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Tuesday, February 1
(Lakeland, Florida)

Dan & Annie write:
We got our new house (motorcoach) today and it is beautiful!!, We have been moving all day and we still are not done. I can not believe the amount of junk we have. We loaded the Bronco with everything that we plan on leaving in NH so we don’t have to store it in our new house. Needless to say the bronco is so full you can barely see out the back window. We get to sleep in our new house tonight, but it is such a disaster, we just made the bed and fell into it not bothering with the rest of the stuff.

Wednesday, February 2
(Lakeland, Florida)

Dan & Annie write:
We spent the entire day at the RV dealership moving in and getting a few little things fixed. They also had to show us how to use some things in the new motorhome that we are not used to . We have a washer/dryer now, for instance. We got the Bounder emptied and closed the door for the last time. It was pretty sad, that was our first "house" together and we have had a lot of fun in it. We are now looking forward to making new memories in the new motorhome. For dinner, since we have no food in our new home, We went out and wolfed down some Chinese buffet that we found in town.

Thursday, February 3
(Lakeland, Florida)

Dan & Annie write:
We found a place to store everything except all of our paperwork, files, maps and those types of things. We agreed to have some sort of computer desk in this house, so Dan found one at Office Depot, along with a filing cabinet, and the day was spent filing stuff away. Later I did groceries and used my new washer. Dan’s Mom called and wants to come see our new home, we agreed on tomorrow so we could finish up here. Dan cooked our first dinner in our new home: spaghetti. We tried to watch some TV but quickly learned that we have to many channels. We are use to having about 5 channels and this one goes to 900. It is only for the first two months because when you sign up for satellite service they give you the works for a couple months. We quickly decided on the basic package. We are still camping across the street from the dealership and going to stay until tomorrow.

Friday, February 4
(Florida)

Dan & Annie write:
We really need to get on the road and get back to fishing so we packed up and started our drive to Mississippi. We drove a couple of hours until Dan acknowledged that the coach was pulling to the right while driving on the highway. We called the dealership, but since it was Friday at 4:00 they could not work on it until Monday. Instead they set up an appointment for us in Orlando for 7:00am tomorrow morning. We were about 2 hours from there, and driving right by Lazy Days where John & Laraine Hobbie were staying for a few days, so we met them for dinner and they came to see our new home. Afterwards we drove to Orlando and camped in a parking lot overnight.

Saturday, February 5
(Florida)

Dan & Annie write:
We woke very early and were at the garage for 7:00AM. They could do a front end alignment, but they did not have the proper equipment to rotate the tires. They were very helpful and sent us down the road to another garage that rotated the tires for us. While the motorcoach was in for service, we went out to CARMAX to look at used trucks, as our Bronco is really not doing so good and we are afraid to get on the road and get stuck with it. It has 111,000 miles on it. We spent the entire day at various car dealerships, and finally went back to CARMAX, and by 7:00pm we were on the road again, but this time with a used, but much newer, Suburban, which we traded the Bronco in on. It is very nice and I feel so much better knowing that we got rid of one of our worries. We were of course quite apprehensive about spending even MORE money, but with our schedule we just do not have time to be left stranded on the side of the road. We need to know our vehicles will get us where we need to be.

Sunday, February 6
(Driving to Mississippi)

Dan & Annie write:
We spent the whole day driving and at one time we switched vehicles so I got to drive the motorcoach, and it was pretty cool. I drove it for 100 miles, and once you stop worrying about it, it is not as difficult as people think. We camped in a rest area for the night and Daniel cooked us a delicious meal. My girlfriend Susan called to tell me she has been responding to personal ads, and she has her first date on Tuesday. She knows that Dan & I met that way, and she is the same age as I am and at a stage in her life where it is hard to meet men. She wanted my advice and I just told her to keep an open mind and have fun with it.. Who knows, look what happened to us!!!

Monday, February 7
(Driving to Mississippi)

Dan & Annie write:
Dan woke early and got to working on some sponsor reports he has to send out. When Annie woke, she knew we were getting close, so she wanted to get on the road. We started driving and arrived at the site of the next FLW tournament - the Pascagoula River, in Gautier, Mississippi. We got a campsite and got all set up. Then we made a plan: Dan needed complete silence to finish the work he was doing, so we agreed not to speak a word for 1 hour. I spent my time cleaning the bedroom, the bathroom and the kitchen. Dan finished his reports, and now most of the house is clean.

Tuesday, February 8
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
I plan to start fishing today, but first I had to run around town some in the car - I just had to wash the boat - it was still a mess from getting stuck in the mud on Okeechobee, then I went and got a fishing license, found a post office to mail year-end reports out to sponsors, and stopped in at the CITGO station to get gas. $81.00 it cost me to fill up the boat and the Suburban - the clerk thought maybe there was something wrong with the system when she read $81.00 - I said no, it was right, but it had better last me now into the next millennium! I got back to the campground, got the boat ready, and put it in the water at 4:00 for one hour of fishing. We’re camped right here at the launch ramp, jut a few hundred yards from where the tournament weigh-ins will be held. I fooled around some right around the launch area, and fished my way around the point and back towards our camper, which is right on the water’s edge. The last thing Annie said before I left was to catch a fish for her, so believe it or not when I got right in front of our camper, not 50 feet away, I got bit. Once I set the hook, I began hollering for her to come outside, but she couldn’t hear. Cooper was with me, so I had him bark, and then she came out, and got to watch me catch my only fish of the day. Dick came over after dinner. He’s been in town for a few days now, and as it turns out is camped just two sites away from us. He’s been fishing with a local fellow, and has a good head start on me, so we went over the maps together and talked strategy. His local guy is going to continue fishing with him for a few more days, so I'm just going to follow them out in the morning and we'll see what this place looks like. I talked to another fellow, Jay, on the phone afterwards. He’s a local guy who’s been reading this journal, and offered via email way back in August to help me out a little when I got here. Turns out he was out showing another guy around on the water today, but he was able to give me some info over the phone, and he may be able to get out and show me around some on Sunday.

Annie writes:
It is so nice to be all set up at a campground. I have been doing laundry constantly and finally got the couch cleaned off and put away. Our house is great. We still have to read a lot of manuals to figure everything out, but I love it. Dan went off to do his errands, so I cleaned the whole house, I know we will be getting company soon and I want their first impression to be great. I worked so hard on all my emails today. I got my box completely empty and finally got to respond to all the readers who sent well wishes to Dan.

Wednesday, February 9
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
Dick and I trailered up the river some, picked up Don, a local guy who has been fishing with Dick now for a couple of days, and put the boats in the water at about 6:30. There was frost on the carpets, and the first couple of hours were uncomfortably cold out there. The locals here divide the area into two general areas - the marsh, which runs inland from the Gulf of Mexico for 5 miles or so, and the woods, which is everything above that, and consists of a lot of backwater sloughs and cypress-lined river banks. We fished the marsh for the first couple of hours, but the water is very low - drought conditions, and we saw nothing but mud banks to throw at - nothing to keep us interested, except for a couple of 5 lb. redfish that I caught on a crankbait. We moved up into the woods, and tried a number of different areas that all looked real good. They looked good to me anyway, but apparently not to the fish, since we never got a bite. Finally later in the afternoon we managed to catch 3 or 4 fish between the 3 of us, but overall it was a disappointing day. Dick is very disappointed, since it is his fourth day out and he still hasn’t figured out how to catch them, but I’m not discouraged yet, since it was only my first day and there is an awful lot of water that I haven’t seen yet.

Annie writes:
Today is our 2 ½ year wedding anniversary. Dan had no plans on me going fishing with him. I took care of some phone calls that needed to be made during business hours, and paid some bills. Bobby & Elaine Smith came to visit early in the day and then John & Laraine showed up at the campground. Dan came in and we ate dinner, then we had company, lots of company. John & Dick came over and then Glenn Rogers, Bobby Wilson and James Parker came to see our new home. I went to visit Laraine for a while and catch up and when I came home Dan was already in bed.

Thursday, February 10
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
Once again we trailered up-river to launch the boats today. It was Dick and Don in one boat, John Hobbie and I in mine. We fished an area where a local fellow told us he caught 3 limits on Saturday afternoon, throwing a crankbait at the submerged lily pads. I caught a nice fish, 2 ½ lbs., in the first half hour, but nothing else in 2 more hours. Dick’s boat caught nothing. We headed on down to the marsh next, and decided to see how long we could stick it out there. Supposedly there are plenty of fish in the marsh, but with the low water conditions, there are just miles and miles of mud banks to throw at - with very little cover - and it makes for very dull fishing. In the mile or so of bank that we fished I caught one fish, who was holding on the one piece of visible cover in that mile of bank. He happened to be another 2 ½ lb’er, but that was just dumb luck. Dick did catch a keeper not far away on the opposite bank, and John a short fish, so this area may be worth looking at again, if nothing else happens. In the afternoon we went back to an area where Dick had caught 3 or 4 keepers one day before I got here. There was a strong current flow that day, and we wanted to see what happened when the current was not running. We got a lot of bites - between the four of us we caught perhaps 20 fish - but not one keeper. All in all, another discouraging day. The only good thing is that everyone we talk to is griping about the poor fishing, too.

Annie writes:
John went fishing with Dan today and I worked at home again. There is always something that needs to be done here, so I don’t mind staying home. I worked on our calendar for quite a while and I am trying to plan some time to make CITGO appearances. I made Dan a Drs. Appointment for when we go home in April, if I wait to long to plan, our time home will be all booked up. When Dan came home I cooked us dinner and went out to do some errands. I needed to pick up a few groceries, and I really need a haircut. I was letting it grow again, but now I have to blow dry it if I want it to look good and I got so spoiled when it was shorter and I just put a little gel in it and off I went, so I am cutting it again. I got home around 8:30 and I was so glad Dan was still up because I brought him home a ice cream sundae.

Friday, February 11
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
We fished over on the west side of the river system today, and didn’t have any action until I reached a stretch of hard, clean sand about 300 yards long. There was one old log in the middle of this stretch, and that was about the only cover. I caught two good fish off that log, on back to back casts with a crankbait and then a jig. When Dick caught up to me he told me that the only action they had seen had been a big fish that had swiped at a crankbait, in the middle of the one small sand stretch they had passed. We recalled that one of yesterday’s big fish had been caught off of isolated cover, on a hard bank, so we decided to narrow our focus and search more specifically for these conditions. I caught another fish on a jig, and then during our search for the similar conditions, I discovered a little cut leading back into a hidden backwater pond. As soon as I pushed my way back in there, I realized the potential - the water temperature just 100 yards back was 53 degrees - in here it was 60. The pond was about 200 yards long, 50 yards across, and 7 feet deep in the middle, and lined all around with reeds - good flipping water. Dick didn’t know where I was, so I made just one quick pass around the little pond, and caught 2 keeper fish flipping a jig into the reeds. When I got out I told Dick that when I was in there I could see another, similar pond close by. We searched out and found the entrance to that pond, and to a third pond as well, and we caught fish in every one, including one four pounder. I finished the day with 6 keepers, and a 7 or 8 pound limit.

Annie writes:
Dan and Dick were supposed to have a local guy meeting them at the ramp, a friend of a friend of Dick’s, but something came up and he was not able to make it. I had a big project to try to do today. We are trying to get copies of our CITGO commercials made to send to sponsors, family & friends. I found some duplication places in the yellow pages and went to the post office to ask which ones were closest to me. They pointed me to one in the next town. Off I went, I arrived and they could do it, but then they told me it was $27.95 per tape. I said thank you and goodbye. We were told it could be done for peanuts - it is only 7 minutes long. I found another place and they would do it for $24.95 each, or if we wanted 100 they could do it for $300.00. I said goodbye once again. It was 3:30 and I had to bring the car back to the launch ramp, as I did not know when Dan was coming in. Today is Bobby and Elaine’s 35th wedding anniversary, and I knew Elaine was out with Laraine, so I left her a little anniversary present where they were sure to find it. Dan saw Bobby out on the water, and yelled "Happy Anniversary" to him. I was glad (and surprised) that he remembered. I am going fishing with Dan tomorrow, so we were in bed quite early.

Saturday, February 12
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
We rode up the river about 20 miles today, and fished a few of the old oxbow lakes and bayous up there. Annie and I , as well as Dick and Ron, all caught one keeper apiece. We moved back out into the main river, and began searching for sand banks with isolated pieces of cover. I caught one more keeper on this pattern. Towards the end of the day, with the air temperature about 75 degrees and the water temps rising steadily, we rode back over to the west side where there are shallow bayous that are just full of shad right now. We had fished one of these bayous a couple of days ago, and just couldn’t believe that there were no bass at all in there eating them. It was the same deal today though - you’d have shad nipping on your crankbait on every cast, but just no bass in there with them.

Annie writes:
Dan woke me up at 5:30 as I am going fishing with him today. As you probably know by now I am not a morning person. I made our lunch and off we went. I did fish very hard all day and did not take one break. We were fishing from 7:00 until 4:00. I caught 1 stinking fish. It was a keeper, so if it was a tournament I would be able to weigh in, but it was not a very productive day. We washed the truck and the boat on the way home then got to our site and the company started coming. There are some fisherman just getting here and they heard we had a new home so they came to see it. I ran through the shower quickly and Dick brought pizza over for dinner. I was so glad I did not have to cook. It was 7:30 and we were both ready for bed, except that Dan’s mom has a computer problem and needs some help. Dan was on the phone with her for about an hour and a half altogether. They finally got it up and running again and said goodnight. It was 10:00 and I told Dan that he was not allowed to get up before 5 am tomorrow.

Sunday, February 13
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
Up at 5am, and very excited about today. Way back in August, we received and email message from a guy who lives here in Pascagoula, and fishes this river system a lot. His name is Jay Bourgeois, and he offered to help me out some. I told him way back then that every little bit helps, and that I’d sure look him up when we got into town. Well it turns out that Jay is one of the hottest young fishermen in all of south Mississippi, and has quite a good reputation around here. I’ve mentioned his name to a few of the local guys out on the water, and more than one knew who he was and said that if Jay tells me something about how to catch fish around here, I’d better listen to it. In fact I’ve found out that Jay is receiving phone calls or email every day right now, from fishermen asking for help for this tournament, and he’s politely turning them down because he’s already agreed to show me around some. Anyway, that’s today, and that’s why I’m so excited. Jay showed up at 6:30, we climbed into my boat and went fishing. We never went far at all, and in fact fished a number of places that I'd already been to. Conditions have changed though, since we first arrived. Water temps are now 58 degrees in the morning, instead of 48, and warm up to the mid 60’s during the day. Because of the change Jay suggested we fish for buzzbait fish. This we did, all day long. We fished in the marsh area at low tide, and caught ‘em up in the backs of the shallow bayous. We fished in the woods when the water came up, and caught ‘em up in the cypress trees. We didn’t catch ‘em everywhere we went, but if we didn’t get bit in an hour or so, we’d move to a totally different area and try it there. When we did get bit, we’d always get 3 or 4 bites in that general area. We put in 12 hours on the water, and by the end of the day between the two of us we’d caught at least 12 keepers, including one about 3 ½ lbs. Though we did fish other baits throughout the day, every keeper fish came on the buzzbait. You think I was excited this morning to go fishing - now I’m even more excited to get out tomorrow, to try what we learned today in some areas of my own. Thank You, Jay. Your reputation is well deserved. Note: If any of you readers would like to get in touch with Jay or just read more about him, check out www.LureExpress.com. This takes you to a great on-line tackle store that Jay works with, and from there you can click on Jay’s Pro Fishing Tips column, or on the Pro Staff link to get photos and a write-up of some of Jays past accomplishments. Check it out.

Annie writes:
I slept in very late (9:30), got up and made a list of things to do. I showered, dressed, then cleaned the house. It is not a very good day as far as weather. It is cloudy, raining off and on, and very windy. I worked on some ideas to do for our sponsors this year and trying to figure out when we can do things. Dan and Jay fished a very full day, they did not come home until dark, Jay stayed for dinner and John & Laraine came over with desert. We did not have much time together at all tonight. By the time everyone left Dan went right to bed. His neck and back are acting up a bit.

Monday, February 14
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
Things did not work out as planned today. Yesterday we had overcast skies and scattered rain, with a front blowing through during the afternoon and evening. Today was blue sky and calm winds, and those buzzbait fish would not cooperate. We ran around all day, trying to fish again all of the areas where we had caught fish over the past week, and I managed to catch only two keeper fish. Not a great way to finish up my practice. I’m not fishing tomorrow - too many things to do to get ready - so this is it for me. I am attributing the tough fishing today to post-frontal conditions, I’m trying not to get discouraged, and assuring myself that the stable weather predicted for the rest of the week should settle things down again by Wednesday, the first day of the tournament.

Annie writes:
Happy Valentine’s day! We had our holding tanks pumped out this morning and it was nasty. This guy who did it got his hose clogged and to make a long story short there was crap everywhere. He apologized and said I did not have to pay. Whoopee, it was $5.00!! John was here and said there was a problem with the valve. They were on their way out and he told me to just close the house and run the AC because of the stink, he would check it out when he came back. I ran the AC and then boom. I blew some fuse, I went out to check the box and that didn’t fix it. So Cooper and I were stuck here all day with no electricity, and it really stunk! What a crappy valentines day! Ha, Ha. It is funny now - it wasn’t funny then. John came back later in the day and switched valves so that our water tank leaks a bit but not our black water tank. I emailed the motorhome dealer and they are sending us a valve replacement tomorrow. Dan got home from fishing just as John and I were finishing cleaning up, so he didn’t have to work on the crap project. Instead, he spent the next two hours installing a new trolling motor on Dick’s boat. Afterwards, we had a very nice dinner, but he was exhausted so he went right to bed. I told him he had to sleep in tomorrow - no getting up before at least 7am.

Tuesday, February 15
(Pascagoula, Mississippi)

Dan writes:
This morning I worked outside in my boat - restrung all my rods with new 30lb. test Spiderline, put new hooks on my crankbaits, tied on a new Gambler Ninja Jig (which has been my most consistent fish catcher this week,) and cleaned all the junk out of the boat to make room for my partner for tomorrow. I went and gassed up the boat at the local CITGO station, and then put the boat in the water and tied it up to shore behind our camper. I’m ready to start the tournament, which begins tomorrow morning, and hoping a whole lot that I draw an early boat number, so that I can get in to those buzzbait fish before someone else does.

Annie writes:
Dan was not fishing today and he stayed in be until 7:00. It was a busy day. I went to have my nails done and get a haircut. Dan worked on his tackle most of the day. We got a box from CITGO with our pro staff clothing in it. It is great. We have luggage and everything. As this is my first official sponsor, I am very excited. I am a little worried thinking of the other guys on the pro staff, as they may wonder why I am on the pro staff. But, CITGO is the sponsor of this journal, and I have made a number of commitments in a written contract with CITGO, and that is the reason. I am very excited about working with them though. We had the registration and meeting tonight, along with dinner.

Wednesday, February 16

(Pascagoula, Mississippi - FLW Tournament - Day 1)

Dan writes:
We drew a terrible boat number at the registration meeting last night - number 151. But, you have to take what’s given you and make the best of it. We finally took off about 25 minutes after the first boat left, and we ran up to the marsh to try and catch some on the buzzbait. The tide was very low, and though I could see a couple of fish in the areas we were in, we could not make any of them bite. We move on after an hour and half, to the sandy bank where I caught two on back-to-back casts last week. I quickly caught my first keeper here today, along with 1 or 2 short fish. We moved again, this time up to the shallow ponds we were so excited about when we found them a few days ago. The tide was rising but still low, and we had a great deal of difficulty getting in, so I know that I was the first boat in there today. That didn’t help though, as we fished the whole pond and never got a bite. We met up with Dick, who had been fishing the upper pond the entire morning and caught only one fish, so we decided to move on to another area. This next place was good with the buzzbait a few days ago, but today the tide was out and the cypress trees did not have enough water on them. We fished a worm around outside the trees and got one bite - but when my partner netted the fish it turned out to be a FLOUNDER! Oh well. We moved again, this time to the upper end of the creek where we were catching numbers of non-keeper fish last week, but where I caught a 3 pounder just 2 days ago. As soon as we got there I caught a 12" fish - my second keeper - but that’s all we managed to get out of that area. It was now around 1:00, so we decided to run back down to the marsh and fish for those buzzbait fish again. As soon as we arrived, we started getting bit. The tide was just right now. My partner caught a keeper. We each caught a couple of shorts. Then I hooked a good one on the buzzbait, fought him for a while, and lost him. I was very upset with myself. Every fish is so important in these tournaments, especially when so many of us are struggling just to catch a limit. Three minutes later though I hooked another, and put him in the boat. That’s my third keeper, and I started to get optimistic - the fish are biting now and we have two more hours to fish. Well, we must have hit the tide just right when we came in here this afternoon. Where it seemed too low this morning for the fish to be aggressive, in the last two hours of the day the water must have been too high, because the fish just stopped biting after our little flurry. I finished the day with 3 keepers, that weighed exactly 3 pounds. The cutoff for 75th place is 5.5 lbs., and the top 10 cut is at 10.12.

Annie writes:
I could hear all the men who parked their boats in the marsh right behind us early this morning, I opened up the window and watched them all leave. About 20 minutes later I heard a boat come back, so I looked out my window and it was Dan. He wanted to make sure John’s partner found him this morning, he was picking him up by water and had never been here before. He just looked and saw John was gone and turned to leave. I had my window open and was waving and at the last minute he saw me. I was awake, so I got up. Did some laundry and got a few things done. Elaine and Laraine came to pick me up with Susie and Judy and we went out to lunch. We got back a little before weigh in so I made a few phone calls and then waited for Danny. It was a long wait as he was in the last flight. He had 3 fish and I think that is pretty good for today. I cooked us dinner and Dan was in bed early.

Thursday, February 17

(Pascagoula, Mississippi - FLW Tournament - Day 2)

Dan writes:
We were supposed to take off at 6:30 this morning, but thick fog kept us sitting in our boats and waiting for 4 hours. They finally let us go at 10:30am, which meant that those of us in the first flight, due in at 3:00, had about 4 hours of fishing. Since those buzzbait fish that I wanted to catch were less than 15 minutes away, I had an advantage over the guys who were running 60 or 70 miles to get to their fish. Trouble is, with the short day today, a lot of those guys decided not to make the long run. They stayed and fished locally, which meant that the areas that I had to myself yesterday, today I had to share with other boats. I managed to catch only one keeper fish, and finished the tournament with 4 lbs., 10 oz.

Annie writes:
I woke up around 8:00 and was sitting at the computer when I heard something outside, I opened my window and realized it was very foggy out and they had not yet taken off for the tournament. I had to run errands so I showered, got dressed and was off. I noticed on my way out of the campsite that they still had not done the take off yet. They ended up taking off around 10:30, that is going to hurt a lot of guys. Dan is due in first flight today so that does not give him to much fishing time. I went to a TV station to try and get some copies made of our commercial. They could do them for about $10.00. I still thought that was way to much, the man at the station suggested that I just copy them by using two VCR’s and buying blank tapes at Walmart. I think that is what I will do because I want to do it as inexpensive as possible and we have two VCR’s with us. Dan came in with 1 fish, I was so sad, once again after all the work and effort, we leave with nothing. We had too much to do to dwell on it now though. Dan is driving a camera boat tomorrow so he had a meeting to go to. I got the boat out of the water with help from John. Then I went home and got ready for a sponsor dinner we have with CITGO at 7:00. Dan came home, changed, and we were off. We got home around 11:00. We were exhausted, but we had a lot of fun at our dinner.

Friday, February 18

(Pascagoula, Mississippi - FLW Tournament - Day 3)

Annie writes:
I got up before Dan left and we got to spend a few minutes of quality time before he had to go drive the camera boat. I went to watch the take off this morning, it is down to the top 10 and it really gets interesting now. Dan was due back in around 2:30 and we drove to the weigh in together. We did not get home until 7:50 and I cooked us a quick dinner. Dan was exhausted and has to go back tomorrow, so we got our stuff ready for the next day and went to bed.

Saturday, February 19

(Pascagoula, Mississippi - FLW Tournament - Day 4)

Dan writes:
Long before we ever got here to Mississippi we had started hearing rumors that some of the guys were going to run out into the Gulf of Mexico and turn either east towards Mobile, Alabama, or west towards Biloxi, to find other areas to fish. When we talked to the locals here about it, they all thought that was a crazy idea. The chances of getting 4 days of calm weather for the tournament would be very slim, the boats would have to run straight out in the gulf for miles to find water deep enough to run their boats in, and many of them would still end up running aground on a sand bar or an oyster reef. Having no desire to fight ocean waves 7 or 8 feet high, I agreed, and figured that there was plenty of water right here in the Pascagoula River to find fish in. I also felt sure that most of the competition would feel the same way. As it turns out, I was wrong. I estimate now that around half the field of 175 boats ran out into the Gulf to find better fish somewhere else. And while the winds did stay calm for the first two days, they did have other problems. The first morning, there were dozens of boats that ran aground, and the guys spent hours in the water lifting and pushing their boats off. On the way back in the afternoon they ran though 50 miles of fog so thick they couldn’t see 50 feet. And they had to do it at 60mph, some of them narrowly avoiding collisions with huge ocean-going vessels. Was it worth it? Just look at the results. After two days of fishing, the field is cut to the top 10. To the best of my knowledge, every one of the Top 10 Finalists was someone who took the gamble and made the long and dangerous run out into the gulf. The one exception to this was the fellow who traveled up the river. The locals here assured me that 30 miles upriver, the water becomes so shallow and stump-ridden as to be treacherous, and only sheer luck could get a boat through there without being torn up. This fellow traveled 60 miles upriver - 30 miles beyond where the locals said you could go no further. For the last two days I have been driving the camera boat that followed this competitor up the river to his fish. It has been an exhilarating, but frightening, experience, which involved negotiating countless hairpin turns, zipping through chutes so narrow that the boat would scrape off one side or the other, threading our way through 30 miles of stumps and logs, flying across sand bars 300 yards long and only 6 inches deep, and doing most of this at speeds of up to 68 mph, knowing that at any moment you might hit the log that would flip the boat, resulting in serious injury or death. As it was, over the course of the two days we beat up the boats so badly that tournament officials had to bring one replacement out to us while on the water, and the other had a serious oil leak somewhere under the engine cover by the time it made it back. In talking to the other camera boat drivers afterwards, is seems I had the easy job this week. While the weather was calm for the first two days of the tournament, the wind blew for the last two. It took the boats two hours to traverse, through rough ocean seas, the 65 miles to where these guys were fishing in Mobile. Some of the boats speared waves up to a dozen times, and the guys came back battered and bloody from the brutal boat ride. Fortunately though, everyone did make it back. There is a lesson to be learned here, and it is a hard one. The lesson is that in order to compete at this level, and against these guys, I am going to have to be willing to risk both my equipment, and, as proved by the final two days, my safety and well-being if not my life. That is exactly what every single one of the Top 10 guys did to get to the finials. It is a sobering lesson, and one that makes me question what it is that I am doing.

Annie writes:
Dan left around 6:30 I think, I stayed in bed this morning. I got up around 7:30, showered and dressed in my nice new CITGO clothing because I have to go to work. I got ready to leave and saw John walking Kasie, their dog, and he said they were heading back on the road so I went to say goodbye to them and thank them for everything they have done for us. We really enjoy seeing them and look forward to seeing them next in South Carolina. I went to the fun zone at Walmart and worked at the CITGO booth all day. It was a great turnout. We had most of the pro staff there and they were signing CITGO hats for spectators. They ended up signing 720 hats, it was a very busy day. Our day ended at the booth at 2:30, Cindy and I did a raffle on stage and that was the end. Dan came in quickly after that with the fisherman and we watched a very exciting weigh in. Scott Martin won the tournament and I was glad to see him win. We got home around 6:00 and cooked out. I was so exhausted from being on my feet all day that I actually went to bed before Dan.

Sunday, February 20
We had no plans to leave early. Dan & I have lots of things on our to-do list and I knew that if we got on the road and drove directly to Lake Murray, Dan would be fishing as soon as we got there. We decided to stay another day here and just catch up on things we need to do. People always wonder how we can have so much to do, but this is our house, and there are always things to do at home. I cleaned the house spotless, while Dan worked on hooking up the trailer lights on the Suburban. He also got our storage compartments organized. We were very busy all day and cooked a good meal for dinner. We may be ready to get on the road by tomorrow.

Monday, February 21
We are on our way to Lake Murray, in Columbia, South Carolina, to pre-practice for the FLW, coming up in 3 weeks. We have a B.A.S.S. tournament coming up in 2 weeks (at Pickwick Lake in Alabama,) which interferes with our normal pattern of practice. What we’ll do is practice now for about 5 days for the FLW, go practice and fish the B.A.S.S. in Alabama, then race back to South Carolina to get in 1or 2 final practice days for the FLW. We are not writing any detail about today, though! We had a very bad day, and we are not getting along at all. We are not even talking to each other right now. Just to show you all, we have our ups and downs just like everyone else. We camped overnight in a Walmart parking lot in Montgomery, Alabama. This is a big town, and we have errands to do, so we will stay all day tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 22
The day continues from yesterday, with us still fighting. We could not even talk, so I went to do my errands and Dan stayed home to do house errands. I kept thinking, maybe I should just stay out all day. That did not work, I was home by 11:30am and Dan was not home. There was an envelope with my name waiting for me. I opened the envelope and there was a letter with our CD changer in it. The letter was a short letter apologizing and saying he doesn’t want us to fight anymore. It also said to turn on the CD player. When I did, Alan Jackson’s song "I’ll go on loving you" was playing. I cried and cried. Dan came home within 15 minutes and the fight was over. We went out to dinner and decided to stay here another night.

Wednesday, February 23
We finished up our errands and got back on the road. We drove until we got just past Atlanta, but it was late and we were hungry so we went out to eat at The Waffle House, something I do not allow to happen very often. We stayed the night at a local WalMart.

Thursday, February 24
(Lake Murray, SC)

Dan & Annie write:
We arrived at Dreher Island state park, only part of the park is open and the road is very small. We finally got parked and are learning quickly that our camping style will be changing a bit. We keep blowing our fuses as well as everyone else electric boxes in the campground. We can not do laundry and use the microwave at the same time. We do not get satellite TV as there are trees all around and the park is very small, so I guess this would be roughing it for us. Ha, Ha.

Friday, February 25
(Lake Murray, SC)

Dan writes:
I fished today with Craig Sahms, who lives not far from here and who came out today to practice for a tournament that he and his wife are in tomorrow. Craig was catching big fish last weekend on a jig, around docks and laydown trees, so that’s what we did today. We put only 3 fish in the boat all day, and shook a couple off so that Craig might catch them tomorrow, but the fish we caught were two 5 pounders and a 2 pounder. Quality fish. I think I’ll throw this jig some more tomorrow.

Annie writes:
I went out today to look for a dentist as I have a loose crown. I found a very nice dentist and he was going to pull it out and just re-cement it, until we took an x ray. The x-ray showed that the root might be split. He thinks if he pulled it, there might be to much damage in there to cement it and I could need a bridge. We decided to forget it, if it comes out on it’s own it would be better. So I will not be eating any candy apples for a while. I washed the suburban, changed our bed sheets and cleaned out some of my closet. I also cleaned the house and got some business taken care of via email. Craig and Dan came home and Craig could not stay, he had about a 1 and ½ hour drive to get back home. We cooked out on the grill for dinner.

Saturday, February 26
(Lake Murray, SC)

Dan writes:
I fished the jig again all day today, around docks, laydowns, and brush piles. The first fish I caught was about 12", and I wanted to tell Annie, who was out in the boat with me today, that this fish was just a baby compared to what we were catching yesterday. I didn’t though. Instead I kept my mouth shut, hoping to show her instead. It didn’t take long - my next fish was 4 pounds, and the one after that was 4 pounds, and the next 2 1/2. Then I caught a couple of 13" fish, and I finished the day with another 4 pounder. We quit at 3:00 to go watch Craig’s weigh-in. I am thrilled to death to be catching fish like this. Had I entered Craig’s tournament, I’d have finished in 4th. Now let’s talk about the conditions. It is late February, and only last week the water temperatures were in the lower 40’s. Since then though we’ve had a week of gorgeous, sunny weather, and it has been dead flat calm, sunny and 75 degrees for the two days that I’ve been here. Water temps have risen to the mid 50’s, and the fish, apparently, are loving it, and are taking advantage of this mid-winter warming trend to come in and show Danny a good time. I am fishing the mid lake area - we tried further up yesterday, where the water is dingier, but didn’t get a bite. We also ran down towards the dam, where the water is ultra-clear, and didn’t get bit. Here in mid-lake the water is still fairly clear, with about 6 feet of visibility, and this is where I’m staying from now on. I am throwing a black Gambler Ninja Jig, 3/8’s ounce, with a Gambler Ninja Claw trailer, black with blue glitter, and I haven’t missed a fish on it yet. I am very happy with it’s hooking abilities. I am obviously doing something right - that is, throwing the Ninja Jig at floating docks. The trouble is, I cannot get a bite doing ANYTHING else. We’ve had 12 bites in two days, every one of them on the jig/floating dock combination, even though we’ve spent hours fishing other baits and other methods. Tomorrow Craig and I are going out again, and we’ll try to figure something else out.

Annie writes:
Craig & his wife Mary Anne are in a tournament here today. I went fishing with Dan and we fished until 3:30 so we could watch them weigh in. My fishing will be easy to describe, I fished all day long and did not catch one fish. When Danny caught his 6th fish I quit, knowing that I was not helping. I organized some of his tackle instead. Craig and Mary Anne did not have a good day either. The tournament they fished took 18+ lbs. to win and Dan thinks he had around 15. So he did very good. I wish it had been a tournament day for him. We went out to eat with Craig and Mary Anne after the weigh in and had a very good time. My Mom later on and told me that a good family friend, Dora, (actually my grandfather’s girlfriend of 12 years) had a heart attack a few days ago and is not doing very well. I am very worried about her.

Sunday, February 27
(Lake Murray, SC)

Dan writes:
Today we finally saw some wind, with alternating sun and clouds and then rain by mid-afternoon. Craig and I fished for half a day, and with the changed conditions we finally found a few active fish back in the windy pockets. We caught one on a spinnerbait, one on a Shad Rap, and one on a jerkbait, but nothing big. Until I pitched the Ninja Jig to a floating dock, that is, and caught another fish over 4 pounds.

Annie writes:
Dan & Craig went fishing and Mary Anne and I went out for the day. The only problem is most of the stores don’t open on Sundays until 1:30 We went out to lunch, did a little shopping and then the phone rang, it was Craig and he said they were home and it was pouring and they had no keys to get in the house. We came home and Craig and Mary Anne stayed for a little bit before they had to get home. The campground really emptied out today and with everyone gone we can now do laundry without overloading the electric boxes, and do we have laundry to do. I cooked a great Fajita dinner and we were in bed by 9:00 and watched The Beach Boys movie (my favorite group).

Monday, February 28
(Lake Murray, SC)

Dan writes:
Another flat, calm, cloudless day, but a little cooler this morning after yesterday’s front. I caught one off the jig/floating dock combo early, but things were pretty slow in the morning. I eventually wandered back towards the back of one shallow pocket, where I watched fish on two different docks chase my bait out but who wouldn’t bite it. I sat down and made a change. Back home a couple of years ago, I fished with my friend Roger Fournier, and he taught me a lesson about fishing a Texas rigged 4" French Fry in clear water. I tied one on, and caught a 2 1/2 pounder on my second cast. I proceeded to catch a small limit, 7 or 8 pounds, fishing the French Fry in these shallow pockets. Now I had caught at least one fish over 4 pounds every day this week, but today I’d kind-of lost confidence in the jig bite. But then I got to THE dock. I pitched the French Fry to one corner of the dock and caught a 12" fish. The worm was all balled-up afterwards, and I didn't want to miss the rest of the dock, so I dropped that rod, picked up the jig, and pitched it in there. Tick. Jerk. Ooomph! Oh my God! Look at that fish! Jump, splash, roll, jump again, and Cooper’s barking up a storm and trying to help me reel it in... Well this fish came into the boat and she was at least 7 pounds, maybe more. I basically doubled the size of my limit with one bite on the Ninja Jig. This is awesome!

Annie writes:
I was up before Dan left, but he did not plan on me going. I have plenty of laundry to do and lots of business. I paid all of our bills for March and cleaned the house. I called the kids and got to talk to Chris for a while. They are on school vacation this week. Dan came home and we updated each other on our days. We cooked dinner and were in bed with a bowl of ice cream at 9:00 watching the end of the Beach Boys movie.

Tuesday, February 29
(Lake Murray, SC)

Dan writes:
My last day of pre-practice for the FLW here on Murray. Annie said I didn’t have to go out today - I’ve caught enough fish here. I said Oh no girl, I’m having too much fun, and I’ll be back by 5:00. I fished two new areas today - the first up at the far end of a creek, where I didn’t do anything at all, and the second out in the main lake, down more towards the dam from where I’ve been fishing. The water is much clearer down here, and the bite is a little bit slower. I had an 8 or 9 pound limit today, with no 4 pounders. We’ve had such awesome weather now that the fish have moved real shallow. Water temperature in the clear water is only about 57 degrees, but I actually saw 3 fish today on beds! If you go all the way back to the end of the shallow pockets, there are as many as a hundred small bass back where the water is only 12" deep. Move out from there to the first floating dock, and there are God-knows-how-many keeper fish under there. I tricked one 13 inch’er with a French Fry today and as I pulled him out, five fish in the 3 to 4 pound range chased him out to see what all the excitement was about. They are so shallow and so spooky though in this clear water that these fish are tough to catch. I’m not bothered by this, though. By the time I get back here for the FLW, the weather will have cooled down to normal and these shallow fish will have moved back out to where I can catch them on my Ninja Jig! KeyesJrnlLogo

Annie writes:
I put Dan in the water and had to go to the post office to get some mail out. I did laundry again, paid for another night here and made invitations for an open house we are having when we are in NH in April. I called Kate because I did not get to talk to her yesterday. She was home sick, what a bummer on school vacation. We had a very nice talk and are both sad that we are not together during her vacation. We cooked dinner on the grill and had a pretty quiet evening at home.

Link to: March 2000