Reflecting back on the first FLW Toyota Series on Lake Eufaula.
This year me, my wife Meredith and the kids sat down before the season started to look at what tournament trails we would fish. I’ve known from a young age that God put something special in me about the outdoors, specifically fishing and hunting.
I can remember at a very young age flipping through old Bassmaster magazines and Alabama Game and Fish magazines reading articles about bass fishing and sometimes just day-dreaming about having a bass boat and fishing tournaments like the guys I saw in those magazines did. Bill Dance, Hank Parker, Jimmy Houston and Roland Martin were a few of the top fishermen in the 1980s.
I've held on to that dream and really been somewhat trying to reach the upper levels of tournament trails for 10 years.
So as my family I sat down to look at what we wanted to fish and decide that whatever we decided on that after this year if we weren't able to qualify for the upper level of tournament fishing ( FLW Tour or the Bassmaster Elite series) that we wouldn't pursue that any longer.
We decided we were going to fish the new FLW Toyota Series Southeastern Division and the Bassmaster Central Opens.
We just finished up the first event of the Toyota Series in 16th place.
Not a bad start but when you're in 5th place after the first day and you have the opportunities to be up there after the second day, 16th leaves a bad taste in your mouth.
I couldn't chase this dream without all the support, especially from my wife and kids and from the great companies I get to work with.
Phoenix Boats, Mercury Marine, Power Pole, Lowrance Electronics, Megabass, Missile Baits, Gambler Baits, and Nuvo Apparel all make competing so much easier!
