| Some I have met before, for example Charlie Orme AKA “Top Water” Charlie. Talking to Charlie early in the week I asked him if this lake would be good for his Devil Horse tactics. He quickly told me no and said that was not why he was here. He said this trip for him was about a week of fun. I think that is the majority sentiment of the members at the national. I was told by a member that they would be at the national even if it was in another country.
I spent a lot of time in a previous article talking about the staff running the national. Without them it would be impossible to me for an event this size to run as smooth as it was. However, there is another huge factor that made this event run well. It was the members themselves that also made the event run so smooth.
From launching their boats in the morning, to waiting in the bag line, or weigh line that afternoon, I never heard a complaint. It was to the contrary I heard laughter, joking, and members just relaxing and having a good time. They all seemed to understand that the bag line is just a part of bass tournaments. They stand in line so their fish do not have to.
There were members like Rusty Strickland, Jean Rose, Bob Medeiros, and Ken King that could not fish the event, so instead, they wanted to work the event. It is a real statement to the character of the members of the ABA for this event to have run so smoothly. It should make each of you proud to be in an organization that is truly focused on the members. We all have seen or been in organizations out there that are just not like this.
On day two, I had 2 boats break down up river. Tommy Hibdon, a director from Arkansas offered to go get one of the boats and Thomas Rogers offered to go get the other. I had asked one guy in a gambler, to if he could, go get one of them but he was low on gas. Thomas, seeing me ask this guy, said “Hey David, I’ll be glad to go get him” Craig Maxwell loaned me his boat on day 2 to go get another stranded boater. This is the kind of members we have. Members are ready to help in any situation and to us at the national office, it really feels like we are among family.
We would like to ask members that fished the national to tell us about their experiences at the national. We will create a diary for the championship issue of the magazine and on the web of your experiences at the national. Whether it was fishing with an old buddy you have not seen in years, going out to dinner with a group, getting that special lure to work, weird things you found on the lake, and even break downs. Mike Garlen was broke down day 2 and when I finally got to him he was up river at a ramp 18 miles from the launch site. He and his partner had a camp fire going and had run into an old friend many of us know here as “Charlie Mac”. They were sitting around the campfire swapping fishing stories. They took a bad situation and made it better. So when you get time, take a few minutes and tell us about your experiences so other members that did not make the national can see what a fun time it really is.
I’ll give you another example. First day, we had just launched the flights out and not 10 minutes later I get a call. It was George Miserendino and Rob Kiser. Rob’s motor had blown, so Buddy and I took the big launch boat to retrieve them. We towed them to a ramp at Mallard creek. Arriving at Mallard Creek, we found another broken down boat. Jeff Pill from Colorado and his partner had some real problems. Problems with the big motor and no trolling motor. I just knew this was going to be a long day! The boat driver told us his steering had broken and he had a prop for the trolling motor but the nut had come off and he also needed a shear pin.
Now, once I saw the situation I explained they would have to tie up at the Mallard Creek ramp and I would take one of them back to get their trailer. One would have to stay with the boat and the other would come with us. Separating them in this fashion of course would have them DQ for the day. Jeff asked (ok he was almost begging) me to please let them keep fishing. Rob Kiser found a prop nut and a shear pin in his boat which would allow them to keep fishing. So they were good to go for a while. I again explained how they could get back to the ramp with fish and not get a DQ. As we idled away you could just tell how happy Jeff was to be able to continue fishing.
Now as we pulled away, we were on plane in the big boat and were about 100 yards away when Rob noticed he had left the keys to his truck in the boat tied to the boat dock. I made a hard 180 and headed back and at that point the devilish side in me came out. I could see that Jeff was watching and wondering why we had made such an abrupt turn and were headed straight for him. I told the guys on the boat not to say anything. We sat down and idled to the ramp where Jeff was still slowly trolling away from. I told Jeff “Jeff I changed my mind, tie your boat up, your done for the day” His mouth opened up so wide you could have placed a basketball inside. Of course not to torture him too bad, within about 30 seconds I told him I was just kidding and that that Rob had left his keys in his boat. A smile returned to his face and he knew I had gotten him good.
Send us your stories and experiences at the national and we would love to see all of the photos you took at the national. Email us your stories and pictures to Joseph Cannon jcannon@americanbassanglers.com |
