Before the Big Day
I slept in ’til 9 A.M. today. I love the FLW off day between practice and competition. It gives me a chance to catch up on emails and phone calls, work out, and prep my tackle.
Joe Thomas Blog
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Good Company
Today I continued to struggle in my practice round for the Lake Hartwell FLW, but at least I wasn’t bored today! Steve, a co-angler in the tournament, fished with me today and kept me company. I caught seven keepers on various baits, but still fairly small fish and I’ve found no area that I feel comfortable fishing the tournament in.
Joe Thomas Blog
Think Positive
When the most exciting things you have to take pictures of on a practice day are waterfalls and a nice crappie, you know things are slow! I cannot believe fishing is so tough with the water temps near 60 degrees. If I had to guess, I would say the surface temp came up so fast with the near 80 degree days last week that the fish just haven’t moved up like you would expect.
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Practice on Hartwell
When you have eight rods with eight different baits on the deck of your boat, it is a pretty good sign you are struggling to figure things out! Hartwell was tough on me today. I caught only 10 keepers in my 12 hour practice day. Most of them were only about 13 inches. My plan is to keep moving around and changing things up ’til I figure it out. Water temp is 58 degrees. It should not be that hard!
Joe Thomas Blog
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Staying Connected
Today was an easy one for me. The drive to Lake Hartwell from my brother Doug’s home in Atlanta only took me about an hour and a half. I had not made a room reservation so I wanted to get there fairly early to scope out the hotels before the bulk of the other competitors came rolling in.
Joe Thomas Blog
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Hot Bait
Today was a great day on Dale Hollow! I shot an episode of Stihl’s Reel in the Outdoors today with my buddy Ronnie Grant who is a Dale Hollow Lake expert! He and the Smallies were both on their game today. The hot bait was a vintage Lucky Craft flat CB MR in a chartreuse and red craw pattern.
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Heading Out
Another full day today! I hit the gym this morning at 6:30 AM for an hour and a half then headed home to pack my clothes and tackle for my ten day road trip which will consist of shooting on Dale Hollow in Tennessee for Stihl’s Reel in the Outdoors and then on to the FLW Tournament on Lake Hartwell near the South Carolina.
Joe Thomas Blog
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Getting Ready
Today, I had the opportunity to do a car commercial for Kerry Automotive, my truck sponsor. Man, did I have to pack a lot of info into that 30 seconds! No wonder those guys talk so fast in car commercials! Later, I spent a couple of hours working on tackle to get ready for my second FLW Event on Lake Hartwell.
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Sponsors
One of the most frequent questions I get from viewers and aspiring professional bass anglers is about how to handle sponsors. The biggest mistake I see a lot of anglers make actually comes after they get the sponsor!
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How to Catch More Fish
Today I took my Ranger over to Dixie Marine today so Kris with Nightfishion could install their rub rail lighting system on my boat. They installed black lights all around as well as a moon glo and docking lights.
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