It’s hard to believe that it’s been a little over a month since the season ended. We’ve not really had any “off season” yet, just no more tournaments. We’ve stayed exceptionally busy at the Howell household, trying to finish our house and get moved in soon.
Our family is excited for the big change, and it’ll be nice to have some room to spread out and find all of the tackle that I couldn’t find all year. We’ve been living in a 700 square-foot rental in the campground all season, with all our stuff in a storage unit.
I just finished filming some TV shows for Bass Pro shops, and while sitting here in the cabin the first night, I realized I haven’t written a blog to update everyone on the season and how it ended. In the past couple of blogs, you may remember that I was struggling with a couple poor finishes that dropped me in the points.
I went four straight events without making a check this season, and in looking back I don’t think that’s ever happened before. There were a few uncontrollable mishaps this season for sure, but going into La Crosse, Wis., I was holding down 53rd place in the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year race, and I needed to make up some ground in order to make the cut for the Mille Lacs AOY Championship, let alone the 2017 Bassmaster Classic.
I was doing pretty well on Days 1 and 2 at La Crosse, but on Day 3 I still didn’t have a fish by the middle of the day. For me to stay in the hunt for a trip to Mille Lacs and a Classic berth, I had to have a top 12 finish at La Crosse in order to advance. I have to admit; there were a few moments when it was beginning to look impossible. But this is where it gets exciting.
I needed a big finish to dig out of the hole, so I decided fishing pool 9 was my best shot in Wisconsin. This required tricky time management because I had to lock back up to Pool 8 from Pool 9 of the Upper Mississippi River by 1:30 p.m. in order to make it to weigh-in on time.
Day 3 started tough, and I only caught two little keepers by noon. I needed to fill out my limit to even have a chance. Then it happened: It was 1:07 p.m. — almost time to go in, and I had to leave at 1:15 to make it to the lock by 1:30.
I threw my frog into this little creek mouth, and almost instantly a 3-pounder inhaled it. The next cast to the exact same spot produced another good keeper. In fact, I caught five bass in five casts to the same spot, which was enough to finish my limit and allowed me to cull up once before having to race to the lock. And, we barely made it!
I had a pretty decent limit that would have likely helped me survive, but I knew I still needed a couple more pounds to make the Top 12 cut on Championship Sunday, and to keep me in classic contention in Minnesota.
I had 12 minutes left to idle through a 9-minute no-wake zone, so with a few extra minutes, I decided to stop and make a last minute cast with- my signature Livingston Howeller crankbait. I made one cast besides a piling under the bridge, and my rod loaded up. I caught a big one that helped me cull up nearly 2 pounds! That fish was just enough to push me into the Top 12 cut at La Crosse by a single ounce!
I managed to pull off an 11th place finish on the Mississippi River, which was a big help going into Mille Lacs. That finish took me from 53rd in AOY points to 44th. I had to get to 39th or better to make the Classic cut, so there was a lot on the line in Minnesota.
My first day of practice on Mille Lacs was not as easy as expected, so I made a call to my Team Daiwa buddy Seth Feider. He told me to keep that 4-inch Senko on my drop shot, and to use my Lowrance to find isolated boulders off shore. This helped me tremendously the next two days of practice, and my confidence level was much better heading into the tournament.
I caught a little over 18 pounds on Days 1 and 2 of the AOY Championship, which still had me in 32nd place. Now I had to really catch them on the final day to move up enough to earn a 2017 Classic berth. I was tied for 43rd place going into the final day, and I figured I needed to catch 25 pounds to move up enough to make the Classic cut.
The final day of Mille Lacs was another fishing MIRACLE!! It was divine intervention at its best. I caught four 5-pound smallmouth in four consecutive drops — it was amazing. I pounded that specific area for most of the day and managed to catch 25-5, which is the biggest bag of smallmouth I’ve ever caught in my entire career. It was a special day indeed.
I made the Classic cut by three points in 38th place. It was close, but I never stopped believing it was going to happen that day! The Good Lord blessed me with exactly what I prayed for and needed to accomplish my goal, and I’ll never forget it!
It was an awesome season, full of ups and downs, and honestly lots of adversity that I haven’t faced in over four years now. Sometimes when everything is flowing smoothly for so long, we take for granted how blessed we are. None of us like to struggle, but it’s inevitably going to happen to all of us in this sport. It’s important to learn to keep the faith and not let the uncontrollable stuff mess with your head.
My wife has taught me how important it is to be grateful for every day we get to make a living doing what we love! I’m so thankful that I still made the big show in Houston next March, and I couldn’t do it without the tremendous support of my family and sponsors — I can’t thank them enough.
Now the fun times begin. As all of you know, we love working with the kids and ladies at King’s Home all year, but the holiday season really makes it special. This will be the sixth year we have been able to giveaway my Triton/Mercury tournament rig to raise money for the homes. The past five years we have raised over $700,000 with the five previous boats!! It’s so awesome and humbling to see the fishing community come together to make a difference. Just by donating $100 per ticket chance to win my boat, you can have a huge impact on the lives of so many kids, teens and ladies in need.
The drawing is November 12th, and you will be hearing us talk about this a lot over the next two weeks. We want to be good stewards of what we’ve been given and help as many people as possible with this annual opportunity.
Our “Kampfire for the King” event on November 12th is a fun outdoor fishing event we host at the King’s Home campus once a year. We will have 12 to 13 high school fishing teams present to help the kids fish and win prizes. This is a special time for everyone involved and it teaches the fishing teams the power of volunteer work. When we all join together collectively, we can make a huge impact on the world around us. No matter how bad the politics get, there will always be people in need around us, and we are responsible for what we do with our own time and resources.
This is something we care deeply about, and I encourage everyone to get involved. Tickets are tax deductible, and are available on Kingshome.com, there are no limits to the amount of ticket donations you can make, and you do not need to be present to win. The drawing will be held on the main stage at the event Saturday, November 12th at 2 o’clock central time, and we will stream it for the world to see on Facebook live and Kingshome.com.
We hope to have a great story to share on my next blog after the event. So, in the meantime, please help us by “liking” and “sharing” our post on my “Randy Howell fishing” Facebook page, and be watching for free t-shirt and ticket giveaways weekly.
Thank you and God bless!!
