On the Road with Mike D
“On the Road with Mike”
Marathon Road Trip!
It would not be normal to go a year without at least one marathon road trip and I didn’t wait long into 2010 before I hit the road for my first one. These trips usually come about all at once and the preparation is a bit more difficult that the actual travel part - this one was no exception. It all started in Nashville, TN with my first Bassmaster Series event on Percy Priest Lake. Lake conditions were very tough due to the brutally cold winter they had. Just a couple weeks prior they still had snow on the ground. I knew where and how I wanted to fish before getting to the lake and had a clear plan of what I wanted to do. The one and only day I had to practice was plagued with storms which cut my time a little short. I had 5-6 spots I wanted to visit and looked them over to see if they would fit into my conceived pattern…and they all did.
The day before the tournament I had a meeting to attend and some work to do on tackle and my boat to get ready so the 6 or so hours I got to practice on Thursday had to do. On tournament day, I fished for about the first 2 hours without a bite and then I made a move to my second area only to find another contestant fishing there. I decided to stop a little short of the area since the rest of the spot also looked right…and right it was! The first one I caught was over 7 pounds and that size fish on this body of water is a giant! I fished around a little more to see if there were more like this one and only caught small ones. With what it has been taking to win the past couple of events, I knew with a few more quality bites I might be hard to beat. I only managed one more keeper during the day and ended up finishing 6th overall, not a bad start to the year.
So this was the first leg of my trip as I left the next day for a string of Texas Roadhouse appearances in Terre Haute, IN – Rockford, IL – Duluth, MN – Coon Rapids, MN and Eau Claire, WI. What a fantastic time I had at all the events and was also able to do quite a bit of media along the way with spots on ESPN radio, Leader Telegram newspaper, NBC in Terre Haute, NBC in Rockford, and NBC in Minneapolis. I also had a great time visiting with all the fishing fans especially in Duluth and Coon Rapids. I was surprised to get a visit from good friend and long time sponsor, Todd Hammill, and his wife Tracy who drove nearly 2 hours to come and visit. Todd is the big boss at Gemini Sports Marketing, the company that makes all my cool looking shirts. He also convinced the crew at both Duluth and Coon Rapids to give me a traditional Texas Roadhouse birthday surprise and Coon Rapids even got me a cake. And yes, there are pics and video!
My trip lasted 14 days and spanned nearly 3500 miles. After hearing all the great fish stories I really want to go back and fish in Minnesota. One of these summers I will get back up there and have an even better time - if that is even possible. Time to get ready to fish another event and this next trip is only a sprint!
Until next time….”see you on the water”
Mike
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