2002 All American

I’m sorry it has taken so long but with the close of the tournament season comes for me the opening of fire season. I really wanted to give you all a short little story of my trip to the All American but I don’t think that will be possible, so…here is a long one instead.

Before I start with the tournament events and all the fishing stuff, I just wanted to take the time to thank and acknowledge all those people that have been there for me.

First and most Importantly, to my wife Bobbie and son Gregory thank you, for all of your support I know the early mornings and late nights are hard on you while I’m gone fishing.

To all my sponsors thank you for your support. I could not fly your colors while at this last tournament so I would like to mention you now. Nitro Boats Mercury Marine, Duh Team, ProAnglers.net, PCWeb.net, Bass Pro Shops, Eagle Claw, Sumo Frogs, Cameron Rods.

And to all my friends and work partners thank you all for your support the long workweeks and the extra time needed to cover my shift.

I had a blast at the All-American, especially being able to share this event with such a great group of guys. I got to work with and learn from the experience of Leroy Bertolero as well as the excitement and talent from RJ and Michael Bennett. Our Co-Anglers did a great job in representing us back east and it was great to spend time with Jesse Hoover, Dink Mendez, Tyler Brinks, and Flether West.

This tournament was run very well. We were given one day for check in, registration and equipment familiarization. We did all this on Tuesday and then moved on to the practice day on Wednesday.

Wow…what an adventure! We were lead to the Cross Lake by State Troopers, city police and local sheriff officers. We were going Code 3 and a half to the lake. They shut down city streets and the highways too.

We launched just like in a tournament and finally got to go fishing. I pulled into a cove that I had pre-fished before cut-off and had a tough time getting bit. I tried another area that had a bunch of fish in it the month before and only got one bite. I was throwing a weightless worm and fluke and not having much luck.

I had noticed some good moss mats starting to develop the month before so I decided I would go check them out. I got a couple of bumps from under the mat in the areas I checked. I had moved around the lake quite a bit and pulled into a marsh backwater area that I had seen from the air. It looked like there was fresh water moving into the lake.

I just kept throwing my Sumo Frog and watching the mat looking for any movement from under the mat. As I worked farther into the mangroves and towards the back of the cove the water started to get shallower. I had tossed my new color Sumo up on the mat and was moving it very slowly. I had just turned to look for my next target when I heard that familiar sucking sound of a bass eating a frog. I spun around to see the hole and wake coming from the strike and lifted my rod a little to check and see if the fish had the bait. I couldn’t shake it loose and the fish had stuck him self when it swallowed the frog. This was a good fish, well over 18 inches on the board.

We were fishing a slot limit on Cross Lake and it was a little different. Fish that were 12 inches to 14 inches were keepers and fish between 14 to 17 inches had to be thrown back. You could keep only 4 fish over 17inches, and had to have a smaller one in order to bring in a limit.

I just kept working farther and farther into the cove looking for any kind of “frog” water I could find.

The temperature in the main lake was 84 degrees and I thought it would get warmer the farther back I went.

As I lifted the TM to get further into the 1 ½ deep water it suddenly dropped to 3 foot deep and 76 degrees with duck weed and cheese all along the edge of the narrow channels and small ponds well out of site of the other anglers. I moved through the channels and had a few more good blow-ups. I remember thinking that I had just found my honey hole.

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That was all I needed to convince me that I was going to commit to a pattern on a lake that was being very stingy with fish and could be adversely effected by even a little weather change.

When I got back to the hotel that afternoon I told my wife Bobbie that I had a tough pre-fish, but I had made up my mind on how I was going to fish. I told her I had no choice and that “either I was going to come in with big weight or go home small”.

Day-1 of the tourney I went strait to my secret spot and started to move in real slow and as I got close to the shallow hump at the mouth of the channel I got a vicious blow up. I dropped the rod and, Swing and a miss, Dang! I kept working the moss point, I was making a grid pattern trying to cover every square inch when all of a sudden another vicious strike right on the edge of the mat. OK (Greg), count 1…2…Swing, Yes fish on! After a short battle I got the fish near the boat it got off the hook, bummer now it’s time to stay focused.

My Co-Angler Ron was from Georgia and hadn’t done much Froggin’ so he was in for a treat when the fish started to bite my Sumo Frog he started to smile and pulled out the same exact one that I had tied on. He told me that he had seen some California Frog fishing on TV and had gotten a Sumo Frog when he was in Texas. He said, “It must have been meant to be, being paired with me”. Ron had some really good fish on and even landed some good ones but they were slot fish and had to be released.

I continued through the channel and tried to cover every nook and cranny that would hold a fish. I found a couple of key areas that were holding bass and when they ate they were usually big ones. I worked these areas thoroughly. By check in time I only had 4 fish, 2 over’s and 2 under’s.

I stood in line waiting for my turn to weigh-in. I kept hearing people say that the bite was tough and lots of anglers had struggled during the day. By that time only 9 pounds was leading the tournament. I wasn’t sure but I figured that I had close to 9 pounds in my bag, I guessed wrong I had 12 pounds. Shortly after I weighed my fish a 14 pound limit was brought to the scales.

Day one results are out and I’m positioned in second place with 12 pounds and it only takes 4 ½ pounds to make the top 10. Now strategy comes in, do I lay off my sweet spot or go for it? Decisions, decisions!

As day two starts and I walked to the boat yard I noticed there was a little cloud cover and the air temperature had dropped a couple degrees from the two days prior.

I figured all I needed was one more fish and I would probably make the top 10. My plan was to go in to my spot first thing and try and catch 1 good fish and then just go and prefish and try to get my partner a couple of fish to weigh in.

We were in the first flight and I was tied to the dock talking with my partner Scot, he was from Tennessee. Scot had thrown a frog a few times and said that he just couldn’t get the timing down to catch em. I gave him one of my Sumo Frogs to use for the day and it seemed to me he was a quick learner and he got the hang of it pretty quick.

I headed strait for my hot spot and started to work my way in again I went to my honey hole and started to throw the frog. Again I got bit early but couldn’t get it in the boat. After fishing the area for a while I ended up catching 1 fish and leaving the area to look for more fish.

As the day ended and it was time to check in, I only had the one fish but I felt comfortable that it would hold me in the top 10 and I would make the cut.

It’ a big show for the weigh-ins and the cameras are rolling. Now comes the shoot out style weigh in and there is a big crowd in the stands.

I made the cut with my single bass and finished in the 3^rd position for two days. I would be the 3^rd boat out tomorrow, for the final day of fishing.

Day 3, Walking across the street to boat yard made me smile. The skies were clear again and the air temperature was up a couple of degrees. Hopefully this would position the bass back under the mat and I could get them to eat the frog a little better this was the day. Today we are fishing for all the marbles.

On the days prior to today we had started at 7 am for the first flight and 7:30 for the second flight. Today we were to start at first safe light. I hadn’t had a chance to fish for any of the early reaction fish so I chose to make my first stop on a rip rap road bank. I worked a stretch approximately 100 yards long and decided to jump over to some froggin’ mat that was just around the corner.

Each competitor had a camera boat/cameraman that was to follow them for the day. Unfortunately the boat driver following me got something in his eye and he had to stop, luckily for me I had the cameraman with me!

I continued fishing and had a couple of blow-ups on my Sumo Frog and started to think that if the fishing were biting early here they most certainly were in my secret spot too!

We called the boat driver and gave my him location. I waited around as long as I could, but he still hadn’t showed up so I had to leave.

I took off and made the run up the lake toward the swampy canals and as I came off pad, I met up with the camera boat driver. Unfortunately he had got lost in the back of the bay I was going to fish and drove his boat right through the area I was going to fish in.

I was a little stumped, should I wait for the fish to calm down or try to catch them? I was a worried because I hadn’t had a big motor run in the area for 3 days.

I started into the canal, I had to try to catch fish. I fished about 75 yards of prime area and I only had one bite. It was funny because I could see the fish take the bait and it had one leg in its mouth just swimming with and tugging at the frog but he wouldn’t eat it. As I got closer to one of the better area of the canal I tried to position myself for the next blow-up. I was ready, but where the fish?

A few casts later I put my frog right on the bank and pulled it into the water, a few more inches and a 4-pound bass came completely out of the water and landed on my frog. I felt the fish hit the bait and I dropped my rod tip and counted to 2. I set hard and the bait came flying out past my head and into the tree behind me.

With two rods rigged and ready to go I broke off the 50# test and picked up the rod with 80#. I made couple more casts into the hole in the mat and then slurp a fish ate my bait. I knew it had to be that 4 pound bass that had just missed my frog. I set hard and the water exploded. I had an 11-inch bass skipping across the water.

I worked the canals hard and managed to catch a 12-inch keeper and a 14-inch keeper and one big toothy alligator gar.

Check in was at 1pm and that was about the time I had caught all my bigger fish during the week. The sun and warmth would position the fish under the mat when the sun got high and bright.

On my way in I stopped at a dock with about 15 minutes left until check in, I was given a Bandit crank bait by one of the competitors and was told to throw it around docks if I got a chance. I grabbed my crank bait rod and started to cast to the dock I had made several casts and was moving on to the next one when I decided to make one last cast back at the dock. I felt the rod start to load and then seen my line move to the side. I set the hook and the fight was on, I finally landed the big bass and ran to check in before I was late.

We were all given very specific instructions not to say a word or tell any one how we had done that day. We walked into the convention center with all the bright lights and music, man what a show! It’s a shoot out!

It was all very overwhelming and I felt proud. I was proud to have been able to represent California, my family and friends.

Sure I only took Second place and missed $100,000 dollars by only 7oz, but it was very rewarding to have even able to participate in a tournament of this caliber.

Thanks to All,

GregG