What Truck, Boat and Outboard does run?

2013 Legend 199 Alpha Tactical

Mercury 225 Pro XS

2015 Dodge Ram 2500 Heavy Duty

My Sponsors

Kistler Custom Rods

Tuff Skinz Motor Covers

A & M Firearms and Outdoors

Murphy's Prop Shop

What does for a living:

Retired Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer

What you should know about :

I have a passion for the outdoors. I'm an avid Elk and Deer hunter and I love to take people fishing.

How started fishing

I love to duck hunt and a buddy of mine fished bass tournaments on the regional level. He told me if I taught him how to duck hunt he would teach me how to bass fish. I have been hooked ever since. 

Aspirations or goals with fishing

Favorite way to fish

I love to throw a Spinnerbait. It's the most exciting way to find and catch fish.

Most exciting fishing experience

My first ever National Championships was on Hickory Lake in Tennessee. It was a tough tournament and had to stay with my plan to grind for 5 bites a day. I did that and finished 5th. It was an awesome experience. 

How preps for a tournament

I spend a lot of time looking at weather patterns and past journal entries to see if I can match, time, pattern, weather, and successes. I also spend a lot of time on my IPad looking at the lake with Google Earth and Lowrance HD app.

Three favorite search baits

Spinnerbait, crank bait, and buzz bait. 

Best tournament finish and what you did that day when you were fishing.

I was fishing a two day tournament on the Chickahominey River in Virginia. After day 1 I was behind by 6 lbs and my pattern had totally fell apart. Day 2 I tried a few more things that I thought might generate bites and they just didn't work out. I went up to the damn where another angler was fishing a differant tournament in the tail wash. I was surprised to see he was fishing with a popper in the fast moving water. I pulled up next to him and cheated a bit and watched him catch a couple 2 pounders. Asking him if I could share the tail wash with him I started throwing a jerkbait. With no avail. As I was talking I noticed right under the spillway large green humps surfacing. I grabbed my spinner bait and started chucking it into the fall of the spillway and in 10 minutes pulled in 17 lbs of Hawgs. It was the most awesome experience I have ever had catching those quality of fish. I ended up winning by 2 lbs.

Most challenging part of tournament fishing

Staying focused and changing with the day.

When tournaments don't go my way

Try to figure out what part of the day I didn't adjust too. There is always something that could have been done to catch fish.

Advice to give to an aspiring tournament angler:

Win or not there is always things that could be learned from each and every event. It's not always about winning but experience could be worth more than a dollar. 

Some shared general bass fishing techniques for people just getting into the sport