I went into this tournament in 12th place overall before dropping any points. Some said that I had nothing to worry about but I found that to be untrue. I did the math by dropping my points then in order to give myself some idea of where I actually stood if I lost any points that I had earned throughout the season. It dropped me to 18th place and they were only taking the Top 20 to the Championship. So I found myself "on the bubble" once again. The last two seasons I had gone into the last tournament "on the bubble" knowing that I needed to catch fish in order to hold my spot. I wasn't able to pull it off. I finished in 18th in 2006 and in 14th in 2007, but they were only taking the top twelve. I quickly realized that I was faced with the challenges of a different type of "Hill" with a different type of climb.
As soon as I left Old Hickory Lake in June, our third tour stop, my mind went straight to Clarks Hill. It wasn't a stranger. I had fished there with my bass club, the Georgia Peaches, in the GA Top Six tournament in March. I had caught a few fish and had some ideas of what to do but knew that conditions would be different and it would take a good practice. Then I realized that I knew someone who could probably help me. That's right - our very own fishing guide here at About.com. I had first met Ronnie and fished with him in a GA Top Six event on Lake Seminole. He was my first day boater and we developed a friendship that day that has grown ever since. I contacted him and he agreed to give whatever help he could provide to me and the three other ladies with whom I practice.
After checking everyone's schedules we finally made it to Clarks Hill at the end of July. One of the WBT pros and I met Ronnie there. We knew the conditions would still change by September so we mainly used this trip for navigational purposes as the drought had the water levels lower than ever. He brought his boat and she brought hers and we just followed him around verifying the channel and learning what we could about fishing the lake. It was a productive day in terms of running it safely as well as learning what the fish might be doing during tournament time.
We did take the time to fish as we toured the lake, and I was thrilled when I hooked a 5 lb. 12 oz. largemouth at 8:30 in the morning. We were fishing a point and learning about the hydrilla that grows there when I decided to throw a Texas-rigged ribbontail worm to a nearby clay bank. The grass was already beginning to intimidate me and I knew I had a lot to learn even after catching a fish that size. I was happy to catch it but realized that it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things. We had very few bites that day. Ronnie was able to catch a couple of keepers. But with navigation in low water being our main focus we felt like we had accomplished what we had come to do.
I want to take this opportunity to thank Ronnie for the tremendous amount of help that he gave us as well as the nice dinner afterwards. We had a great time catching up, sharing fishing stories, and just talking business. The last few comments of the evening were about our hopes of this WBT pro and myself making the cut and getting to fish for the money. More on that later.
