Some of the speakers included but was not limited to Kevin Van Dam and Jay Harris, just to mention a couple.

Both our boys got draws that would make the best of us VERY jealous. Cody got Rick Clunn and Austin drew Alton Jones!!

The first day was BRUTAL!! The temperature was in the 20’s and wet with overcast skies. The boys arrived in GREAT spirits and where looking forward to a good time and some good fishing.

After what seemed like an eternity to them the skies started graying up and the wind starting picking up a little. This didn’t seem to dampen their spirits at all and they where ready to get started.

Then it started!! All the things a young man dreams of are starting to come true. Like getting to swap information with the greatest fisherman of all times.

We opened with a prayer and the National Anthem;

Unfortunately I was not allowed to “tag along” so I don’t have any pictures of the first days tournament. Actually it was an official practice day. As the day wore on the sun came out and the temperature started climbing.

Loading up the boats and waiting in line to do so is always nerve racking;

Then the big moment came, time to walk across the stage;

What a day, what an experience?? Now comes the bad part of the story and before I go much further I would like to apologize to Cody and Austin for not taking better care of my gear. Well, that night when I got back to the hotel I forgot my camera on the bus that brought us back. When I remembered what I had done, maybe 20 feet away, I turned around and went back to see the tail lights of the bus disappear around the corner. Well, I thought I had lost my camera and went to one of the other bus drivers and asked if he could help. He said the other driver didn’t have a radio but he would check when he got to the yard, He called me later and said he found my camera and would put it in his truck so as not to forget it the next morning. The next morning I met him at the front door and sure enough he gave it to me. That night the temperature got down into the upper teens and the lubricate in the function switch froze up and I couldn’t turn it on all day long. I put it under my coat and next to me but nothing seemed to work!! With that being said I would like to congratulate both Cody and Austin for their achievement. The weather was a little more agreeable but the temperature was still very low. Both of them had a fish each and got to weight in. This was a great achievement because almost half of the field didn’t. My hats off and whenever you meet one of these young men they need to be congratulated because they represented our state very well.