After winning this tournament twice in three years, let me start by saying I have a warm and fuzzy feeling for the event.    This year the format changed.  Instead of a Pro Am the tournament is now a team format.  It really didn’t matter to me.  I’ve got plenty of friends who love to fish Florida lakes that I can call in a pinch.

Matt and I love to flip, so our game plan going into practice was to remain focused and just have fun with it. Persistence paid off and we were able to locate a few key areas holding quality fish that we leaned on heavily during competition.

On day one our plan was simple, to catch everything that bit and stay focused fishing.   We were pleasantly surprised that within the first hour we bagged a 15-pound limit, which at the end of the day landed us in 8^th place.

On the second day of competition the bites did not come as fast and furious as the previous day.  We adjusted and move around to secure a 17-pound limit, which move us into 3^rd place sealing a spot in the Top 10.

The final day of competition the weights were zeroed and everyone started from scratch.   We elected to fish in an area that we located during practice on Kissimmee Lake.  We were optimistic that if things went well we had a real chance of winning.  We fished one area the entire day catching a lot of numbers, but we were minus the Kissimmee giant that we felt we needed to win.

Weigh-in proved to be a real nail bitter with the weights lower than the previous days and to close to call.  The majority of teams had struggled through out the day trying to locate quality fish.  Our final day weight of 12.50 was just enough to inch out my old friend Terry Scroggins’ team by a little over an ounce to clinch the win for us.  I’m certain that sometime in the future he’ll pay me back, but right now I’m going to bask in the victory.

Our main “go to” baits for the event were Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver in Christmas Pumpkin and Hematoma.  We paired these baits on a 1 3/8-ounce Tungsten weight with 65-pound Spider Wire Ultra Cast braid and 7′ 11″ heavy flipping sticks.

The Great Outdoors Days capped off with the Angling Against Cancer Benefit Tournament on Sunday.  I was paired with a longtime supporter, Nancy Smith.  Nancy also competed in the Lake Toho Challenge and finished 12^th.  We had a great day and caught fish a lot of different ways, but were only able to weigh-in a little over 9-pounds.

A special thanks to Terry Seagraves who runs a great event and supports a much needed cause.

It’s always great to end the season on a high note and put a little extra cash in the wallet. 

I’ll have a full tour summery and pictures up in a few days.

Although I was less than enthusiastic about the conditions, I was excited about catching some giant small mouth.  All in all the PAA should have a great show.  We worked a few schools that were absolutely phenomenal.  I can wait to see the show when it airs on WFN HD sometime in early 2009.

So now I get to go from one extreme to another, and I’m pretty happy about it.  Saturday I left for Lake Toho in Kissimmee Florida to compete in the Lake Toho Challenge.  This year they change it up a bit and made it into a buddy tournament.  Matt Herren agreed to be my partner, so I picked him up on the way.  This is the first year that I’ve been able to compete in the tournament since I won it in 2005.   Toho can be awesome this time of year, and I’m really looking forward to fishing in my shorts and sandals!

Several weeks ago I made the decision to pullout of the last FLW Series event on Clarks Hill to help my family with a large promotional event they’re having at Svanda GM Motor Group in Sparta Illinois on October 25th.  I’ll be there with my rigs for an open house that begins at 10:00 a.m.   If anyone is in the market for a new car they’re offering some extraordinary deals.   My Dad will have the Chrysler and Dodge products as well.  If you’re not in the market, turn up anyway for free lunch and to say hi.

Sunday I’m traveling to Pennsylvania to shoot one of our first PAA TV series with Dave Lefebre.   The show will take place on Lake Erie on one of Dave’s sweet spots, so we’re hoping for some monster catches.  The show will air in 2009 on the WFN HD.  I’m sure it will be a great show that is if we don’t kill each other before it’s over.   Dave and I like to butt heads a lot so I’m sure it will make for very interesting television.