Pete Weighs In
"Welcome to My World"
We Have Both Kinds of Music . . .
Country and Western
April 23, 2008
If you don't know where that line comes from, you need to watch more movies.
I just returned from my second trip to Texas this month. Great state, hope to live there sooner rather than later, but there will be a few things that'll require some adjustment on my part.
For one, there's the music. I've never been much of a fan of country music. To be totally honest I'm one of the few freaks who doesn't listen to much music at all. I'll crank up the XM on the way to the lake and I've been known to serenade the dogs while I cook dinner (can't do it when I eat dinner or we'll end up with pork and beans all over the walls), but on the whole I really like silence. It's one of the things I really like about a solo trip to the lake - the relative lack of noise, and it makes me doubly pissed off when some ambitious individual decides to ruin it with a lawn tractor or a weed whacker, let alone when a jet skier starts doing donuts around the grassbed I'm fishing.
But the Chicago-born wife likes country music for some inexplicable reason. I'm not sure if what she listens to would be deemed a "true" representation of the genre to the hardcore fans. It's more the sappy, poppy type stuff, but it's got a twang, so I'll lump it in with the others.
She was kind enough to accompany me to the recent Toyota Texas Bass Classic at Lake Fork, which has been compared to a Woodstock or Lollapalooza for bass anglers. Great event. The area is beautiful and everyone we met was super-friendly – and the real estate market there would allow us to get twice the house for half the money of what we spent here. We worked for the PAA and frankly, it was a lot of fun. It also left me with no choice but to attend my first country music concert.
The performer was Trace Adkins. The only previous knowledge I had of him was when I tried the diet plan he endorsed, which allowed me to eat lots of bacon (bad joke). Actually, I knew who he was because he was on the Celebrity Apprentice – beat Gene Simmons, Lennox Lewis and a Playboy centerfold, ended up losing to some tabloid editor (NOT Jerry Puckett).
Mr. Adkins is an exceptionally tall man with exceptionally long hair and some other unavoidably noticeable body parts. He also appears to be very popular – he drew about 20,000 people to the park and they had to turn people away at the gate. It wasn't bad – I could relate to that Badonk-a-Donk song and in the "Lunker Club" there was free beer for us semi-important people.
She broke me in to country music. I got her acclimated to her future home. A fair trade, I think.
(cue up the theme to Rawhide)
God bless Texas.
Big'uns
April 10, 2008
When did the word "hawg" go out of style? For years that was the preferred term for a big bass. I guess words like "lunker" and "sow" were also used, although they didn't carry the same gravity. Eventually "hawg" was replaced by "toad," and that's still used with some frequency, but you rarely hear someone say "hawg" anymore. Now it's "mule" or "donkey" or something else. Where do these trends start? What are some other common and descriptive names for the fish of a lifetime?
Nice Guys Finish Last?
April 8, 2008
Last year at the BASS Elite event on the California Delta, my good friend Bill Roberts spent a day of practice in Shaw Grigsby's boat. They saw some fish and Shaw caught a few, but Bill got the goose egg. Bill is a competitive and greedy fisherman (I say that because he's beaten me in far too many tournaments over the past decade and a half) and typically doesn't accept fishless days with a smile, but at the end of the day he pronounced it "the best day on the water I've ever had without catching a fish." Which leads me to the following question: which pros would be fun to fish with even if the fishing was poor? I guarantee you, it's easier to answer the opposite question (which pros are awful to fish with even if the fishing is good?). My three nominees are all people I've never fished with, but I have a gut feeling about them:
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Charlie Hartley – even before the outpouring of admiration during this past Bassmaster Classic, I knew he was a class act. Always a pleasant interview, always excited and thankful to be on the water.
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James Niggemeyer – another super-nice guy, humble, appreciative and generous with his time. I told him at the Classic Expo that he's too nice to be a bass fisherman.
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Mike Auten – I've had the good fortune to work with Mike on a few writing projects and he has always been encouraging, considerate and forthright. Even when we've had some setbacks, he's always been levelheaded, and he has given me an insight into the industry that I never got have gotten on my own.
I could be wrong about those guys, but I don't think so.
Career Killer - Follow Up
Mar. 28, 2008
Just a quick addendum to last week's entry titled "Career Killer." Maybe I'm not quite the Typhoid Mary of the Elite Series that I portrayed myself to be.
I practiced with David Wharton at Toledo Bend in 2001 and he won the tournament. A few years later, I practiced with him at Guntersville and the California Delta and he got a good check each time.
Then again, David has retired from BASS, so maybe he's not the best example.
But last year at the Delta I spent the three practice days in KVD's boat. He has three Elite Series wins since then.
Then again, I'm sure there are 108 Elite Series pros who would gladly take up a collection if I could find a way to knock Kevin out of their league.
Luck of the Senko
Mar. 27, 2008
As I head off to Falcon, I hope I can bring a little bit of GYCB mojo with me.
Since I've started writing for Inside Line, the pro-staff at Yamamoto has had a great run of success. I don't think there's any connection between my efforts and theirs (although I'll take credit if offered), but their accolades include:
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Derek Remitz's 2007 BASS Rookie of the Year title;
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Derek's win at Amistad;
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Ben Matsubu's win at Toho;
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Judy Wong's win in the WBT Classic;
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and Brett Hite's back-to-back FLW Outdoors victories.
I'm not asking for much, just whatever breaks I can get and the good sense to make the most of them. I've got about 800 pounds of soft plastics packed (hope no one at United Airlines is reading this) and lots of other junk I probably won't use. But I do hope I use the brain between my ears.
At times I consider myself particularly unlucky in these types of deals. I feel like I've gotten more bad draws than good ones over the years in these derbies, but I know going in that it's a crapshoot. With that said, I'll take whatever luck I can get. Maybe some of the GYCB magic dust will rub off on me.
*Check out our new Tournmanet Results page for details on recent Yamamoto Pro tournament wins.