Many longtime pros have stumbled across a lost fishing rod while cranking or dragging a Carolina rig along the bottom. But few can match Shaw Grigsby's recent exploits.
"I caught two fishing rods and reels on back-to-back casts while catfishing last week," the Florida pro said. "I threw under a boat slip and barely moved the bait. When it got stuck, I pulled and there was a Zebco 404 Combo that was all muddied up from being there a year or two.
"I tossed it on the dock and then made another cast back in there. I was moving a Strike King Catfish Dyna-Bite Link on a straight hook that was exposed a little bit. It bumped into something and when I reeled it in, there was another rod and reel on the end of my line. That was pretty strange."
Good Time Had By All Anglers at WBT Preview Event
That's pretty heady stuff for the nearly 100 pros and their non-boater partners, who left the north Texas lake emphasizing how much fun they had.
"It was a blast," said Kimberlee Striker, 31, of Cullman, Ala. "Everybody had a good time and seemed to go away feeling good about the WBT.
"There were a lot of women who had never fished in a tournament before. And I met three or four that never fished with a woman before. They always fished with their husbands. They were new to it and they all had a good time."
Although she finished 41st with two bass weighing 4 pounds, 9 ounces, it turned out to be a memorable week for Striker. "On the first practice day, my mother and I were running down the lake toward a bridge, and I'm watching my graph and trying to learn the layout of the lake," she said. "I just happened to look up for a second and out of the corner of my eye I saw 10 cops on the bridge waving and pointing at me like mad men, telling me to turn quickly and go the other way.
"I thought I was getting ready to run into an (underwater) tree or rock or something I couldn't see. So I turned. A little later I looked back and saw three helicopters bearing down on me and about 20 cop cars with blue lights all stopped on the bridge. I idled over to the other end of the bridge and asked some cops what was going on. They told me there was a body in the water and I had been heading toward it.
"And that was just the first 30 minutes we had been on the lake."
The local sheriff's office identified the man as Charles Edward Alt, 42, of Denton, Texas, but officials have not yet determined the cause of death.
Later in the tournament, Striker - as some male pros are known to do - took an unexpected nosedive off the front of her boat. "I was one of four women that fell in during the tournament," she said. "I stepped one foot out on a tire (to get a better casting angle), but I discovered it didn't have any Styrofoam in it. Then I went jumping like a mad woman, but the next five tires didn't have Styrofoam either. Then I missed a tire and got soaked up to my hair."
Striker, a veteran of other tournament circuits, emphasized that the WBT event was "very professionally done. We were treated great and the crowds were bigger than we usually draw."
MERCURY'S COUP
Mercury Marine recently added one of bass fishing's brightest young stars to its already impressive stable of pros by signing Greg Hackney, 32, of Gonzales, La.
Hackney, a Triton Boats pro, jumped from Yamaha to Mercury after committing to the Bassmaster Elite Series for 2006. "I guess the biggest selling point to my Mercury-Triton deal was Earl Bentz," he said in reference to the Triton president. "I have the utmost respect for him. I'm happy and relieved to have this deal done."
Hackney joins a top-notch roster of Mercury pros including Aaron Martens, Skeet Reese, Gerald Swindle, Marty Stone, Shaw Grigsby, Gary Klein and Lee Bailey - all of whom are signed on to the 2006 Elite Series.
JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPS?
A number of state BASS Federations already have named the junior anglers who will represent them at the Bassmaster Junior World Championship, which takes place during Classic week in February 2006 in Central Florida. Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Utah have already established their representatives through state-level competitions. States planning to hold their competitions soon include Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Texas and Wisconsin.
DID YOU KNOW?
More than 30 boaters who fished in the most recent Southern Open on Lake Guntersville in Alabama live in Florida, which was hit by Hurricane Wilma, a category 3 storm, earlier this week. The storm forced BASS to reschedule its final Southern Open on Lake Tohopekaliga in Kissimmee, Fla., to Nov. 17-19.
IF I HADN'T BECOME A BASS PRO,
By now, six-time qualifier Randy Dearman of Texas would be retired from a career as a rodeo cowboy. "I rode for six years until I got too old and fat," the 58-year-old BASS winner said. "I was real fortunate considering how many bulls I got on. I broke legs a couple of times, arms, ribs and my jaw. I was fortunate that I never got hurt badly.
"That's a game for young guys. I don't know what I would have done without fishing. I've always been too lazy to work and too scared to steal."
THEY SAID IT
"Here's my rap back to everybody bashing BASS: If you don't like it then move on. Everybody coming on board gets it: They are giving us the opportunity to make millions, take it up there with other pro sports. And it's up to us to hold up our end of the deal." 2004 Bassmaster Angler of the Year Gerald Swindle on the risk/reward ratio of the new Elite Series.