Cashing my first (and only) FLW check at Hartwell, and it wasn't easy


Fishing blog for

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Posted By: Chris

Location: Lake Hartwell

Species: Bass

Total fish caught: 6

 
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Posted on 4/10/2023 7:41:53 AM

I cashed one check the year I fished the FLW Tour and it was in the tournament you see pictured here, Lake Hartwell. It was a frigid early spring tournament and for 2 days straight it poured rain with heavy winds and temps hovering in the 30's... horrible conditions for a boat ride. On day one we hit some good spotted bass areas and my boater and I were each able to fill out a decent limit. I was in my comfort zone throwing a shaky head around and found myself in the top 20 at the end of the first day.

On the second day, at 5am in the dark, pouring rain, I'm walking down the road with my gear to meet my day 2 partner at the ramp. With perfect timing this guy pulls into a muddy parking spot near me and guns it to get up a slight incline. When he did that he spun his wheels and threw a rooster tail of mud, coating me from head to toe down the entire left side of my body in the blink of an eye. I mean HEAD.TO.TOE. Face, head, arms, legs, feet, side. I was covered.

I paused for a moment... There was an urge to go yank that dude out of his car and make him muddy too, but I decided not to do that and continued on. It was pitch black, pouring rain, and I was wearing all black rain gear so I was sure he didn't see me. The ironic part here is that I wasn't just walking when I got covered in mud, I was jogging a little. The timing was incredible. Why was I jogging? Because before all of this happened there was a guy walking down the road way ahead of me, arms full of gear, and I saw him drop a big bag of something and he didn't realize it. All I knew was that losing a bag of anything could be crucial for a day of tournament fishing, so I picked up my speed to grab his bag off the ground to return it to him. The guy in that car had about .2 seconds to coat me with mud, and he nailed it with pinpoint accuracy.

I finally caught up to the guy who dropped the bag and he and the other fishermen were all looking at me like "Dude, WTF happened to you?" I just shrugged and shook my head, it was too much to explain. It was one of a few challenges that season but at least this time I cashed a check. It wasn't as nice of a check as I was hoping for because I ended up with only one fish and slid down several spots on day 2, but it was a small win nonetheless. This event might be the most direct and instant representation of the phrase "No good deed goes unpunished" I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

After all of this, I was really looking forward to the next stop: Sam Rayburn.

Catch Details
#1 - Spotted Bass - 2lbs 0ozs
Bait: green pumpkin finesse on shaky head
Fishing Conditions

Sky Conditions:   Heavy Rain/StormsHeavy Rain

Air Temp:  30-38 ℉

Water Clarity:  Light Stain (8-13ft visibility)

Wind Speed:  10-20 mph


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