[January] February 2001 [March]

Ranger knew we were desperate for a boat, and they were working with us in trying to find what we need, as well as a loaner boat for us to run for a few weeks. By the time I climbed out of bed this morning though the fact was that neither Ranger nor we had found a boat. This is significant because today was yet another decision-day - it was the last day that we could call in and confirm our entry in the upcoming FLW tournament in Biloxi. If we didn’t call today to pay our entry-fee balance then we would lose our slot on the list, as well as our $300 deposit. I woke up this morning believing that I’d be calling in to tell them we weren’t coming to Biloxi.

A few days ago though a tip had come in that the Hibdon’s might have a boat for sale, so I had called Stella Hibdon on Sunday to talk about it. I told her my situation, but they apparently were in the midst of something and weren’t ready to commit at that time. Well today just before noon she called me back - Dion would sell me his boat, a 2001 Ranger 520 with a Yamaha 225, for the price I was looking to spend. In fact, he would even deliver it to me in Biloxi with enough time for me to practice before the tournament. This was perfect. I got off the phone with them, called Ranger to cancel the search for a loaner, called Operation Bass to pay my entry fee, and started making preparations to leave on Monday. Biloxi here we come!

The last few days here saw us spend some quality-time with the kids. I took Chris snowboarding one more time on Friday night, he and I hung out together all day on Saturday, and that night the two of us plus Annie and Kate went to dinner and then to Alfred’s hockey game. On Sunday I took Jeff, almost 16, out to breakfast where we had a heart-to-heart, father/son talk, and afterwards I let him drive the Suburban around some. He’ll be getting his license later this spring. That afternoon Annie, Kate and I went to look at a house for sale, Kate went back home to do some homework, we packed all our stuff back into the Suburban, and then Kate & Alfred came over to Mom & Dad’s for one last dinner before we had to take off.

The weather reports were calling for a major winter storm on Monday, so we left NH at nine o’clock on Sunday night instead. We drove through the night and 21 hours later were back in Tennessee and our camper, 1,000 miles away. When we called home we found out that they had had 30 inches of snow since we’d left!

After a good night’s sleep, once again in our own bed, we woke Tuesday morning feeling much less rushed. We unpacked from our trip, then left around noon to begin driving the last 500 or so miles down to Biloxi. In no big hurry, we covered the distance in two days and parked right next to John & Laraine’s camper just after noon-time on Wednesday, one week before the start of the FLW tournament.

The river is a bit higher than it was last year, when it was so low that the locals were saying it was crazy to be running this far up. But it’s also cold and muddy, so once again the key is finding the old oxbow lakes off the main river channel to fish. There are dozens of these, but only certain ones have access to them at the various river stages. As with most river systems, the water level here rises and falls with the rains so lakes that have access one day, you may not be able to get into a couple of days later.

I caught fish in the first lake I went into. Two keepers and three short fish. That’s a good way to get started, especially since all the fishing reports from around here lately say it’s so bad. (In a local tournament last weekend with 45 boats, there were 27 zero’s.) I fished perhaps ten more places today but caught only one more keeper fish. Still though three keepers on my first day out is not too bad.

Annie writes:
We decided last night that I would not go fishing today, I did however do my exercises. Then, I spent the entire day on the phone trying to get contact names and addresses to send resume’s to. By the end of the day I had 2 complete addresses, with names. You would not believe how difficult it is trying to make sure the resume’ gets to the right person. Along with that I also printed up five more resume’s, that are now just about complete. Dan came home around 3:30 and needed to go out so I went with him, we did errands and then went out to eat.

Reluctantly I acknowledged that the crankbait bite was over, and switched over to a jig. By this time I had moved another twenty minutes upriver and was now beyond the second bridge, off the maps. I caught two keeper fish up there on the jig, but they were just thirteen-inch fish, probably not worth driving all that distance on tournament day for.

Annie writes:
I spent the whole day cleaning the house. I washed floors, mirrors, cabinets, everything. I am preparing to show it for sale, hopefully. I figure the more I can do now, the less I will have to do when we do show it. I still have a few things left to do, but it is in much better shape than before. Dan came home around 5:00 and I wiped down the boat for him, then cooked us a nice little dinner. We went to visit John & Laraine for a while and Earl Shultz was also there. I have been fighting a sore throat for a few days and it seems to be worse at night and in the morning, so I went to bed early and just read for a little bit with Danny.

So with only one day of practice left, I don’t even have a place to start on Wednesday. There are more lakes to the south, between here and the tournament site. Dick has been catching fish in these lakes, including some today, but I had been trying to stay away from the crowd by fishing further upriver. I guess tomorrow I’m going to have to join the crowd.

Annie writes:
I did my exercises today, but when I went to do my stomach crunches I had to stop because of a bad pain in my back. It is not my spine, it is definitely a muscle. Dan thinks it is from stress, and I can see how that would be. I am not showing stress mentally, but it seems to be getting to me physically. I have a huge knot in my back and the remains of a cold that I can’t seem to shake.

I was back at the campground by around one o’clock. Annie and I cleaned up the boat, strung new line on my reels, went out and got gas, then re-launched the boat. We’re leaving it in the water behind the camper overnight so we don’t have to deal with the crowds at the launch ramp in the morning.

The registration meeting was held at one of the big, fancy casinos in Biloxi. It was nice to see everyone again, most of whom we hadn’t seen since back in June. We really like being a part of this crowd. Once the meeting got under way we sat through a couple of people doing introductions and what-not, and going over some of the rules, and then the partner-pairings got started. Since I am always like boat number 150, they really caught me by surprise when they called out "Boat number three, Daniel Keyes...". This is the first time I have ever drawn an early boat number for day one. We’re excited about that - if I can get up to my lake ahead of the crowds I really think I could put one or two fish in the boat before things get too busy.

Annie writes:
I did not exercise today, my back is very sore. Dan came in around 1:00 and I helped him get the boat ready for tomorrow. James Parker came over to see if I would launch his boat in the water for him so he did not have to do it by himself. Dan & I then went out to do a few errands, then we put the boat in the water so he doesn’t have to deal with the crowd tomorrow. We got all dressed up for the meeting and it was very nice to see everyone again. Dan drew a great number and we were home by 8:00.

I made it up to my lake in about thirty minutes. Conditions were still good for about two hours, with clouds and drizzle off-and-on, but we either missed the early-morning bite or there really was no such thing, because we didn’t catch any fish in those two hours of flipping. Dick had been catching some on a spinnerbait in practice, and though I had tried it some and not been bit, I started throwing it now in this lake. I caught my first fish at about 11 o’clock on a quarter-ounce, single-Colorado-blade TERMINATOR Titanium Spinnerbait, and I caught my second one an hour later. We finished going around the entire lake with the spinnerbait, and left with about two hours to fish some other areas on the way back. This was probably a mistake, as these other areas were covered up with other boats when we got there, and I had had my little lake today almost all to myself, which was a big surprise.

The consensus at the meeting last night was that two fish would probably be the average catch today, and three fish would be above average. I only had my two, but one was good sized so I ended the day in 60th place out of 175, with just under three pounds. The top-ten cut is only 6 pounds, 11 ounces.

Now, here’s Dick’s story: He went to another lake near mine, where he had caught two or three good keepers in practice. Today he caught the lunker for the day, 4 pounds, 11 ounces, and lost another fish in the 3 pound range before leaving to do the same thing I did in the afternoon. He ended the day with only the one fish, but in 27th place. He is in a big-fish lake, where both of us need to be if we’re only going to get two bites per day, and he told me I could come over into his lake tomorrow.

Annie writes:
Happy Valentine’s Day! I told Dan all I wanted for Valentine’s Day was five fish! Truthfully, I would be ecstatic if he came in with three. I went running this morning around 8, but my back is really hurting and I had to stop. I was walking back to the camper when I heard a noise over the hill. I walked to the top, and there they were, 175 boats, fogged in. I could not believe it, the first time Dan got a good number, and they are fogged in. They finally sent them off around 8:30. That is 2 hours of lost fishing time.

I came home and started to clean up outside, a fan of our journal had spotted me running and came over to say hi. He is actually such a big fan that we named him " Superfan" his name is Charlie Williams and he is from here, but he has driven hundreds of miles in the past, just to see us.

I spent the rest of the morning trying to get contact names to send resumes to, Laraine Hobbie, was helping me and then our neighbors from across the street, who are also friends of the Hobbie’s came over to help. It worked out great and I ended up with some good contacts. So then I printed up 3 more resumes.

Dan is in the first flight today and due in at 3:00. I was very nervous, and anxious, it would really be nice to pull out a good check here. I waited on the dock for him and saw him coming, but there was only one bag in the boat. Dan had told me earlier that his non-boater would have just as good a chance as he, but fortunately it was Dan’s bag, and that put a smile on my face, and then I found out he had 2 fish. WAHOO!! I was so happy. Right after he weighed in we went to park the boat by our camper to get it out of the way. We worked on Dan’s tackle for a bit so he will not have to do it later, then returned to the weigh in. We stayed for the Christian Anglers meeting after the weigh in and then got a print out or the standings. Dan is in the money at 60th place. Oh, how I hope he can stay up there tomorrow.

The fish weren’t biting real well in Dead River either, not biting at all as a matter of fact. I knew they were in there though, and that bit of confidence kept me in focused on every cast, every pitch. I figured I needed only two fish today to stay in the money, and about noon-time I got my first bite. I was pitching the TERMINATOR Titanium Spinnerbait under the overhanging branches, and I watched a fourteen-inch fish come up and grab it from below, but instead of turning away with it he kept coming at the boat and I wasn’t able to stick the hook in him before he spit it out! What a disappointment. I can’t afford to be missing fish when every bite is so important.

That gave me the incentive though to keep throwing the spinnerbait, which is what I caught both my fish on yesterday, even though the cover looks so inviting for flipping and pitching soft plastics. At one o’clock my second bite came, and right away I knew I didn’t want to lose this fish. This one tried to kill that TERMINATOR though, he hit it so hard, and he hooked himself good. A few seconds later and I had a solid two pounder in the boat. Excellent!

I kept on throwing the spinnerbait all afternoon, but that was it for me. I had wanted to catch at least two fish today, but on the ride back I got to thinking that the one I had may be just enough to squeak me into the money. It was a long boat ride wondering if the one would be enough, but it was far better than the boat ride you make when you know you don’t have a chance. Back at the weigh-in my fish weighed exactly two pounds, and that turned out to be good enough for 70th place overall and a paycheck. We’re happy with that - it’s a confidence builder and it makes for a good start to our FLW season.

Annie writes:
I spent a few hours on the phone this morning and found some contacts to send Dan’s resume’ to. I have gotten quite a few contacts this week and am very thankful of that. Now we just need to write the cover letters, that’s Dan’s job, and they can go out in the mail. I got the coach ready for travel, did some laundry, hooked the trailer back up to the truck and made a few phone calls.

Dan is in the last flight and I was so nervous during the wait. I saw him coming in and saw his partner holding a bag in his hand, but once again, only one bag in the boat. Not good, could go either way. When they docked though I realized I had been mistaken, and there were actually two bags. Wahoo! Both guys had one fish each. I didn’t think one would be enough. We thought five pounds would guarantee you a paycheck. Dan’s fish though was a good one, weighing in at exactly two pounds and giving him a total of 4.14. It will be close. YES!!! WE MADE IT!! I am sooooooo happy. Making a check is great, but just as important is that it gives us such a great confidence boost to start the new season.

Dan is driving a camera boat for ESPN tomorrow, so he had a meeting to go to after the weigh-in. I collected his paycheck, then went down to start cleaning out his boat. We loaded the boat when Dan got out, then went back to the camper and sat down to share our feelings about the whole tournament, and our satisfaction with the turnout for us. Afterwards we moved out of the campground and over to Wal-Mart, where the weigh-in will be for the next two days. We were going to go out for dinner, but decided to stay in instead and eat spaghetti, and talk more about what it means to us to be here.

Dan writes:
I had volunteered the other day to help out by driving a camera boat this weekend, so they gave me the job of following Chuck Economu, who was in second place. Because the town of Biloxi is actually hosting this event, we launched the boats amidst all kinds of press and fanfare in Biloxi this morning instead of in the Pascagoula River, as we had the first two days. Of course we had another fog delay though and didn’t actually take-off until just before nine o’clock. Once we did it was quite a ride. Few if any of the top-10 guys were fishing in Biloxi, which means that just about everyone made the boat ride out into the Gulf of Mexico, east for 20 miles or so, then up into the mouth of the Pascagoula, just to get to where we started yesterday. That was about a forty minute run. Once there we stopped to fill up with gas, and then ran about an hour up the Pascagoula to get to the entrance to the lake Chuck was fishing.

The creek getting in to Chuck’s lake turned into quite a job in itself. The water has been falling for a few days, and we were faced with a quarter mile of pushing, pulling, jumping trees, and fighting our way up this shallow, narrow chute into the lake. One of the other top-10 guys was also fishing the same lake, and once he got all the way from Biloxi to the entrance of that chute this morning, he decided it would be impassable today so went looking for a new place to fish. Chuck though wasn’t deterred by the falling water and he fought his way all the way up into the lake, which means that his camera boat did too. Between our run through the Gulf, our stop for gas, our run up the river, and our ordeal getting though the chute, we started filming Chuck fishing at 11:20, two and a half hours after we took-off.

The fishing was slow, but we got some good footage anyway, thanks in part to Chuck accidentally falling out of the boat after missing a fish. It was funny, mostly because we all knew that back at the weigh-in they wouldn’t be able to resist showing that clip to the crowd when Chuck was up on stage. He did managed though to catch two good fish, for almost five pounds, and that was enough to keep him alive to fish in the final five tomorrow.

Getting out of the lake in the afternoon turned into another adventure. Chuck entered the chute ahead of us because if we got stuck, he didn’t want our boat blocking him in. Much to his dismay though half-way out the chute we encountered another boat, that of Oga, the Japanese photographer, stuck solid and blocking Chuck’s exit! Oga had disabled both his big motor and his trolling motor in his attempts to move the boat, and was now in the water himself attempting to lift and push the boat out.

Chuck of course was fishing for a lot of money, and had much more experience in moving boats around in situations like this, so somehow he managed to get Oga’s boat moved a little and his own boat around and past, and then he was off on the rest of his long ride to Biloxi. We were next, and we also managed to get past the stuck boat, but we didn’t have the same incentive to continue and chose instead to rescue Oga. There’s no telling how long he had been pushing his boat, but he was covered in mud, physically exhausted and almost incoherent, and scared. Here he was all alone, stuck in the backwoods and swamps of south Mississippi, miles from the nearest road, with no phone and no radio. The water was falling and his incapacitated boat, if left where it was for another 24 hours, could well be staying there for another six months. Add to that the fact that he is Japanese, and of his own admission, sometimes has a difficult time communicating in English. (In fact, riding back later in the truck with Oga, we were learning more about him. He is unmarried, has lived in Texas for two or three years, and told us "I must more work on my English. My English that level of Kindergartner." Curious, a few minutes later we asked "Who told you that your English is at a ‘Kindergarten’ level?" His reply, "Texas women", had us cracking up laughing.)

Anyway, we managed to work our boat out in front of Oga’s, and with him in the water pushing, and us in front towing, we eventually got the two boats back out to the river. In the process though we succeeded in breaking our own trolling motor as well. Once out in the river, we towed Oga’s boat a few miles down to the nearest launch ramp, where we tied it up and left it. The three of us then rode in the camera boat back upriver 10 or 15 miles to Oga’s truck, where we loaded that boat onto Oga’s trailer, then raced back to WalMart to shoot the weigh-in. Oga went back for his own boat later that night. Now I’ve said it before about this job of camera boat driving, and I’ll say it again now. "It’s not just a job... it’s an adventure!"

Annie writes:
I was up by 7:30, and got to work on my to-do list. Dan had written some cover letters this morning at 4 am, so I printed them out and now have three completed portfolios. I also had lots of company this morning - John & Laraine came over; Robin Workman came over (her husband Daniel is in the top 10 today on the amateur side); and Jay Bourgeois, a local fellow we met last year through our journal writing, came over for a visit. In the afternoon we walked over to the weigh-in and I checked out the Fun Zone a little. One of the guys from Operation Bass asked me if I would be willing to work in the Mercury tent tomorrow, handing out brochures. I said sure, it can do me no harm. If anything it will get me more exposure, look good for me to be working in another tent, and hopefully open up a new door. You never know. We went to the weigh-in and I finally got to see Dan - he got in late due to his rescue out on the water this afternoon.

After the weigh-in Jay came over to visit some with Dan, and then Dan and I had a nice dinner together. He has to be out the door and ready to go at 5:30 tomorrow, so he went to bed immediately after dinner.

Chuck knew that as tough as it was yesterday and with the water falling, there was no way he was going to make it up that chute and into the lake he’d been fishing all week. Instead, in the limited time he had he bounced around from one area to another all day today trying to find a fish or two. Unfortunately a serious cold front had swept in overnight and that, along with the inaccessibility of the lake he’d been fishing all week, combined to put an end to Chuck’s bid for the $100,000 first prize. At 12:30, without a fish in the boat, it was time for him to begin the two-hour trip back to Biloxi.

We pulled the camera boat out and trailered it back to meet Chuck at the launch ramp. As he approached we thought something looked a little odd, and shortly afterwards realized that the rough waters of the Gulf of Mexico had claimed another prize: the brand-new trolling motor from Chuck’s boat was now at the bottom of the Gulf.

With a police escort we convoyed the boats and trailers back to WalMart and to the biggest, most enthusiastic crowd ever seen at an FLW weigh-in. For various reasons, the fishing had been tough for all five competitors today. Tommy Biffle’s winning weight of only two pounds, eight ounces can attest to that fact. Perhaps the biggest story today though is the story of what might have been: One angler, Johnny McCombs, made the mistake of not writing down the time he was due in this afternoon, and showed up fifteen minutes late. As according to the rules, which he did not dispute, he was disqualified. Rumor is he had almost ten pounds of fish in his livewell. Wow!

Annie writes:
I called my Mom this morning to see how she was. We talk pretty much every day, just to chat. Also, Kate called me, and she is soooooo excited for our vacation next week. It is school vacation and all three of the kids are flying down to spend the week with us in Florida. It is coming so quick and we can hardly wait.

At 11:00 I went over to the Fun Zone and met Chuck Willems from Mercury Marine. We had a great day. It was his first FLW and he found it quite impressive. I worked the Mercury booth with him until 2:30, when the Fun Zone was over, and made sure I gave him Dan’s portfolio and filled him in on our life. He seemed quite interested in our situation, where we live on the road and write this journal. We are not sponsored by Mercury, nor did I get paid to work there, but I had a good day with Chuck and as I said yesterday it will do us no harm. I got noticed working another booth, and you never know what the future might bring.

The weigh-in was good, but not many fish were caught. Afterwards the parking lot was a mess, so we waited patiently for it to clear out before hooking up the boat, and then drove as far as the Florida Welcome Center where we ended up staying overnight.

We made it to Florida on Monday, and plan to spend the rest of this week catching up on business, soliciting new sponsors, and visiting with Dan’s Mom for a few days. The kids then fly down next Sunday, and we are going to enjoy a whole week of family vacation fun with them. We can’t wait, and everyone is looking forward to it so much. For this reason, and since we’re not doing any fishing for the next two weeks, I’m sure you’ll understand when you see no more journal entries until the end of vacation. We should start writing again around March 5th, so thank-you all once again for your continued support, and be sure to check back again in two weeks when we start preparing for the back-to-back B.A.S.S. Invitational and FLW events in Alabama. ‘Til then, bye, bye!

Link to: March 2001