Most of us know about Micheal Iaconelli favorite (and famous) line "Never Give Up!" I think it would be cool to start a thread and read about others peoples tournament stories where "Never give up" paid off and helps send a reminder to us while on the water. Not paid off in big time money, but just as a lifes lesson.

Here is mine. We fished yesterday Hubbard Creek MediaBass tournament. We had 5 fish in the livewell by about 10 am. We continued to catch fish but just couldnt get the size. We each a couple of good fish but lost them near the boat. Then a little after 2:30 pm (check in time is 3 pm) and my partner makes the decision to move to another location and hit one more area. I will be honest, I couldnt help but think this was probably not going to do us much good. We get to the area and Mike makes a couple casts BAM!!! He sticks a giant. When it came out of the the water the first time about 15 yards away I thought it was a 10 lb easy. After working the fish for awhile we finally boated it and headed to the boat ramp higher than a kite and still made weigh-in cut off time. We finished 2nd (about 21.5 lbs while first was 24 lbs) and my partner Mike Shultz helped reinforce a valuable lesson to me yesterday - Never give up!

Mines kind of short and sweet, but yesterday on ray roberts i had 4 fish in the tournament and needed a 5 fish pretty bad, then i pulled up into a cove and found what looked like a 2 pound male bass on a bed, i sat on that fish with a drop shot for about an hour then decided to switch to a jig and then instantly put the "2" pound bass in the boat once i got it in it weighed 4.3lbs! Never Give Up!

Last week at the EM working mans tourney. The winds were absolutely brutal. It was not a very fun evening to fish. Fished for over 2 1/2 hours with out a bite. Mentally pretty much checked out. Physically, still going through the motions. Less than 45 minutes left and I catch a 4 pounder. 10 minutes later another legal dink. Beat ourselves to death getting back to the weigh-in. Barely out of the money on both big bass and total weight. That being said, another lesson on never giving up. Rather than tucking our tails and leaving, hung in there and kept at it and salvaged a little pride.

Three years ago, monday night CABA tourny on Hubbard. Last cast with an empty livewell...#8.36 in the boat. That was cool.

8 years ago my dad and I were fishing the BigBass on Rayburn. We were in a borrowed boat and really had no business being there but it was a trip I wanted to go on and dad was just the provider of the boat. I was in college and I had a 14 foot Jon that wasn't big enough for Rayburn. Plus I have not seen dad in a while so it was just a enjoyable day.

Well after a early bite we had two fish in the boat both around 8pounds. We were feeling pretty good so dad said to me lets go wiegh our fish and just see what happens. I say nope lets try one more spot and see if we can pull a bigger one. I pretty much drug dad to the spot. I knew he was ready to go but I knew we had to have a bigger fish to be in the money. So, we get to this spot and nothing not even a bite! Dad was aggrevated with me and I knew it. But I told him lets just keep fishing we got nothing to loose! We have 2 big fish and we are here so why not? So he reluntanctly said ok. We drive to a decent spot that has been good in the past and NOPE nothing! At this time dad is about to explode but he keeps his cool and just sits in the back and lets me do my thing. I move yet once again. Its getting pretty late in the day and I know I got to get one more big fish and make it back to wiegh -in. So, I put on a c-rig Lizard and cast to a ledge that has a grass line. I pull that lizard over the edge of the grass and BAM! Fish on! I land a good 10+ bass. I toss a few more cast but nothing else hits me. So we load up and make it back to the ramp. I go wiegh my 10.2 and win some major cash. Dad wieghs in those 8pounders and win big too. I paid for a lot of college from that money!!

I still joke with my dad about that trip and how if we would have went home it would have been a different trip and he would be paying for a lot more of my college bills!!!!!

NEVER GIVE UP!!

on a tough tourny in a Mississippi River oxbow in north LA, I caught a 12" bass (legal size for our tourny) off the launch ramp while waiting for my uncle to back the truck and trailer down...

It was still during tourny hours and it was not off limits for fishing. It ended up being one of 3 fish weighed in that day between 7 boats (other 2 by the same boat).

My son and I fishing a CABA Monday night.We head to a place I had been catching fish oover the weekend and there are three boats on it. We mess around the general area for a couple of hours. No fish.Head back to area of launch.Its 9:25 when we pull in the last spot and check in is at ten.I cast and a 2 lber jumps off at the boat.My son casts and gets a fish in.Next cast he gets another.Third cast gets an 8.4 in the boat.Fifth cast gets another keeper in the boat.Its 9:45 so we head back. Took second place and big fish.The one I lost would have won it for us though.

A few years back, a buddy and i were fishing a tourney on Toledo Bend. We had caught 4 solid fish early flipping buck brush, but once the sun got up, all we could manage were dinks. With about 30 minutes till we needed to head back, I backed out of the bushes and started cranking the shallow channel that ran through the flat. With about 10 minutes to spare I hooked a 14 1/4 inch keeper. It was enough to get 2nd place. we beat the 3rd place team by 3 or 4 oz if I remember correctly.

tues night tourney.. had one 4 pounder, pull up to the ramp and have 15 minutes left. catch 3-4 smaller keepers and culled a couple times to win the tourney a few were putting thier boats up and watched

hahahhahahahahahahahahaaha