I’ve enjoyed some time down here in Florida before we kick off the Bassmaster Elite Series season this week on the St. John’s River. I typically come down a little early before the first tournament to get away from the cold weather back home and get back into bass fishing mode.
I was lucky that my good pal Jamie Bruce from Kenora jumped in the truck with me to help make the big drive south. Jamie fished for five or six days before heading back to Canada on a plane. We had a great time fishing around, although we didn’t get that lucky on the weather. While we were in the boat, it was chilly and that makes the fishing tough down here. Still, we managed to catch a few nice fish and have some fun.
After he left, my wife Shelby and I went down to the Florida Keys to visit some friends for a few days and had a blast. It’s a bucket list place for me and we caught a variety of saltwater fish and saw a bunch of cool wildlife – dolphins, sharks, manatees and some unique birds.
It’s getting close to go time for me now. We start practice on Sunday for the tournament next week, then we immediately head north to Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee for the second event of the season. After the second tournament I’ll get to head home for a couple weeks before coming back to Alabama for the Bassmaster Classic!
Hopefully I’ll have a better start to the season than I did last year. I had a pair of poor finishes in the first two events and had a hole to dig my way out of the rest of the season so I want to avoid that this time around. I’m looking forward to getting it going.