First
Tournament
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By Mike Harrelson
I'm from Fenton, which is just southwest of
St. Louis. Most of my family is from the Boone and Howard County area, which is
just east of Sedalia. I grew up fishing farm ponds, and on aluminum boats on
Table Rock, Bull Shoals, and Norfork.
Jim, the district manager I mentioned, and his wife Debbie are close friends of ours for many years. Once a year we descend on the Bridgeport Resort in Cape Fair, Missouri, which is on the James River arm of Table Rock Lake. With our older children and their families, we take up a big part of the resort.
Jim has been competing in club events for a number of years, and had his own boat for some time. About five years ago, my wife and I took the plunge and bought an eighteen foot Javelin fish and ski with a one-fifty horse Johnson. In passing, I mentioned to Jim that I might sign up for a tournament, now that I had a boat.
A district manager is a fancy title for salesman, and Jim is one of the companies best. He saw an opportunity, and suggested that I take a weeks vacation and pair up with one of his customers in a Southwestern Bell tournament. He indicated that this guy had competed in the Southwest Bell tournament for three years, but otherwise just fished for fun, so we'd have roughly the same level of experience. I thought what the heck, and agreed.
I got to Kimberling City late in the afternoon, the Monday before the tournament. Jim was already there with Bruce and Mike, two field service reps who work for the company. We went out, and I had two keepers in the first fifteen minutes on the water. The rest of the week we pre-fished. The weather was great, the fish were in a pre-spawn mode and hitting most everything.
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