The Lake of the Devil; Lake Mead 2012 US Open and the last stop on tour.

The US Open was notable, every US Open is different.  Lake Mead changes every day. I had a tremendous pattern.  The 1st day I had 9.75.  I saved my best water for day 2 but as everybody knows at the US Open everything has to go your way. I lost a 5 and 3 early and tried to shake that off  a 1/2 hour later lost a 3 lb smalley that came of and did the famous tail walk and hour and 1/2 hours later the same thing with another smalley.  I had my opportunities and I wouldn't change a thing if it happened tomorrow. I love that lake even though it's the lake of the devil.  I had the right pattern. 

Again, I would do the same thing tomorrow.  Day 3 by the way, my AAA and I, we knew it wasn't my time,  we were talking "how did that fish come off? ...how did that fish come off?"  It was really overcast that day, I lost a monster.  I didn't see the tree out in front of the grass where I hooked him.  He took it straight down...it just broke my heart.  But, it's all part of the game, and we'll all be back next year.  I feel our team is fishing better, we're getting closer and making great progress. 


I left my boat at Lake Mead, we came back a few weeks later for the last stop in the South division on the WON Bass tour.  I was pretty excited I think I was sitting in 20th place and I needed to have a good tournament to qualify for our championships held at Clear Lake in a couple weeks.  I moved into 15th in the south division.  I'm pretty excited, I brought in a 10 lb bag on Sunday.  I think it was the 3rd biggest bag that day.  It's about adjustments and making the right decisions.  I caught about 50 fish that 1st day just to get 5 keepers.  I knew I had to do something different come the 2nd day.  So I moved out about 10 feet and it paid off.  It's so fun when the pattern comes together and I was fortunate to draw a great Co-angler Alan Todd a dear friend of mine. 

So next on the schedule is the  championships at Clear Lake in northern California.  It's supposed to be cooler than Lake Mead, so I get to take my dog "Osa" this time.  Last year I had 2 days of 19 lbs each, so I'm hoping that this year will be better.  The boats running good finally.

Last year I ended in 9th place for the Daiwa Cup.  This year (thank goodness for my stong finish at Lake Mead)  I've moved up to 8th place.  So that's not bad.