Several bass pros have reported hooking a lost rod and reel combo over the years, but Kenyon Hill did them one better.
"I was fishing points on Lake Texoma with a deep-diving crankbait when I hooked something," the Oklahoma angler said. "I could kind of feel it tugging. So I fought it in and saw that I had hooked some line. As I was unhooking it, I felt a fish on the other end.
"So I pulled in the line hand over hand and found that it had about a 10-pound channel cat on it. I pulled the other end in and I had a nice 7-foot surf rod that hadn't been in the water very long - maybe two days. The catfish had obviously jerked it off the bank."
Hartley has a Young Fan Following
He doesn't have the name recognition of a Denny Brauer or Kevin VanDam, but Charlie Hartley has a following of his own at the boat ramps and hotel parking lots all along the Bassmaster Elite Series and Bassmaster Tour.
At those tournaments, the 42-year-old Ohio angler is as likely to break out his trusty skateboard as his fishing rods - and both usually are kid magnets.
"He brings his skateboard with him to tournaments and uses it to get around at the ramps, hotels and parking lots," said Diane Wilks, the mother of pro Dustin Wilks and a frequent road warrior on the tournament trail. (An elbow injury early in the season forced Dustin to drop out of the Elite Series.)
"They gather around him when he pulls that board out," said Diane Wilks. That includes the pros' kids. That's pretty neat. They're Charlie's kids - even though he has none of his own."
Wilks said Charlie is often one of the first anglers at the boat ramp and was once asked by Rick Clunn if he had an additional skateboard for him. "I don't think Clunn ever got on it, but the kids love it," Wilks said.
Hartley was a competitive skateboarder in his youth.
"When I was a kid, other than fishing I loved to skateboard. It gives me a similar rush. I competed when I was real young. There were professional skateboarders way back then. I was actually on TV way, way back for skateboarding before I was ever on TV for fishing."
But his first love is bass fishing. In fact, Hartley competed in an amazing 60 tournaments, large and small, in 2005. He and wife, Tracy, seem to stay on the road most of the year.
"I love to fish, and my business affords me the luxury of fishing so much," he said, in reference to Signcom Inc., the national sign business he owns. "I fish as many tournaments as I can. I never get tired of it. Every time I catch a fish, it sends a chill down my spine that I can't get any other way.
"I have fun right up till the last cast. I won $10,000 once on the last cast, and I tell my co-anglers that all the time.
"I was born with a whole lot of energy and not a lot of brains," Hartley joked.
On the Bassmaster Tour, Hartley is a mentor to several young anglers trying to build careers in fishing. They routinely crash in his hotel room and ask for lessons in life and fishing.
"We call it, 'Hartley's Home for Wayward Bass Fishermen,'" he noted. "We feed them and let them shower and sleep on the floor, because everyone has a dream, and I want to make sure they get their shot at their dream."
Hartley, whose best BASS finish was second in the 2003 Tour stop on Alabama's Lake Eufaula, dreams of qualifying for the Classic. But it won't be this year, based on his 76th position in the Angler of the Year standings. He has cashed a check in three of this season's 10 Elite Series events, with a best showing of 19th at Oneida Lake in Syracuse, N.Y., in July.
A full-time pro since 1993, Hartley has been consistent enough to qualify for the Bassmaster Majors, which serves as one of the sport's high-water marks.
"I love fishing tournaments," he said. "I love every minute of this game."
BAD DAY
On the eve of a tournament on the Potomac River, competitor Bernie Schultz was discussing how tough the competition has become on the nation's top bass circuit.
The Florida pro was lamenting the notion that a pro could not afford a single bad day.
"All year can come down to one bad day," he said. "I've only fished poorly two days the whole season, and I'm just outside the Classic in the standings. That's frustrating.
"The first three tournaments I was averaging more than 20 pounds a day and I was just barely hanging in there. That's astonishing. These guys are so good and they're so steady that if you slip up one time, you've dug yourself a big hole."
But Schultz soon sang a different song. Schultz caught a 17-pound-plus limit to open the tournament in fourth place, putting himself in prime position to make a charge toward qualifying for the Classic.
Unfortunately, that terrific showing was followed by a disastrous second round. Electrical problems in his boat cost him the trolling motor early in the day and his outboard when it came time to return to the ramp.
Schultz caught a ride back with fellow pro Mike O'Shea, but he arrived at the scales five minutes late. That penalty eliminated his two-bass catch that would have put him into the top-50 semifinal round.
"It was just an awful day all the way around," he admitted. Schultz is in 55th place in the points standings with one event remaining; the top 37 get Bassmaster Classic invitations.
DID YOU KNOW?
You might know Kevin VanDam owns the longest active consecutive Bassmaster Classic streak; he will be fishing in his 17th straight Classic in 2007.
But do you know who is next on that list?
Answer: Timmy Horton with seven.
IF I HADN'T BECOME A BASS PRO
Pro Jared Lintner would likely be driving a delivery truck for the family dairy business in Arroyo Grande, Calif.
"Being gone so much fishing, I couldn't do that, too," he said. "So my brother actually quit his job to fill in for me."
THEY SAID IT
"I think over the years just fishing has kept me in good shape. You go out there and stand up and fish six solid days and compete, and you'll be in pretty good shape. I watch what I eat. I exercise at home. I might die tomorrow, but I feel about as good right now as I have in the last 10 or 15 years. Somebody said, 'When are you going to retire?' I said, 'What would I do if I retired? Go fishing?'" - Guy Eaker Sr. hangs tough with his younger competition at age 66.