Who's the best and who's the worst tournament partner that you've ever fished with? I'll start with the worst, for me I've had a few horrible partners but one beats them all. We fished all day guy might have said 8 words to me all day, it was a draw tournament and before that day I didn't know the guy from dirt. Anyways I was on a decent pattern and had put a few fish in the livewell and still crickets, not a word.
That day we were fishing on Santee Cooper in South Carolina, (I lived in NC back then). Bass in that lake absolutely love soft plastics in the scupernung color . Motor oil color. I had a limit and was beginning to cull and he never asked for one, so I just tossed a pack scupernung zoom lizards on his seat and told him "help yourself, I've got plenty. He never said a word and never touched them. Other than toss them on the floor when we were going to another spot. There was really bad energy in the boat that day, the worst tournament partner I ever had. He did catch 2 fish that day but it was a horrible experience for me, couldn't get this guy outta my boat fast enough. Neither one of use got a check that day and although I caught a decent sack It still ranks as one of the worst tournament experiences that I have ever had.

Best tournament partner that I ever had was a guy named Louis Keels, he basically introduced me to tournament fishing and showed me the ropes. First tournament I ever fished with him, he told me that we fish as a team. Whatever money comes into the boat we split half and half, regardless of who caught the fish. We fished a fairly big local tournament on Lake Wylie just outside of Charlotte, NC. He told me before the tournament that I would only need 1 rod and that he was on a solid pattern and that we could very well win this tournament.

Me being the young smartarse that I was,I didn't listen to him and fished what I wanted to fish. 2 hours after blast off he already had 5 fish in the livewell. I know he wanted to talk shyt to but he didn't. He threw one of those gold shadraps to me and just laughed and kept fishing. My hard headed arse still didn't pick it up until an hour or so later after he had caught maybe 4 or 5 more good fish.
BTW, the pattern that he had figured out, it was spring and that whole day we only fished a fifty yard stretch of boat houses up the river.
The water was coffee color and they would only bite the gold colered shadrap. This stretch of boat houses was reloading with spawning bass all day long. He had already prefished and found this pattern. I ended up catching 5 or 6 fish that day and one over 5lbs that anchored the sack that he basically caught. We fished 3rd in the tournament and won some decent money, for back then anyway. Jason Quinn and his partner actually won the tournament, this was before he went pro.

So he went over and received the money from the tournament director and came back and handed me half, I felt so bad about the way I had behaved that day (not listening to him and fishing what I wanted too fish and even being stubborn to the point that even after he gave me one I still didn't fish it until later), I felt like I didn't deserve any of the money because had I listened we may have easily won that tournament.
He grabbed my hand and gave me the money back and said "I told you, we win together or we lose together but we always fish as a team and we always split the money. I learned a valuable life lesson that day about integrity and morality in a man. That's just one of many life lessons that I learned from fished with him, hands down best tournament partner I ever had.

Best was draw partner. Now the one I have, very long time friend, even though he is a bank beater and 82 yrs old, but he puts up with me and I usually get us a check, of some kind.
Worse was a guy similar to yours, would not listen, hardly said 2 words and then come to find out he did 4 years for child molesting.
2nd worse was a guy that wanted to fish, Bass Champs. He knocked off with the net 3, 4 and 5 lb fish in a tournament and then the next tournament, he buried the treble hooks on crankbait in my arm 2 times, in the same day. I was bleeding all day as I had to jerk them out. He was fired and never fished with me again.

Dang Les,you got me beat on the worst side, 2nd guy sounds like the partner from hell.

This was just a bass club and 20+ years ago, so, not a big deal. We were fishing a creek with solid brush on both sides, this creek is only 30’-50’ wide. With about 10’ of it, down the middle being open to move the boat down. You had to throw through little window/lanes in the trees, but the fish were there. Backing up the boat was a chore, couldn’t do a 180, you had to back straight up and this guy decided to throw an open hooked treble bait lure. He could have thrown one of my 10 million spinnerbaits, but he was stuck on this stupid lure. He snagged that thing easily 10 times, requiring me to back up, it was ridiculous. Finally, he received a choice, either change lures or it was getting broke off the next time. He decided to change.

But, the topper…dude was smoking weed back there and everytime I would turn around to look at him, he’d spin backwards real fast, so I couldn’t see him. Finally, the day ended and the guy ask, “hey do you mind if I fish the Amistad tournament with you”. First thing that popped into my head was the checkpoint on Hwy90 and me going to the clink, I had to pass on his presence for that tournament. That was actually the last time I let a stranger fish a tournament with me.

I’ll post one about another crazy guy in a little bit. This dude was nuts.

Back in late 80's FLW put on their first Golden Blend tourny on Eufaula(Al.)...this was predecessor to their FLW series and was designed to compete with BASS...several of the big time BASS pros were there(Clunn,Brauer,Roland Martin) and it was biggest tourny I'd ever fished and with the highest entry fee I had ever paid too....also there was a Bass N Gals tourny the next week and couple of the women were in it and bunch of them on lake practicing.......
It was two day tourny and after first day,I was in about 11-12th place(maybe a little higher)...fishing was a little tough and I think I was within about 4 lbs of the lead....I believe I had 12-15lbs and caught them south right above Pataula Creek where the fish were spawning on a long stretch of sandy bank....
my second day draw was a guy from Alabama who didn't own a boat and when I introduced myself,he immediately told me we needed to go to his fish tomorrow......I asked him how he did today and he said he had 4-5lbs but he had missed some fish and the place was loaded with fish.....
there was something I immediately didn't like or trust about this guy from the get go so I told him I had 15 lbs and had left the fish biting so that's where we needed to go...even told him my partner had done pretty well and we both should have a good limit..tried to get him to tell me where he wanted to fish and how he was fishing and he wouldn't tell me so that made me even more suspicious......
then this guy wants to flip a coin to see where we go first and I really didn't have a choice since the rules said you had to give him half day on his fish(am glad we don't have to deal with this b.s. anymore)...
we flip a coin and he loses...he immediately walks away over to where a few of his buddies are and he's kicking the ground,cussing and almost screaming that he lost the flip and his boater won't go to his fish first.....I'm thinking this is gonna be a disaster tomorrow so decide to walk over and tell him that we would go to his fish first but if it doesn't pan out,we were heading to my fish......this mollifies him somewhat but I'm dreading the next day knowing I had a chance to do well but now I've got to put up with this jerk and no telling what kind of place he wants to fish or even if there's any fish to be caught...

.next morning he gets in boat and still won't tell me where we are going so I tell him,I'm limited on gas and I'm not about to run all my gas out running up the river someplace and not be able to get to my fish which are 15 miles south....he tells me then that we are only going 2-3 miles......as you can imagine,we are barely speaking by this time but we head out when they call our number and head north...he tells me to turn into the witches ditch(one of bigger community holes on lake) and we run to the back.....
I had decided against fishing here in the tournament because it was getting beat to death in practice and I figured you'd get covered up with boats...stop the boat in the back part and I'm surprized to see there's no other boats back here...
before i can say anything, he jumps up front, lowers trolling motor and starts down this grass line and he's got boat up against the grass line where I have limited area to fish so I tell him to get the boat out so I can fish and he does a little better but guy in front has real advantage.....he catches a small fish pretty quick and just as we get to end of grassline,he catches one 3-4lbs...he gets down to put it in livewell and I start running trolling motor.....front deck on my Hydrasport was pretty small and he wants the trolling motor back and I told him no.....we were gonna take turns in the front going up and down this grassline throwing spinnerbaits..he's mad as hell but he gets in the back..
we start working back up the grassline and several boats by now have come back in there so it's starting to get crowded....we get almost to end of grassline and I catch one between 6-7 lbs so he takes the front...we fish about another hour without a bite.......,boats are cutting us off every direction we tried to go...it's probaly 9:30 a.m.,way before his half day was up and I decided I'd had enough of this so I just jumped up there and jerked the trolling motor up and told him to get his jacket on,we were going south...He threw his rod down in boat so hard it damn near bounced over the side....
I told him to keep in mind that he had lost the coin flip and I'd given in to him and if I wasn't a nice guy(that's a stretch),he'd be 20 miles south already....I had way more weight than he did yesterday and this place was too crowded to fish and we were wasting time up here...we were heading south and we could go to my fish or I could stop at Lakepoint and put boat on trailer....his choice....when we passed lakepoint he didn't point to the ramp so I kept going...

we get to my area and I'm fishing a C-rig lizard dragging it across beds you couldn't see and right away I lose a monster bass...this guy is still sitting down pouting and he damn sure didn't grab the net not that it would have helped because fish came off before it got near boat....10-15 minutes go by and I asked him why he wasn't fishing and he said because he didn't have any C-Rig weights or hooks....I give him what he needed and we both start catching keeper fish right away.....

My Hydrasport had large rear livewell and small one in front that wasn't good for anything except killing fish so we were both using the rear livewell and I was punching hole in tails of my fish(with hole punch)....both of us spent rest of day catching fish and culling up and I think I had one big fish and four three pound fish which gave me 18-19lbs and i thought my partner had five 3lb fish...he's got a little more friendly as day wore on.....but that would change..

we get back to weigh-in,start pulling our fish out and he's only got 4 fish.(despite catching at least 2 limits of fish)..first thing he wants to see is my fish and I had to dump them out and let him see the hole in each ones tail..he even comments that I must have punched a hole in tail of one of his fish which was ridiculous and I told him so..he immediately goes back into his "lip stuck out a foot,kicking,cussing mode"..he was younger and bigger than me and he was glaring at me like he was going to start swinging and I reached down and picked up one of my shorter rods about midway up the rod and I was fully prepared to bust his head with a 5500C if he made a move toward me..he finally calmed down and headed toward weigh-in line .

I moved up to 5th place and won $2,500. which was big money back then(and I finished ahead of all the big name pros and I was really proud of that)....He got a check but would have got a much larger one with one more fish.......and no....he did not offer to help pay for gas....

I saw this guy a few times at Redman tournys over the next few years before he disappeared and a guy I knew that fished with him a couple of times in buddy tournaments,came up to me one day and asked me what I thought of the guy I had drawn out with that day....I told him "not much" or words to that effect and he said I can certainly understand why.....He said he couldn't get along with him as a team fishing partner either....

Another bass club story. So, we’re at a meeting and this strange guy comes in, like ADHD type, bouncing off the walls. We ask him about his experience and yada yada small talk. He tells us, “that he was watching TV and flipped to a fishing tournament and these guys were making $100k when they won! So, I turned to my wife and told her I CAN DO THAT!!!” We had to tell him that our payouts were only a few hundred dollars and he wouldn’t win much, lol….He says to us, “well, I’ll kick y’all’s azzes first and take that money for my entry fees for the bigger tournaments”. We all chuckle and see who’s gonna let him backseat and there was one super nice older Italian guy that volunteered. We told the guy how much the entry fee was and he tells us that “he would have to borrow the money from his CHURCH to pay us and he’d pay at the tournament.

Kid started placing tournaments pretty quickly, then he decided to purposely hook a moccasin at Choke and brought it to the boat. Old Italian hated snakes and kicked the kid out of the boat. Never saw that weirdo again.

Worst I ever had was someone who will remain unnamed (FTT). He never catches fish, he can't net for anything, eats all the food, drinks all the water, drinks all the beer at the end of the day, can't back a trailer, and sleeps all the way home.

Where is Ol FTT? Ban camp?

I’m everyone’s favorite fishing partner.

I thought he dumped us. Saw him post something on a FB and almost asked him, but didn’t.

best partner, pretty much all the tff members I have fished with have always been a hoot and they managed to put up with me. win/win!

mudshark and bogey for the 2 worst weather tournaments, both tff, bogey and I fished the first guides tournament just to fish it (we couldn't afford the auction).

froze our butts off but did manage to catch 3 or 4 fish and had a good time.

mudshark and I fished the ot tournament in nov a few yrs. back, weather sucked extra bad that day. the north bank at the pump station had 3-4' waves and the wind

from the northwest was brutal. boat had a couple of issues too so we stuck to williams and did manage a couple of fish. had some kids in a high school tournament

crowd us while we were fishing some small trees in the water they got within maybe 20' and fished the same area but didn't stay long.

worst was a friend of a friend, I was asst. director of our division in sooner bassclub (long gone) and the director asked if his bud could go with me since I was solo. long story short, friendly enough in the boat, disappeared while I was weighing in and I never saw him again. no money for fuel (we did burn some that day too), he managed to get one of my smaller boxes of lures we used that day (the one I loaned him). at least he brought his own rod. lesson learned.


almost forgot, I am honored to be able to have for one of my current partners the all time #catfishcaughtinabasstourney champeeeen! his identity will remain hidden as I know he is kinda bashful about it.

The back seater who constantly casts way forward and across my line😬

Had one that I fished with in MBC draw days that did that .

Best was and still is one of my high school buddies. He's a good stick, but a little hard headed about fishing shallow...ALL. THE TIME. But he's dang good at it with 5 fish over 10 and two 12's. But if they ain't shallow or I'm on some fish deep he doesn't really want to fish deeper than 10 feet or so. Worst was when I moved down to East California (Austin) a few years ago and met up with a local guide and we hit it off pretty good. He told me his previous partner couldn't fish the TTZ schedule so we agreed to give it a shot. Since I knew very little about the lakes around here I deferred to him on areas. Always in his boat and always with him running the tm. Good guy, but it was his way or the highway when it came to fishing these lakes. I guess because he guided he thought I had no say in it even when I had some areas that were holding decent fish. I always paid for the gas, brought food, and treated his boat with respect. We only finished in the money one time and I told him to pay for our entry fees out of my share for the next tourney. (we only won $900 or so). Fishing LBJ on TTZ championship the first morning and he broke off about an 8 pounder under a dock. He pouted a couple of hours after breaking off a nice fish and whined another two. We only had about 12 pounds for the first day. He wanted to dump the fish and not fish the next day. That made twice he dumped fish when he thought we weren't going to be in the money. The first time it probably cost us a check. That was the last time we fished together. From what I've been told by other guys at TTZ he has changed partners dang near every year. A shame because I think he's actually a good guy at heart and he's a pretty good stick. Just not a good partner.

Fished a BASS Open as a co angler once. FIrst day my "Pro" shows up drunk at 6am and throwing up. Goes to the bathroom for half a hour. Drinks some coffee and says hes ready to go. Was really worried about his boat driving skills but the said he had a half dozen spots where we could wack them. Went to one spot and we never left. After awhile he got to feeling bad and started falling asleep. THen he ran us up on a sand bar with the trolling motor and couldnt get us off so i have to jump in the water and get us off and remember Im in my SIxties! Just the most miserable day ever. Caught one fish. Dude never apologized just acted like that was a normal day and started talking late in the day that he was ready to go party that night!