HaHa, I forgot about Eldon. Last I knew of him, he was working at Rockwall Marine. Wonder how he's doing. Well, I hope.

Also in the 04 event, Ed went out of town to mexico so I fished it with my B-I-L. B-I-L caught a 19" white crappie on a jigging spoon that we were gonna bring in to have weighed and then we decided to throw it back. We had cell phone pics but those flip phones have been long gone for a long time. Biggest crappie I ever seent.

Believe it was 1978 and it was a big tourney n ark river put on y one of the civic clubs in Dumas,ark…some people called it ding dong daddy tourney be as all big stick prs from Memphis nd Little Rock we’re there…..my partner and I took my 14 ft aluminum boat,jumped some logs to get back in slough off the river and won……probably $500.00 each and we was some kind of proud……..

Probably around 1988 or 89'. Lavon and it was a Christian tournament series, maybe Fishers on Men. We had 16 or 17 pounds. Our biggest was a cool story. We were fishing some riprap and my partner hooked a tiny bass on a bandit crankbait. I mean 3 or 4 inches long. He started whipping it in fast as he could and a bass a little over 6 pounds tried to eat the little bass (that was our guess) but got hooked on the back hook of the bandit. Big bass and big stringer, but only paid about $450 if I recall. First and only win. Cedar Creek in a club tourney with 22.6 pounds about 15 years ago and thought we had it sewed up. Didn't even get a check! Finished 4th and they only paid three! I caught a 7.4 on a spinnerbait and thought I for sure had big bass. LOL. Two over 8 with only 17 or 18 boats!! NO SOUP FOR YOU!

The very first tournament I ever fished. I'd never even considered bass tournament fishing up into my mid 20's. I was in the process of buying just a fishing boat when a neighbor offered me his nearly new 320V Ranger for about half what it was worth due to being injured at work.
Some friends and coworkers talked me into fishing a bass club tournament on Lake Erling in Arkansas because I now owned a bass boat.
I was up against some sticks and with these guys if you didn't put 25 pounds in the boat you weren't going to win anything and just figured I was donating my entry fee because I knew almost nothing about this sport. The weather got really bad, it come a snow storm and then the wind got really bad. I boated 2 fish that weighed a little over 7 pounds and figured I'd take them to the weigh in just to see what they weighed. All these sticks got goose egged because of the weather and I wound up winning the tournament with my two fish. I was hooked for life and it still goes on.

Wylie Bass Club 1985 Bob Sandlin . All the fish were caught on Pop ‘r .

Same as JP.
1978 as a cub scout at the scout camp in Athens. Still have the trophy in my office.

bass club, 1977, Toledo Bend

First win was maybe 2010, 2011? I never tournament fished in CA. Only fun fished. My friend Bruce Anderson and I fished Scott Gordon's Grapevine Series and part of that was the Brittany Lindt Memorial tournament on Lewisville. Had a fun day but at the end of the day we looked in the livewell and had one line burner we figured would cost us a check. Weighed just under 15 pounds. Then watched all these good teams come up and weigh in 12 and 13 pound sacks. We were amazed but happy. Lots of fun.

Early 90's I fished allot of club tourneys as a guest (non-boater), and honey hole. But all the drama made it not much fun. When my partner and myself either won, or placed high up it was always a surprise. Never had that feeling that we might have a chance, we just fished and went with the flow. Only time I ever thought I might have a chance in a open tourney, some monsters were brought in and crushed that idea quickly. You never know when it is going to happen, but when it does it's refreshing. First win was on Lake Travis, throwing a pig-n-jig black/blue with #11 uncle Josh pork frog around boat docks up in the upper end area. Sure learned allot fishing with new people, that was the coolest thing. "You don't know, what you don't know....". Sure would like to cross paths with an old friend in the Austin area, if anyone knows Craig Mooney tell that man to look me up. The good Lord was in his heart and was so good learning from him. He is a fishing machine, haven't seen or heard from him since the early 90's.

Prosise

Many bass club events since the early 90's. Before that it was all surf fishing and won a few of them too.

1973. Texoma Bass Club. Boat was a new Dem craft. 15 ft stick steering with a 50 hp Mercury.

You are now officially a member of the 'Ole Farts Club' my friend!
If you come to town, call me as my fall pets have showed up on the Ray Bob.

Suicide steer!

You got me beat by 6 or 7 years crusty.