What Truck, Boat and Outboard does Melvin run?

Gambler with 200 Mecury 

My Sponsors

Woo Tungsten

Power pole

Ampibia Eyegear

Striker Clothing

TH- Marine

Wade 4 It

What Melvin does for a living:

 Barber for U.S Navy,  Real estate.

What you should know about Melvin:

How Melvin started fishing

Started bass fising in the late 80's under my grandfater in farm ponds. Began tournament fishing in 2002.

Aspirations or goals with fishing

Just win baby!

Favorite way to fish

What ever is working that day.

Most exciting fishing experience

Fishing schooling bass with my two sons.

How Melvin preps for a tournament

Alot of mental studying throughout the week. 

Three favorite search baits

Best tournament finish and what you did that day when you were fishing.

1st place finish on the blackwater river a number of years ago. The water was 42 degress the air was in the 30's, the first tournament of the year. I told my co angler that we had a very long run ahead of us but if we could make it we should catch at least two fish. He laughed and we rolled out , it took us thirty five minutes to get there, ice was on everything. I began to cath fish off a creature bait "out of all things " . We caught them all day and I was able to win,.

Most challenging part of tournament fishing

Dealing with the other egos. Tournament fishing is fun but allot of anglers take it way too serious. I know there is money on the line and for those who are employed by sponsors some pressure to perform, but at the end of the day its still fishing and it was ment to be fun. I have been around some of the top anglers in the world from Vandam to Woo Daves and they all have the same thing in common, they are really nice people. There is s difference between being competitive and mean.Recently An elite series pro who has been fishing Bass for twenty years and I were talking about this very thing. He told me that even though him and some other elite pro's don't get along they are always helpful and respectful to each other because at the end of the day, its just fishing. 

When tournaments don't go my way

I like those the most! Learning is how anyone improves in this game. The best teacher is losing. I try very hard not to have many of those tournaments and I normally don't, but when one does come, I learn from them. The ride home from a bad event is the most insightful, I replay the whole tournament over in my mind and change my mistakes 

Advice to give to an aspiring tournament angler:

Don't dump all your money into looking like a pro. To me, they key to success in this game is to keep your expenses as low as possible. I have meet anglers who were just getting going buying very expensive boats. That's when this thing gets expensive. Have you ever noticed that at a local tournament it's not the guy with the shiny rig that you need to worry about, it's the guy with the older boat that has the things on it that fits his fishing style . The reason for that, he is focused on the fish not the flash.

Some shared general bass fishing techniques for people just getting into the sport

Drop-shotting - This is a great techique for a begining angler to learn. This will put fish in your boat when you are fun fishing or just need to get a bite in a tournament. I would begin to look on Youtube and watch videos on it then take it to the water and apply it.