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January 1-6
(Florida, Vero Beach)
We spent the first part of the week with Mom’s friends from Rhode Island. We had so much fun, and it’s wonderful to see that Mom has a great group of friends to help her out. After everyone left we gave Mom intense computer training classes, and tried to help her get a few more projects done around the house before we left. We also spent another full day going back to look at 2 more motorhomes. We’d seen them before, and they are our two favorites. We went through them this time from top to bottom, took a lot of notes, and think we may be buying one of them. ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Friday, January 7
(Florida, Vero Beach)
We’re leaving Mom and Vero Beach today to get back to work - fishing. We have two big tournaments back-to-back on Lake Okeechobee, starting the week after next, so it’s time to get on out there. As we had spent the previous month continuously moving stuff in to Mom’s house, we had quite a time fitting it all into the Bronco this morning. We eventually said our good-bye’s and headed out, stopping to pick up the camper and the boat at the campground, and we were off to the lake, about 75 miles away. We arrived at Okee-Tantie recreation area, at the north end of Lake Okeechobee, around 3:30, got our camper hooked up, and the boat prepped, and cooked a nice dinner for just the two of us out on the grill. Dan can’t wait to get out on the water. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, January 8
( Florida, Lake Okeechobee)
Dan left early to go fishing and I am trying to just find places to put all the boxes full of stuff I have to unload. Dan was home by 11:30, and we drove out to Arcadia to see a few motorhomes (actually, bus conversions) for sale. We spent the afternoon on this project, we didn’t like what we saw, and we decided on the way home to make an offer on the motorhome at Buddy Gregg’s that we liked so much. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, January 9
( Florida, Lake Okeechobee)

Dan Writes:
Yesterday I spent most of my half-day up the Kissimmee River, and never got a bite, so today is my first real day on the lake. I ran around the north end to all of the places where there were loads of fish last year, but things have changed. All of the water up here is dirty (low visibility), and all of the eel grass beds around Eagle Bay Island from last year are now gone. Next I ran over to what I call the northeast corner, which is east of the Henry Creek Lock, and while all of that eel grass is still present, the water is very dirty there also, so I left. I went on down to the "North Shore", which is not the north shore of the lake but actually the north shore of Fisheating Bay, over on the west shore. Anyway, this is where the FLW tournament was won last year, and it is probably the most popular fishing area on the lake. It is not uncommon to count over 100 boats, both bass fishing and crappie fishing, in this area at one time. And for good reason, at this time of year anyway, there are always fish there, and lots of them. I pulled in today and fished for perhaps two hours, without any luck. Part of this time was spent re-acquainting myself with the area, as it changes somewhat every year, and especially this year as a result of a big hurricane that blew through here and made significant changes to some areas of the lake. On the north shore here, most everybody pitches worms or some other soft plastic into holes in the eel grass, looking for bedding fish. Too close in to shore though, and hydrilla covers the bottom of the holes; too far out, and the water is too dirty to see the holes, but there is a band of productive water in between. I was in this band, and I had just changed to a bait that a friend in New Hampshire, Scott Parker, had given me, when I started catching fish. I caught one about 3 lbs., and then a few hundred yards later, in the midst of a group of other bass boats, I landed a 4 lb’er, and on the very next cast another 14" keeper. I carefully sat down in the boat, re-rigged my bait, and when no one was looking picked up a different rod and continued fishing. I had just realized that this bait Scott gave me must be like candy to these fish, so I don’t want to throw it any more with other boats watching me. I finished out the day with maybe a 12 lb. limit.

Annie writes:
Dan went fishing all day and I worked in the house all day. I would love to be out on the lake with him, it is such a beautiful day, but I must get our home organized or it is going to be very uncomfortable to live in. When Dan came in we had dinner and then put our proposal into final draft. We came up with an offer and a list of things we would like added, fixed, or changed. Tomorrow morning I will email it to them. Wish us luck!! ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, January 10
( Florida, Lake Okeechobee)

Dan Writes:
Fished with Mark Rose today. We took my boat, trailered down to the very south end of the lake, and put in just after daylight. As the water is dirty up in the north end, and also over on the west side, I was hoping to find some clear water down here. It’s just as bad or worse here though. We fished the eel grass in Bay Bottom, the pepper grass in Pelican Bay, and some hydrilla in between, but nothing we saw got us very excited - except one thing: Mark had only 2 bites all day long, while I had a total of 5 throwing the "candy", including one by a 7 lb’er! That was exciting, and both Mark and I want to make sure we have enough candy to make it through the tournament. (I called the candyman Scott in NH when I got home, and he is sending me everything he’s got.)

Annie writes:
I emailed Buddy Gregg our offer on the new home and they called me back this morning with a counter offer. They said for $10,000 more than our offer they would do everything listed on our list and for $5000 more they would sell it to us as is. I told them we would think about it and before we hung up the phone the price with everything we wanted done was only $ 5,000 more than our offer. I gave him a few bucks to hold it and called Dan out on the water. Neither of us thought they would come close to our offer so we were shocked. He said " Sounds Good". I called them up and finalized the deal and now we have to try and get insurance, registration and most of all a loan!L I spent the rest of the day on the phone with Insurance companies, I think I finally found one. What a day though, the only time I was not on the phone is when I was on the computer. I was so happy to see Dan come home because then it is quitting time for me. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, January 11
( Florida, Lake Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Fished Moonshine Bay today. It has the only clear water in the lake, that I have seen. It’s always clear in here, no matter what happens to the rest of the lake, because it is shallow and protected from the waves. It is just miles and miles of what they call "hay fields" in here - with boat trails criss-crossing like a spider web and islands of cattails, and thousands of acres of lily pads. It can be intimidating, because of it’s sheer size and the fact that it all looks the same, and you can get lost easily. I don’t know how people find their way without a GPS - I rely heavily on my Lowrance LMS160 everywhere on this lake. Anyway, though it is intimidating, I was helped by divine intervention today. I’ve caught fish in here before, but decided to find some new areas, so completely at random this morning I just shut the motor off in the middle of the hay fields and started fishing. I caught 2 fish within a half hour, and then I heard a phone ring. There was another boat, a local boat and not someone out practicing for this tournament, about 500 yards away. His buddy was calling and asking about the fishing. The acoustics were perfect, apparently, and I heard every word of the conversation - he had caught 5 or 6 fish already, including one about 4 lbs. Dumb as I am, I figure "Okay, there must be fish everywhere here in Moonshine Bay right now," so I picked up my trolling motor and left. After fishing 2 or 3 other areas and catching only one more fish, I eventually worked my way back to near where I had started. Having had only limited success so far today, I decided to get out and try something else. Apparently though someone else had a different plan for me. I tried for perhaps 20 minutes to get my boat up on plane, but it kept bogging down in the heavy grass and I just couldn’t do it. At the same time though I could see other boats flying all around in here. Finally I just said "All right God, if you want me to stay here and fish, then I guess I’ll stop fighting it and pick up my rod again." At this point I was just on the other side of where I had started this morning, with that local guy’s boat in between. I drifted through this area, making long casts with a worm, and in the next hour I caught 2 good fish and I watched the local guy catch 3. It seems that maybe they’re not everywhere in here after all, but there sure is a pile of fish right here where I started at random this morning, and where I couldn’t leave when I wanted to this afternoon.

Annie writes:
All of today was spent trying to get a loan. This is not the fun part of purchasing our new home. When you finally get through to an actual person to talk to they say "how much do you make a week"? Not an easy question for us, then I must start explaining our life to them and they are totally confused. I also tried to get the rest of our motorhome organized. The only thing left to organize is 2 piles of paperwork, which I am sure will take a while. Dan’s Mom called to check in and see how we were doing, we are planning to get together or dinner later this week. I am so thankful for email, it makes it so easy to correspond with the kids, our family and friends. Dan came home around 4:30 and I cooked us steak on the grill. Just as I put the steak on the ranger of the campground came over and told us there was a mistake and we are on the wrong site and had to move. We were not very happy. Apparently the site we were on had a reservation coming in today that no one informed us of and the people were siting in front of our camper waiting for us to move. I finished cooking put the plates in the oven and we moved. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, January 12
( Florida, Lake Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
My cousin Paul is down visiting his mom (Patti) in Vero Beach this week, so he came out to fish with me today. It was cold overnight, about 50 degrees, so the action was slow in the morning. We had hoped to get a topwater or spinnerbait bite early on, down on the north shore, but it wasn’t until 9:00 or so when we could see the holes in the grass when we caught our first fish. Actually it was Paul who caught the first 2 fish, while I proceeded to miss all 3 of the bites I had. Interestingly enough, in 2 out of those 3 misses, I pulled back only the top half of my bait - the fish had bitten off the bottom half. I suggested to Paul that even though I throwing the "candy" at ‘em, perhaps it wasn’t the right colored candy. All of my fish from the previous 2 days had been caught on a different color, which I have very little of left, but I decided to tie one on anyway. Next bite I got - I put a 5 lb’er in the boat. I switched back to a different bait again, to conserve my candy, and the action came to a stop. After an hour or more without a bite, we watched the boat right next to us catch 3 fish in 15 minutes. I noticed that the bait he was throwing was very similar to the one Paul caught his 2 fish earlier on, but had switched off some time ago. I picked up Paul’s old bait (which I also have very little of,) and proceeded to catch a 3 lb’er and a 1½ in the next half hour. I now have 3 fish that would go over 9 lbs., but the action has slowed for Paul so we decided to go back into Moonshine Bay and see if we can find something in there. In Moonshine we stopped at random in the hayfields, and like yesterday I got bit within the first few hundred yards of drift. I missed the first 2 fish, but caught the next 2, including another 3 lb’er, and finished the day with about a 14 lb. limit. I’d be thrilled to death to have this kind of luck (big fish bites) come tournament day, but I don’t want to count on it. I still just need to make sure that I can catch at least 5 keepers (14") every day, but I can’t help getting excited by the fact that so far my "candy" bait has produced a 7, a 5, a 4, and at least two 3’s.

Annie writes:
I heard Paul come in this morning, but it was way to early for me to get up, Patti told me last night that she was going to send lunch for the guys today, I still made Dan a sandwich. When I finally got up I saw the kitchen full of stuff. It was the cooler full of food that Patti sent for them. They were so anxious to go fishing that they forgot all the food. Paul drove Aunt Patti’s car here and left it for me to use today. I went out to fax our credit application, did laundry, groceries, and dropped off two loads to Goodwill. It was a very productive day for me. I also wrote out some emails and got information on registering our motorhome while we are away from home. The guys came home around 5:30 and Paul stayed for dinner with us, but he had a 1 ½ hour drive ahead of him, so he had to leave right after. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, January 13
( Florida, Lake Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Slept in a little longer today, and didn’t rush to get out on the water. I took Annie and Cooper out with me today - it was calm, sunny, and warm (80 degrees), and neither one of them had been on the boat since I don’t know when - November? September? We just fished up in the rim canal, north of the lake, and caught a few fish, but all were small compared to what I’ve been seeing this week. Still though, it was nice to see Annie pitching that big lizard like a pro, (a pro in a bikini, no less!) and hauling back and setting the hook on a fish like she’d never taken a break.

Annie writes:
The loan went through!!!!!!!!! Whoopee we are now new home owners. I am so excited, I can not wait to get it. Due to our busy schedule we can not pick it up until the end of this month, that will work out too because I need to pack up this house also. I finally went fishing with Dan and we had a great day on the boat together. It was a warm and sunny day. Unfortunately I only caught one fish, but we were working on eliminating water today. I was exhausted when we came home, I am out of fishing shape. We had cheeseburgers and went to bed pretty early. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday, January 14
( Florida, Lake Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Today the front came through. The temperature dropped and the wind blew at over 30 mph. I tried to fish in a couple of different area, but even with a drift sock out the boat was being pushed along at 5 or 6 mph, and it was awful. I quit after about 4 hours, without having caught a keeper.

Annie writes:
It was very windy today, so I stayed home and got some more financing things done for the new home. When you have to do everything by phone it sometimes takes a little longer. Dan came in around 1:30 because we are meeting Mom, Patti, Paul & Amy for dinner tonight about 45 miles away. We left around 5:30 and had a great time with them, it was a good break for Dan. We got home around 9:30 and he wen right to bed. I talked to Jeff for a while and then went to bed myself. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, January 15
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Craig (Sahms) showed up around 7am - he had driven all night from South Carolina. We decided we’d take it easy this morning and wait for things to warm up some, then go out later in my boat. It did warm up, but the wind blew today as bad as it did yesterday so we ended up staying in and never got out in the boat at all. There was a Red Man tournament out of the south end of the lake today. Mark went to the weigh-in and reported back that it took 17lbs to win, there were only a handful of 10lb+ bags brought in, and it took around 7lbs to get a check.

Annie writes:
Happy Birthday Chris!! Today is Dan’s youngest son's 13th Birthday.
It is cold and very windy. Dan is taking the day off which I’m glad to see because if he doesn’t he will be burned out before the tournament comes. We are both in the house working on separate computers trying to get caught up on all of our to-do lists. Craig came in early this morning, and I invited him to have dinner with us. When we were just about to sit down for dinner Dick Bowman arrived. He was supposed to arrive tomorrow, but he got in a day early, so he stayed and had dinner with us also. Later we called Chris to wish him a Happy Birthday. We had celebrated it with him in Florida two weeks ago, when he came for Christmas, but we wish we could be there today with him. This is another one of those difficult days to be away from home and family. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, January 16
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Dick, Craig and I stayed together all day today, and I took them to all of the areas where I’ve been catching fish, and described exactly what I’ve been doing. Water temperature this morning was 59 degrees - I had seen it as high as 72 just 3 days ago. The fish have not recovered from the sudden drop, and it was a very slow day of fishing. Each of us caught only one keeper. At the end of the day Craig and I returned to the campground, and Dick headed on down to Clewiston, at the south end, where the FLW tournament will be next week. He is not fishing the B.A.S.S. Invitational with us this week, so because the "official practice period" begins tomorrow, we are not allowed to talk to him about fishing after today.

Annie writes:
Dan said that I did not have to go fishing today, as he is working with a few guys and they are covering lots of water. I stayed home and organized a little more. I cleaned out our whole file cabinet and got rid of lots of useless papers that we have collected over the past 3 years. I made a big stew for dinner and we had Craig come over to eat with us. Mark Rose also came over to visit tonight, as did Ron & Phyllis. It was a busy night, but we like having friends come visit. Dan was exhausted and went to bed as soon as everybody left. Debbie (my sister in law) called me, and we were on the phone for a long time. We communicate by email, but do not get to talk on the phone very often. Later, I spoke to Kate & Jeff on IM for a while. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, January 17
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Craig and I started out once again on the "north shore", and we got to see the illusion of the sun rising out of the water. This lake is so big that looking across you cannot see land on the far side. Unfortunately, the fish were quite uncooperative again today. We had only one bite in two hours of pitching our baits into the eel grass, so we eventually started looking for new water to fish. This turned out even worse, with no fish at all found, and we ended up back in Moonshine Bay in the afternoon. In here, we drifted over the exact same water where I had found that "pile of fish" last Tuesday, and though we found a number of big, clean beds, there were no fish to be found anywhere. Frustrated, we headed back to the north shore to finish up the day. This time, Craig quickly put a 3 ½ lb’er in the boat with the help of our "candy" bait. Shortly thereafter he pitched into another hole, got bit, and played with the fish without setting the hook. When he was done I pitched into the same hole, got bit and did the same thing. Then when I was done Craig pitched in a third time, and once again got the fish to bite. He said that this was the most action we’d seen all day, and it was all from one fish. Well, it turns out that in the next hour, we caught 5 or 6 more fish. It was actually an enjoyable finish to a long and frustrating day, and during this little feeding frenzy we got to watch the sun go down over the western horizon. That’s both sunrise and sunset from in the boat - 7am to 6pm, and neither Craig nor I was ready to quit - but it got too dark to see what we were doing.

Annie writes:
Happy Birthday Katelyn!! She turns 16 today. When I met Dan, Kate was only 11. I am so thrilled with the great relationship that we have. I never would have thought that I could love someone else’s children as my own, but I truly do love the three of them with all my heart. I would do anything for them. I called Kate first thing in the morning and Dan called her right when he walked in the door. I gave Cooper a haircut today, cleaned the living room and kitchen and I started working on our journal. We are trying to put it in pamphlet or book form and in order to do that we need to do a lot of work on it. Another big project on our list. Dan & Craig did not come home until 6:30, I was starting to get worried, but I knew at least they were together. Ron & Phyllis came over before Dan got home and they brought us some pork they cooked for dinner and had leftovers. There was enough there to feed the 3 of us, it made my cooking very easy tonight. Dan was exhausted after dinner and we were in bed by 8:30. It was nice though we stayed awake until about 10:00 and then I could not fall asleep so I got up. I ended up staying awake until almost 2:00 am. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, January 18
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Yesterday we found that the fish on the North Shore bit good late in the afternoon. Today we spent the entire day there, trying to figure out how to make them bite earlier, but we just couldn’t do it. In the 8 hours we spent drifting across the flats, pitching our candy into the holes, I had only 5 bites and Craig had 4. If there is any good news to come out of this though, it is this: One of Craig’s 4 bites produced the biggest fish of his life - a 9 lb. bass! That’s right - that candy bait of ours has now caught a 9, a 7, a 5, and a 4, and of course smaller fish as well. The bad news, aside from the fact that the fishing has not returned to what it was a week ago, is that I hurt my back somehow in the last few days and today I am in a great deal of pain. It was obvious to Annie when we got home this afternoon, and she wouldn’t let me do anything. I wanted to clean up the boat, organize my baits, and respool the line on all my rods, so she did most of this for me, before cooking dinner for us. After dinner we went to the registration meeting, and then to a walk-in clinic nearby, which unfortunately was closed until morning.

Annie writes:
I slept in until 9:00 since I stayed up so late last night. I worked on the computer today and had lots of company throughout the day. Dick was up getting his boat checked out so he stopped by. Dwayne Horton from Tennessee came to visit when he was checking into the campground. Ron and Phyllis came over for a few minutes before registration. Dan & Craig came home around 4:00, and we worked on Dan’s tackle so he wouldn’t have to do it all tomorrow. Dan has some very bad pain in his back, and he can barely walk. Apparently he has had it for a couple of days now, but not half as bad as it is today. He is in constant pain and I am very concerned. We went to registration meeting and then to a walk-in clinic in town, but unfortunately they were closed. They reopen at 8am, and I informed Dan he is not going fishing in the morning, I am taking him to the doctor’s. I loaded him up with pain killers, and rubbed Ben Gay on his back with hopes that he can make it through the night with some comfort. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, January 19
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Annie writes:
Dan will not be writing today. Just when things in your life start going real good, God seems to give you another test of your strengths. Dan could not even get out of bed this morning. It was 7:00 when Craig came over, and when I came out Dan was answering the door on his hands and knees. We left immediately and instead of going to the walk in clinic we went to the hospital emergency room, where they ran all kinds of tests on him. They gave him an IV with pain killers, an EKG, X-rays, and even an MRI. It was awful for me to see him in such discomfort. They kept a close eye on him because his blood pressure was very low, and they kept saying "he’s bottoming out on us," which was not pleasant for me to hear. The results of the tests showed that he seems to have several herniated discs in his neck, and these are causing the shooting pain in his neck, back, and shoulder. After 6 hours in the emergency room, we left with a prescription for serious pain killers and muscle relaxant drugs, and the advice that we need to see a neurosurgeon as soon as possible about a possible operation. At home, Dan took his pills and went to bed right away. I called the tournament director and told them of our situation, and that there is no way that can Dan fish this tournament, which starts tomorrow. I am having a tough time with this. It really got to me today when I had to watch Dan in the hospital and I could do nothing to help him, he is my husband, my best friend, my life. I spend just about every minute of everyday with him and I could never imagine our life any other way. Lots of people read our journal and follow our life, lots of people also are VERY envious of our life. It is times like this that make it not so glamorous. As I sit here alone , crying because we are out in the middle of no where , in a strange town, and wondering is this what we should be doing? Dan now can not fish, which means after putting in over 60 hours of work this week there is no pay check. Our truck is now breaking down every day and we think it is the transmission. I sit here wondering Why? After only 2 hours at home I got the answer to that question. In this strange and difficult lifestyle is something wonderful. It is what we call our "fishing family" So many of the other fisherman (Dan’s competition) has come by, called, or emailed. I can not believe the response we have had in such a short period of time. The meeting was tonight for pairings and these guys came over and called before and after the meeting to see how he was, if we needed anything and even offered to bring dinner over. Since we can not be with our real family, this is the next best thing. We have wonderful friends and without them tonight I would have had much more difficulty dealing with this. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, January 20
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Annie writes:
Dan is already doing much better today. When we got home yesterday he went right to bed and slept for 14 hours. I had many visitors and phone calls as well as emails to deal with. Many people have found out from others and there were concerned relatives checking on him. Many fisherman came by today also after the weigh in. Phyllis even came by to see if she could do anything for us, she was doing laundry and offered to take ours as well. Dan was up out of bed and doing pretty good most of the day. He even visited with a few friends who came over. It is very windy and cold, which helped Dan’s mind - knowing that the fishing is very tough and it is rough out on the lake. There was not an awful lot of fish being caught, and our friends who were practicing with Dan were not catching them too well. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday, January 21
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Annie writes:
You can tell Dan is feeling much better because he wants to go fishing again. I told him I will not allow him to go fishing before Sunday at the earliest. Instead we did lots of business work that we needed to take care of. I called all of our services (credit cards, cell phone, etc.) to see if we owed any money to them. One thing about this lifestyle is that it takes a while for our bills to reach us when we’re on the road and by the time they do, it may be past the due date. By calling in, I can just send them a check so we have no late fees. Craig took us out to eat tonight. We came home and went to bed fairly early. We are just about out of LP gas, so we tried not to turn on our heat all night long. We added blankets to the bed and Cooper even slept under the covers. I must tell you all, that we sometimes get email and comments about the type of relationship we have, and people seem to wish they could have the kind of marriage, or partner, that we have. Well we write a lot about our life, but not about EVERYTHING, that would be a book rather than a journal. We do argue and have our disagreements, just as everyone does. There is no way that anyone can never get upset. Our disagreements do not last for days though, it’s more like hours. We are not good fighters, and I guess it is good that we are stuck in this little 34 foot home. If you have a big home, you can go the other way, but we don’t have far to go. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, January 22
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Annie writes:
Dan’s Mom called this morning and wanted to get together today. She has mail for us and said that she and Patti would drive it out to us. Unfortunately, we are leaving today and driving to the south end of the lake for the FLW tournament which is here next week, so we had to decline. Dan worked on his quarterly reports today, that go out to all of his sponsors showing them what he has done recently to help promote their products. He also includes his schedule of upcoming tournaments and events, and just maintains some form of communication with them. Finally, remember that big secret sponsor we were negotiating with a couple of months ago? Well, we got the final contract overnighted to us today so it’s official: we are now members of the CITGO Pro Bass Fishing Team! I know that some of you thought that we were already hooked up with CITGO, because of our TV commercials, but that was really just a one-time deal. What we have now is a commitment on both our parts to work together for the next year. They will help us to finance a year on the pro trail, and we will help them to promote their products. Dan will be running the orange CITGO bass boat from now on (like the one on the CITGO page of our website - www.DanielKeyes.com,) we will be wearing CITGO team clothing, and acting as CITGO representatives or ambassadors wherever we go. We look forward to working with them, and it is MY first sponsorship deal. I will be working at the CITGO booth in the Family Fun Zone at FLW tournaments this year, so come on by and say hi! ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, January 23
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
All right I’m back. Not feeling 100% but I’ve taken 4 days off from fishing and that’s enough. And boy has the fishing changed since last week. A front came through last Friday and shut the fish down, and I kept telling the guys that it’ll get better, but it hasn’t. Now I need to get back to work. Annie won’t let me go out by myself, so she was up early today (grumbling), and we put in at the Calloosahatchie River, just below the lock. We caught a couple of fish on a spinnerbait, then ended up in the back of a feeder canal where water was running in through a flood control dam. There was a local fisherman, fishing a club tournament, and he had caught an 11lb. limit here so far. That’s good. What’s bad is that it’s a very small area, and there was just another FLW fisherman in here who caught two fish and left. This would be a gamble coming on tournament day - there’s a long no-wake area as well as a lock to travel through, and you may get here to find two boats already here, and two boats is all this spot will accommodate. At noon-time we put the boat back on the trailer and went home. We had lunch and I went back out by myself for the afternoon. I went down to South Bay, where I caught the 7 lb’er last week, but the water was extremely muddy in that area today. I moved over to the leeward side, where the water was clearer, but there were about 20 boats in a small area there. Even so, this is where the fish had moved to. In two hours there I saw 3 other boats catch fish, and I caught one myself, on a spinnerbait. On the way back at 4:30, I was racing back to the launch when another boat, broken down, waved me over. Coincidentally, it was Dick. We talked about the fishing, then I towed him back to the ramp. Good thing he had just got himself a cell phone - I had strict rules given me before I left today, and I was due back at 5pm. Of course I was late, towing Dick, but he called in and got me an extension.

Annie writes:
It is great to be back on the tournament trail we have already seen so many of our friends. John & Laraine came over and Elaine Smith, It has been non stop since we got here yesterday afternoon. This is Dan’s first day back on the water, I went fishing with him this morning and made sure he was feeling good enough to fish. I only caught 1 fish all morning. We went home for lunch and then Dan went fishing for a few more hours, but I made him come in for 5:00. At 5:01 Dick called and said that he broke down and Dan was towing him in. I was OK with that as long as I knew Dan was OK. One of Dan’s sponsors is GAMBLER and they had a sponsor dinner tonight. We had a good time there and went home around 8ish and Dan went right to bed. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, January 24
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
Dick is practicing with his non-boater friend from Ohio, Bub Cooksey, and between them yesterday they caught only one fish. Rumors are going around that there are fish being caught in the canals at the north end, so today Annie and I, Dick, and Bub trailered up and fished behind J&S lock. We got a lot of bites today, maybe 20, but they were all, except one, short fish. Like yesterday, this is also a gamble, relying on this area on tournament day, because it means crossing the big lake to get to it. There is no protected path to get here, so if the wind gets up, you’re in for a very nasty ride. The fishing today did not justify that gamble, so we’re writing this area off.

Annie writes:
I went fishing with Dan again today. I know he is much better, but I feel more comfortable knowing I am there and not home worrying. It was not a very nice day, it was extremely windy, it rained and was pretty chilly. I fished hard all day, took no breaks and really wanted to try and help Dan. I did not catch one fish. Well, I guess we were just eliminating more water! It was about 5:30 by the time we got home, we were just thankful we made it home because the truck is not doing very good. It stinks and we think it is a transmission problem, just one more thing to add to my list to do. I cooked dinner and the phone rang right after dinner, it was Kate & Jeff, they were calling to check on their Dad. They made him feel very good. Dan went to bed right after he ate. He was exhausted. I stayed up because I know I am not fishing tomorrow. Instead, Dan is taking out one of the JM Associates employees - her name is Christy, she is fishing this tournament as a non boater and wanted to get in a day of practice. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday, January 25
(Florida, Okeechobee)

Dan writes:
We decided, with fishing as tough as it is, that those few bites Annie and I got down the Calloosahatchie River on Sunday might be worth something after all. I met Dick and Bub at WalMart, along with Christy Ball from JM Associates, and the four of us trailered down to the river. I took them to the feeder canal where fish were biting the other day, and though the water was not running today there were still fish there. We had 4 or 5 bites on a Carolina rig before leaving it alone. After, we cruised down the river and fished every little cut or canal for the next 10 miles. We never had a bite. We moved back upriver and fished closer to the lock - we had a few bites but all were small fish. Even more disturbing though was the fact that there were a number of other boats doing the same thing we were. Apparently a lot of people are leaving the lake and looking for something else to do. We quit just after noon, and returned to the campground to prepare for tomorrow. I guess the plan is this: If I draw an early boat number for tomorrow, then I’ll gamble that no one ahead of me has run down to that feeder creek in the Calloosahatchie, and I’ll go there myself. I haven’t set the number yet, but I’d have to be in the first 20 or 30. Otherwise, I’ll run up to the north shore, which was good to me 2 weeks ago but has been so frustrating since. Dick has decided on the same plan, but neither of us feels very good about it. I tied up four different worm rods, with different sized weights to accommodate for the wind. I also have a spinnerbait and a Rattletrap tied on, and a Mann's Baby 1 Minus crankbait. We went to the registration meeting, which was like a family reunion, with all the folks meeting and greeting after not having seen one another since last year. JM showed their tape of the highlights of last year, and it really put you into the spirit and got you enthused about fishing the trail again this year. In the boat number draw though, I got boat number 152, and Dick got 157. We’re both in the last flight, which really is good, because we get an extra hour and 20 minutes to fish in the warmest part of the day. We’re expecting cold temperatures and high winds for the morning, so I don’t expect much of a morning bite anyway.

Annie writes:
I rented a boat slip for tonight and tomorrow so we do not have to launch the boat in the morning. I made an appointment to get the truck checked out tomorrow. Dan came in at 1:30, and I helped him work on his rods for a while, then I went to get my nails done in town. When I came home Dan was just about done with his stuff, so I put him in the water and he put the boat in the slip. I had no trouble backing down the ramp, but one of our problems with the truck is that you can’t pull the trailer back out of the water. You tend to keep rolling backwards down the ramp even though the transmission is in "Drive". Not good! We left around 5:30 for the registration and they fed us a chicken dinner. It was great getting to see everyone again. So many people commented on our CITGO commercials. A police officer there even recognized me from TV and came over to say hello. Oh yeah, when I went to the marina to get a boat slip today, another guy stopped me and said "Excuse me, you’re the one in the CITGO commercials aren’t you?" It’s kind of weird, in a good way, to be stopped right on the street like that. We went to visit John & Laraine after the meeting, to check out their new motorhome. It is very nice - a Fleetwood Discover with 2 slideouts, which make it very roomy inside. We had a short but great visit with them. When we got home we stopped at another friend’s camper behind us, and visited them for a bit. They have been here almost a month, have been fishing and hoping to get entered into this tournament, but didn’t make it. He and Dan talked fishing for a long time, and he may have changed Dan’s mind on what to do tomorrow. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Wednesday, January 26
(FLW Tournament - Day 1 - Lake Okeechobee, Florida)

Dan writes:
We have been here since January 8th, and have put in 12 days on the water, practicing for this tournament. After all that, I let Daryll late last night talk me into doing something totally new today, the first day of the tournament. It’s about 35 degrees outside and the wind is howling. I’m not going worm fishing on the north shore, which was my plan - I’m going spinnerbait fishing down in the "cornfield", a somewhat protected area back in the islands at the south end. Daryll assured me that there were fish there, and that in fact he had 5 bites in two hours just yesterday morning. Take-off was at 7am, and between the late boat number (152), the drive down to the south end, and the fact that I got lost, I got the boat stuck in the mud, and I overheated the engine trying to get back in to the cornfield, we didn’t start fishing until 8:30. We fished for 3 hours without a bite. The water temperature was 54 degrees, exactly 20 degrees colder than it was 2 weeks ago. The wind was blowing so hard that instead of dragging a drift sock to slow down our drift, I was dragging an anchor. At 11:30 I finally got my first bite, and put my first fish in the livewell. My second bite came shortly after, but he bit right at the boat and fought me underneath the boat, and came off. My partner then had a fish boil on his spinnerbait, and though I was tempted to throw at that fish, I told my partner to go back and get him. I let him throw 5 times at that same fish, and then he seemed to lose interest, and started throwing away from the target. I threw in then with my spinnerbait. The fish didn't want mine either, but when I threw the little Minus 1 crankbait at him, that was all it took, and he ended up in the livewell. I caught one more on the spinnerbait at about 1:00, but that is all the action we saw today. Back at the weigh-in, I realized how tough it really was out there. Out of 175 pro’s, 55 caught no fish at all, and a total of only 275 fish were weighed-in for the day. My 3 fish, though not very big (5.3 lbs), were enough to put me in 51st place, only 4lbs. 14oz. out of the top 10.

Annie writes:
When Dan got up today I could hear the wind howling, it was worse than ever. It was so cold, he left with his heavy snowsuit on. He is very excited though for this tournament. He kept saying he was going to come in with a limit of fish and seems to have a very good feeling about this tournament. I drove the bronco to the next town because they have a transmission place I found on the internet. I got there and the place was so bad that I would not even stop, never mind leave my truck there with me having to wait. I drove back into Clewiston and went to the City hall. They always say that if we ever need anything not to hesitate, so I went to ask for help. They sent me to a CITGO station in town and thank goodness he said he would look at it if I could leave it. I left it for him and they gave me a ride back to the campground. I was so glad to know someone is looking at it, I was not sure that I was going to make it back to town. Dan was due in at 4:20 the last flight and I couldn’t wait, I have been praying all day. When he came in he motioned to me that he had 3 fish. I was so happy. That is very good for this tournament. I waited for a print out and then walked home. Dan has a boat slip right next to our campground so he went to work on his tackle. When he got home the table was set and I had cooked him a great big turkey dinner. Dick and Bub came over for a few minutes before we ate. Immediately after we ate Dan went to lie down for a while because his back is sore, not his neck, his back. John Hobbie came over for a little while, Laraine sent him with strawberry shortcake for us. When John left, Dan went right back to bed, it was about 8:00. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday , January 27
(FLW Tournament-Day 2-Lake Okeecobee-Florida)

Dan writes:
Today I’m excited about going fishing. I had four keeper bites yesterday, and my partner had none. That means that I’m either lucky, or I have a bait that the fish seem to like. I told Dick what the bait was, a chartreuse Terminator spinnerbait with chartreuse blades and a chartreuse skirt, and I told him to follow me down to the cornfield today. He went to the north shore yesterday, and as expected the fishing was not very good there. The water temperature dropped another 2 degrees overnight, to 52. These Florida fish (and the fishermen trying to catch them) just don’t know what to do under these conditions. We figured I needed to catch two fish today to get a check - 75th place. In the 8 hours we spent trying to get them to bite, and I fooled exactly one. The good news though is that he weighed exactly 3 lbs., which as it turned out was enough to leave me in 70th place at the end of the day, and I got my check after all. Total weight for 2 days: 8.3 lbs.

Annie writes:
Another day of praying, the first day was very good and I don’t need for him to win, I would be satisfied with a check. He is due in at 3:00 today. Elaine came to pick me up and we met some other wives for lunch. We drove by the garage where our truck is and they were working on it. I did not dare stop as I was scared they would tell me they could not fix it. We went to the weigh in and Dan came in with 1 fish, I was so worried that this would drop him out of the money. Yesterday things were looking so good. It seemed like a very long weigh in. It finally came down to the last fisherman and they announced the cut off for getting a paycheck. They would pay all the way down to 7lbs. 13 oz.. and Dan had a total weight of 8lbs. 3oz. WHOOPIEE! I was so excited, this really makes for a good start to the year. You know what is funny? Everyday I seem to get recognized. Today 2 total strangers came up to me and asked if I was the girl on the CITGO commercials, that is only the people I have never seen before, constantly people come up to us and compliment us on them. It is really strange, but fun. There are quite a few people from CITGO here at this tournament and we got to talk with them for a while. Bobby & Elaine offered to let us use their suburban to take our boat out of the water. They are so nice and saved us the project of unhooking the camper and having to do it with that. I cooked Dan a pork roast for dinner and he was in bed by 8:00. His Mom called and my brother to see the how he did, so I caught up with them for a while. My brother loves to fish, so I am planning a fishing day with him this spring. He said " I will go fishing, but I will not let my little sister outfish me so bring your pillow, we could be out there a while" I thought that was pretty funny because 5 years ago, I would not have been able to use a baitcaster, never mind be able to pitch or flip, now I can’t wait to go and show him what I can do. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Friday, January 28
(FLW Tournament-Day 3-Lake Okeechobeee)

Dan & Annie write:
The tournament is down to the Top 10 guys. Usually Dan drives a camera boat during these days, but he did not have to here. They did need him to drive a truck this morning to launch the boats and he also drove to pick them up at 3:00. We had a great day. Dan did a lot of work on the computer and I got some of the house ready for travel tomorrow and our big move on Tuesday. We went to the family fun zone at Walmart and hung around the CITGO booth.. It was pretty neat and I told them we would work there tomorrow. John and Laraine came over early in the day and they brought us a house warming gift for our new home. It was a beautiful straw hat with a silk flower arrangement on top of the hat. It was from John, Laraine, Elaine & Bobby. I can’t wait to put it in our new home. The CITGO station called about our truck and they have our truck fixed and ready to pick up. They did a tune up on the transmission and we needed a hose replaced. We went out to eat tonight with John & Laraine after the weigh in. We had a lot of fun and got home around 9:00. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Saturday, January 29
(FLW Tournament-Day 4-Lake Okeechobee)

Dan & Annie write:
We packed up the house this morning and headed to Walmart. Dan and I worked at the CITGO booth all day. It was a blast. Dan had to leave early to go get the fisherman, but I stayed all day. CITGO had a drawing before the weigh in and had me go up on stage and introduced me as one of the stars of their CITGO commercials and made a big deal out of it. Working with them will be great and we are really looking forward to this year. We are off to a great start. The weigh in got done around 4:30 and we got on the road and headed to Mom’s house (Vero). It was an unpleasant drive, about 2 and ½ hours, it was dark and raining. The truck still seems to have a problem. It feels like it is running in second gear, going up hill, pulling a heavy load. That’s my best description! When we got to Mom’s we were so glad to see that she had grinders waiting for us, we were starving. We did not stay up very late as we were exhausted from the ride and "working" all day. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday, January 30
Dan & Annie write:
We had a good day with Mom. We had to do some things on the computer and basic catch up projects that we keep putting off. Mom went out to look at some condos that are for sale. She is thinking of getting a condo for next season instead of keeping the big house she has. She was out for a while and then she called us to go look at one she was very interested in. WE LOVED IT!!!! It was right on the beach and so beautiful. Dan even picked out our room already!. He brought our digital camera and took all kinds of pictures so we could look at them later on. Mom really loved it and we can understand why she would want a condo now. She talked to Kevin & Ted (Dan’s brothers) and they also agreed with her decision. So by 4:30 p.m. She was the new owner of a beautiful condo. We went to a superbowl party at the club at 6:00. We had thought we would leave at half time, but had such a good time we stayed until the end of the game. ____________________________________________________________________________________________
Monday, January 31
Dan & Annie write:
Dan had a doctors appointment today and there is good news and bad news. The good news: Dan does not have several herniated discs in his neck. The bad news: He does seem to have a spur on his spine. It is not dangerous in any way, just painful at times. He was basically told that it is something he will probably have to live with and it will act up every now and then. He was told to go see our family doctor when we get back home and there is a new micro surgery that is out that he might be able to find for us in New England. KeyesJrnlLogo We cannot begin to express our gratitude to so many of our readers who sent well wishes. Thank you very much. We are glad you are in our lives. We left Mom’s house at 7:00 tonight and drove to Lakeland because we have to be there at 9:00AM. It was a very long ride and not nice weather. We finally arrived in Lakeland and camped at the Walmart overnight.

Link to: February 2000