2015 was a busy year for me. This was the first year after my retirement and first year fishing full time. Fishing the Bassmaster Northern and Southern Opens along with fishing the SKA Mercury King fish pro trial with the Under Armour Fishing Team. The travel was extensive but the fishing was plenty.

One question that I was asked many times was, which did I liked better…fresh or salt?

This is a hard question as both are extreamly challenging and fun but, my heart and all my money is invested in chasing those green fish.

Here is an example of one difference.

Ill use the FLW tour event on Guntersville as the stage. Imagine only one or two guys have Alabama rigs and the bass are just crushing them and you cant buy them anywhere. Now picture those one or two guys giving a bunch of the other competitors A-rigs so they have an even shot at catching fish. Dont think I have ever heard of this happening in Bass but it happens all the time on the salt water trails.

One tournament we were able to catch a certain type of bait that no one else could. It was a special King fish bait that they go crazy over. Well, the morning of the tournament we gave about half of our bait supply to other teams. Why???…its the right thing to do and after all they are all our friends. Yes we are competing for good money in these events but is a friendship worth a few bucks? Plus there may be an event where we dont have the special bait and someone else does. My mother always said “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” It has stuck with my throughout my life, my military career, and fishing.

Results for this season were pretty good. The season started with back to back wins on both the Saltwater and the local bass tournament scene. My Southern Opens started well in Florida, not so good on Alabama river, and worse at the very stingy Lake Seminole. The best thing that came out of all of them was the fact that I was getting too busy and was not doing all the normal research I used to do and what got me to the place I am.

Lots of prep at home from organizing baits to all my internet research to include scouring over acres and acres of Satellite imagery.

Next stop 2016 Bassmaster Southern Open #1 on Kissimmee Chain of lakes, FL…….let the prep begin.