The Chickamauga Blues

I just arrived in Rockwall, TX after driving 13 hours from Chickamauga Lake, TN and I’m tired. I missed half of the first day of practice and today is the second day. The wind is blowing 30 mph and the lake (Ray Hubbard) is rough and muddy, oh and it’s 94 degrees…perfect! I fished from 6:30 this morning until 1:00 and I’ve had enough already. I caught about 50 white bass, 5 catfish, and 3 bass, lol. Tomorrow is the last day of practice, but I think we have to be off the water by 3:00pm to go to registration.

I took the boat out of the water, got some lunch and just finished washing and waxing my tackle box. That’s what I’m calling my Suburban on this trip because I have so much stuff in there, lol. I’m on the longest stretch away from home all season right now; I have 3 more events and about 40 days before I get to sleep in my own bed again. Anne and the fam will be meeting me in Branson for the next FLW Tour Major in a couple weeks, I can’t wait to see them, it has been way too long.

Anne will be towing the 5^th wheel down with the dually and we’ll be camping for that event as well as the next tournament at the Red River, LA. Like I said before, I’m nervous about her driving that far with the big rig, but if anyone can handle it, it’s got to be Anne. Our new diesel Silverado HD is the best towing vehicle I’ve ever had and this will be the first time towing the camper with it. It has a New Exhaust Brake System which creates back pressure to slow the vehicle down on steep grades. That will really help with the wear and tear on our brakes during the long tournament season. Also, during the trip here, I found a USB port inside the center console that I had no idea was there. I have a converter box that I’ve always used in the truck to plug my computer in and charge my I Pod, well I plugged the I Pod into it and all my song lists and albums showed up on the GPS screen of the truck. You can operate it with out ever touching your I Pod at all, I think that is awesome.

As you probably already know, I totally blew the last tournament at Chickamauga and I really would rather not talk about it anymore. I’m sick, because that was supposed to be an easy one. I guess the good thing is that most of the guys high in the standings didn’t do so hot either. I fell from 3^rd to 15^th in the points but Angler of the Year is definitely not out of reach as I thought it would be. It’s been two years to the month since I’ve not earned a check in a Tour event and it feels terrible to say the least…I’m going to try really hard not to ever do that again, ha ha.

Well I should probably get back out on the mud hole and try to find some fish. I’ll talk to you after Table Rock in a couple weeks!

Dave

Anne writes...

Well, I think Mitchell’s blog pretty well sums it all up! He is such a good boy and takes good care of the girls. We did not get to go to Tennessee this time because we are still needed at home. I am, however, going to drive the diesel and camper to Branson, Mo next week to meet Dave with the kids (and the dog). I was a little nervous driving all that way by myself but I know with the new break system in the dually I will be fine. It totally rocks! What a difference!

We miss Dave terribly. The kids and I are excited to get to Branson to see him. They also want to go to the Butterfly Palace and the IMAX Theater. We are also excited to see our friends on the road. Isabella has missed her boyfriends, Cooper and Riley, who are Randy and Sara Tharp’s beagles. We miss everyone!

I hope everybody has a wonderful Easter filled with lots of chocolate and hard boiled eggs.

Talk to you next time,

Anne