you go to Table Rock without a Wiggle Wart?). I ran down to Long Creek and started cranking and spinning around some of the shallow wood. Caught a few shorts, then managed one decent keep on the E1 before getting a case of the runs and deciding that I needed to get out to my deep bite. I spent the rest of the day running brush and rock piles with a drop shot and a spoon, capturing two more keepers. I finished the day in 22nd place with a whopping 7-10. Woo freaking hoo. I knew that I needed to make a change the next day, just wasn’t exactly sure what that change needed to be, as my deep bite had seemingly vaporized.
Friday, Day 2, came with fog. We didn’t leave the ramp until 8:40, which shortened everyone’s day by an hour and a half. The forecast was for bright sun and little to no wind. Boy did they peg that one. I had decided that with the weather change from the previous day, I needed to reverse my run and fish deep early then shallow late, after the sun had warmed the shallow water. After running 25 miles up the White arm, I captured a decent smallmouth from a rough spot on the corner of a pocket with a Jewel Pro Spider jig, caught a few shorts, then the deep bite died. I’m talking d-e-a-d. Time to roll.
I ran the BassCat Mercury 25 miles back down the White and another 12 miles up Longs before dropping the MotorGuide. Spent the rest of the day on high, chunking and winding and flipping and pitching to figure out where in the creek there were a few keeper fish. I knew there had to be a couple in there somewhere; there were just too many shad. I fished so far up the creek that the water cleared and the temperature began dropping – too far. I headed back down the creek and stopped at a small, flat pocket that had 4 pieces of wood laying along the bank. Caught a non-keep off the first piece with the E1. Made a couple of casts to the next one and a chunk nailed it. When he did, he stirred up mud from the bottom, which caused the light bulb over my head to get just a little brighter; these dudes were shallow.
Two in the box, I headed back around the corner where I had seen multiple pieces laying down a long flat. I pulled another decent keep off the second or third piece that I came to on the flat. I remember thinking, hey, I might have a check here. Pulling the E1 along the edge of a bushy tree in about three foot, a big fish hammered the bait and took off across the top of the water. That fish was over 4 pounds and told me that there was something in there bigger than the two and a half to three pounders that I had been catching. Yep, I’m getting a check for sure now. Out of time, I headed back to the weigh-in to get my check.
When I went across the stage with my 10-7, I was in fourth place. I wasn’t sure I would make the Top 12 with 18-1. Maybe I would squeak in a get another shot at the creek. Turns out I only fell one place to fifth, yet I was 4 pounds behind Tommy Martin, who had been the most consistent the first two days. Being a guide for many, many years on Toledo Bend, you have to figure that a guy like Tommy was going to catch fish every day. In fact, many of the truly tough, low eight tournaments are won by guys who are guides or have guided, as they are just flat out going to catch some fish every single day, no matter how tough the bite. I knew I would need a sack of whoppers the last day to even have a shot at the title and the only place I felt like I could catch big largemouth was back up the creek.
Day 3, Title Day, and it’s, once again, foggy. This time we get away from the ramp at 8:45 and I run straight south to Long Creek where I drop the MotorGuide on the best stretch of flat bank. About ten minutes into the day, I pull a keep off a submerged piece of wood and the race is on. Moving on, I pull up to one of the best pieces of wood in the whole creek. It was actually 4-5 big logs and laydowns laying together at all different directions in 3-4 foot of water on a gravel corner. I had cranked it hard the previous afternoon with no results. On the third cast, I hooked one of the whoppers that I needed and boated a 4-11. I know it was 4-11 because Chris Bowes asked me to guess its weight on the stage that afternoon and I guessed 4-11. He dropped the fish on the scales and it weighed 4-11. Meant. To. Be.
Feeling good, I moved to the opposite side of the creek and continued around the corner. About an hour later, I pulled off one that looked to be close to three pounds. Uh-oh, I thought, can’t be doing that. I figured I would get 4-5 keeper bites during the day, IF I was lucky. Not much room for error. Continuing to jump from flat to flat, I picked up another decent keep from another piece and yet another in the 3 pound range from a couple of deep logs. Time was running out and I had fished every piece of wood that I could see in the creek. I had even fished through the best stretch from the previous day without even catching a small fish, which told me that I needed to look for new water.
Running to the back of nearby Cricket Creek, I started down a bank that was littered with wood. From one of the biggest pieces, I boxed another 4 pounder. Holy smokes, I’ve probably just finished off a 15 pound limit, I thought. I’ll move up for sure. That’s when I started doing the math in my head.
If Tommy catches another 11, he’ll have 33...
I should have about 33...
If Snowden catches another 10 or 11, he could have 32 or 33...
This might be close...
It wasn’t.
I blasted 15-7. Won by 7 pounds.
Un-freaking-believable. If you had asked me Wednesday evening at registration how this one would have been won, I would have said it would be won in 20 plus foot of water. Just goes to show you that you have to keep an open mind on the water every day.
Ah yes, then there’s that vanishing Classic spot. Nope, I didn’t qualify for the Classic because of the win. Although I fished all three of the Northern Opens, this was the only Central Open that I fished due to schedule conflicts. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. I wasn’t a big proponent of the “win and you’re in” thing for the Opens from the beginning. The Elite’s, yes, as it’s a static field and the overwhelming majority of the winners qualify through points for the Classic anyway, which opens up spots below them. The Opens always have and always will have an element of jackpotting. The Centrals had a total of 196 boater entrants this season, yet the largest field was at Lewisville, with 160 entries. Muskogee and Table Rock had 136 and 135 entries, respectively, on the boater side. 5 of the 9 Classic spots for the Opens will be vacant. It is what it is. Again, not the player, but the game.
K-Pink with Cash
About Kevin Short
