The Clarks Hill event was a disappointment to me. It was tough. This is the kind of tournament where you can make up some ground, but it didn't happen. I just wasn't able to put everything together.
I lost a couple of good fish, which made the difference in the end. At this level you don't miss opportunities, especially not with a tough bite and relatively low weights. If you do, you end up with a so-so performance instead of a good one. I didn't land the ones I should have and paid the price for it — a so-so finish. There's not much else to be said about it.
This week will be exciting, though. I'm filming commercials for Bass Pro Shops. I'll be working with NASCAR drivers. As a matter of fact, as soon as I get done with this blog I'm going to take Ryan Newman bass fishing. That'll be fun. I'm a big — very serious — NASCAR fan, you know.
And I think he's a big fishing fan. Both sports are similar in that they involve competition at the highest levels where one mistake means defeat in most cases. Of course, in his sport that same mistake can also mean death. In mine it's more like I'll come back and catch them another day. That's a big difference.
Those guys are the real deal. They put it all on the line every time they drive in a race. There's no in between with them. They're on or they're off. They're a group of men to be admired. That's for sure.
Then, later in the week I'll be filming a BPS commercial with Jamie McMurray, the winner of this year's Daytona 500. He won his race the same week I won the Bassmaster Classic. I think our BPS commercial will play off that in some way although I don't know exactly how as of right now.
If I'm lucky maybe they'll put me in one of the cars for it. That would be about as cool as anything could get. Those cars are engineering marvels and yet they're still cars. They have a steering wheel and a set of breaks. Can you imagine the thrill of driving one of those things?
As I said, I'm really into NASCAR. Along with the drivers I might get to meet some of the owners and mechanics and pit crew personnel. I'll bet they're interesting in their own right. You know they are — being around all that high-tech, high-speed stuff all the time.
If I can, I'll get my hands on a couple of pictures and we'll get BASS to post them next week with my next blog. That'll be neat — something different before we head to Kentucky Lake the second week in June. Nobody should be surprised to find out that it's one of my favorite tournaments.
Remember, it's all about the attitude.
