Huh? What the heck is that noise? Oh, it’s the alarm clock and it says 3:30am! It seems like my head just hit the pillow. Time to get…
Huh? What the heck is that noise? Oh, it’s the alarm clock and it says 3:30am! It seems like my head just hit the pillow. Time to get up and moving to have the boat in the water before the Pros arrive for Day Two of the BASSMASTER Classic!
I’m at the Red River South Marina looking for more coffee and my ESPN cameraman, Mark Sudol. Mark has our angler for today and it’s Kim Baine-Moore, the first female to fish the Classic! We meet up with her and find she’s a little disappointed because after being the media darling all week and total coverage on Day One she thought she wouldn’t have a cameraman today. But she takes a good natured approach and I find out where she’ll start fishing. Her observer today is a fellow Club member, CJ Gillard.
After CJ has dropped her in he climbs in the boat with me and we head to the main river to wait on the blast off. Kim is in the first flight today. We fall in behind her as she comes out of the Port Lake and it’s off to the races again, two Legend Boats flying down the river! The helicopter is right above us filming Kim’s boat and our adrenaline is flowing! There are more spectator boats out today and everyone is still being courteous.
Kim wheels into Clark’s Red River Marina and starts fishing. She’s throwing a worm to the docks and a spinnerbait in between. CJ and I watch as Steve Kennedy drives up in his Dad’s aluminum rig to top off his tank of gas! Dennis Mitchell, the owner of Clark’s, is waiting and gets Steve topped off and on his way in short order. Steve is one of several anglers who opted to go with an aluminum rig to fish some of the Red’s more inaccessible water.
Back to Kim, she has worked her way to the north point and still no keeper. She starts working back toward the marina with nary a bite. Mark is having some trouble getting a good shot so Kim asks if she can borrow my back pedestal seat for the cameraman and I said sure. Too bad CJ, she’s better looking than you are! LOL Mark gets some great footage of several little girls watching from the bank and eager to see her catch a fish. We take those tapes down to the runner so he can get them to the production facility.
Kim decides to try another spot so we head out of Clark’s for a short run down to the Bishop’s Landing area. The entrance to this area from the river is narrow and most folks are usually on a slow plane coming in or out. Kim drops to an idle so we’re thinking she is going to fish this area. She keeps idling through and we pass a couple spectator boats. Once we’re through she’s up on plane again heading for an area in the back of Bishop’s. Did she just use valuable fishing time to show some professional ethics to fellow boaters? Yep, she did! Her standings in my book just went way up!!
Kim is fishing an area where she caught a seven pounder in practice but she hasn’t got a bump yet. The cold front that blew in has shut down her bite. Mark gets a call and the production crew wants us to move to Kelly Jordan who is fishing in the Port Lake. CJ and Mark swap boats and we load up the camera gear. We wish Kim “Good Luck” and we’re off to find Kelly.
We pass Kelly heading south just as we’re getting to the Port Lake. We drop off the film and they tell us Kelly is now at Dozer’s point, which is right across the river from Bishop’s! We get to Dozer’s Point only to find it empty. I tell Mark that I bet he’s in the back of the Pink House area which sits behind Dozers and across a mine field of stumps. He says “you’re kidding!” Nope, a phone call confirms Kelly is in the Gravel Pits. After maneuvering our way back there we find a couple spectator boats watching Kelly and Dean Rojas working the same area. Kelly is flipping the hyacinth and throwing a Lake Fork Magic Shad to open areas. We get Mark and Kelly’s observer swapped out and he’s back to fishing.
We watch as Kelly boats several 1-2lbers on the Magic Shad trying to cull one of his smaller fish. He finally gets one that will cull. Dean idles out and moves on. Kelly keeps at it. He hooks a fish and his observer and I watch in amazement as he manages to pull this fish through a fork in a stick-up that his line has blown into! “If that was me, it would have broke off” his observer said and I would have to agree! Kelly asks if anyone has a smoke, saying that he bummed one yesterday and two casts later he had a 6lber! Unfortunately nobody around has a “Lucky Strike” to give up. This guy is a hoot!
Kelly decides to try one more spot before weigh-in and we grab some film to drop off to a runner at Clark’s before heading to the Dredge hole. We take the southern route out of the area and cut through Ninock to the river. We were heading out of Clark’s after dropping off the film when the observer noticed Kelly just coming out of the stick-ups around Dozer’s. I guess there is something to say for local knowledge after all! LOL
We follow Kelly to the Dredge hole and he asks us to camp out at the entrance so we won’t spook the fish. I’m thinking “it doesn’t matter” after the show Ike put on yesterday but we respect his wishes. He’s still throwing the Magic Shad and manages a couple small fish that doesn’t help. Kelly has fished all over and decides he’s done for the day. He has a great sack that ends up weighing 20.5lbs!
I’m back at the marina and remember Kim still has my pedestal seat! I head down to the dock and asked how she did. She managed a limit for 8lb 12 oz. Not too shabby for her first Classic but it isn’t enough to make the cut for the final day. She looks relieved that the day is over and she did better than some of her competitors. Her husband, Andre Moore of Reaction Innovation fame, is there and I get to meet him too. They are both nice folks!
It’s been another long day, but one I will cherish! I’m beat and still have to get the boat ready so I decide to skip the weigh-in and grab dinner and some rest ‘cuz 3:30am comes early!
BassBUFF
Ultimate Bass
Community Diplomat
