25hrs of driving, about 6 over ice, I’m home, unpacked, and ready for the ISE show here in Phoenix. Looks like a great show, I know the Hook-up has some great deals on tackle, so if you are in the area, stop by. My seminars are 1:30 on Fri, 12:30 on sat and Sunday. After that I’ll be heading to the Fred Hall show in Long Beach, the the first Elite event at the Cal Delta. My new boat should be at Cabela’s next week, and Liquid Wraps will then wrap it for the tour. Busy time of year, but I’m ready to get fishing!!!

I went prefishing, and besides the creek where all the leaders are, it’s brutally tough. Skeet,Denny, Hackney, and Byron are just some of the guys that never had a bite! I had 5 bites, like yesterday, but only boated 3 of them. I was in one creek where they were busting shad, and I couldn’t catch any. Finally, I ran down to my clear water creek and threw a wacky-rigged senko to one tree, and had 5 bites in that tree. Two nice two pounders came unbuttoned right at the boat, and I boated 3 small keepers. I probably could have stayed on that tree till weigh-in, and maybe caught enough to fish tomorrow, but I knew I needed something more if I was going to get back in contention. I tried everything I knew to try and just never figured them out. On the positive side, I’ve had a great time blogging to all of you and getting such great support. Having my family here was very special, and this was one of the most enjoyable trips that I’ve ever had. I will be at the ISE show in Phoenix next Sat and Sun, so if you go stop by and see me in the Hook-up booth, I’ll tell some more stories. I will probably blog the first Elite series at the Delta in March, so till then, go out get fishing’!!!!

For those of you that followed the Bass leaderboard, like my wife, I did catch a bass today. 4 of them weighed 7-12, which puts me right in the middle of the pack. KVD and all the other leaders are all fishing the take-off creek, Beeswax. I never did hit that creek, so fishing was a little tougher for me. I started down lake on main lake points throwing an Omega 1/2 oz football jigs. The first fish I caught was a 3lb spot, nice start! Fished a couple more creeks, then caught a nice 2lb spot on a brush pile. At about 11:30 I headed all the way down lake to my best area. Throwing a wacky rigged senko, I quickly caught a keeper, then lost a keeper. About 1:30, I caught no 4, so with almost 2 hrs to fish, I thought 5 would soon come. WRONG! Fished hard right up to the last minute, but never had that last bite. Tomorrow, I’ll start on the points, then run creeks trying to find that mother load. Fishing is a very humbling sport (unless your name is KVD), so tomorrow will be an all out effort to make the top 25 and fish on Sunday!

7pm, well fed and ready for sleep! Got all my tackle ready and I still have the same basic tackle on that I had in practice. Ben from the Hook-up brought me some float’n flies, but now the deep freeze is over and the weather will get up to the 50′s. I will literally start the Bassmaster Classic on somewhere I’ve never fished before. Did that once in a US Open, and won that one, so you never know! There are a lot guys in this field that have much more experience on this water than me, so my best chance is to pick a prime creek and tear it apart. My first goal is to catch ONE for the weigh-in, then go for the biggest ones. This one is fully in God’s hands, as I’m just gonna follow my instincts. I’ll be weighing in the first flight tomorrow, in the green Hook-up boat, so if you are around the internet tomorrow, it will be on Bassmaster.com. I know I’m gonna enjoy tomorrow, win, lose or draw, thanks again for all the great support!!!

Having my son TJ at the Classic is a true blessing, sleeping in the same room with him, is something else. At 11 mos old he likes his bottles at various time during the night, thank God for my wife, she takes great care of him. But once he goes back to sleep, I’m usually still up tossing and turning! Last night was great, we honored the great KVD with his 5th AOY title, and got to visit with a lot of the guys and their wives. This morning we will have a Classic walk-thru then media day. During media day we all have our own assigned table, and a variety of media outlets stop by for stories. Most of us sit there and eat lunch, while Skeet, Ike, Swindle and KVD get mobbed. I do often see some media people today that I only see once a year. Foreign press like Frederic from France, and Javier from Spain, I always enjoy talking to. After that we will have our last chance to do tackle before the Classic, I’ll let you know what I tie on….