Bassmaster Marshal - The Ultimate Fan Experience - WELCOME to JAMES GANG FISHING Co.

Bassmaster Marshal - The Ultimate Fan Experience

6/27/2018

BASSMASTER ELITE BRIAN SNOWDEN WAS MY DAY#1 PRO IN LA CROSSE, WI

WHAT IS A BASSMASTER MARSHAL??

In past decades, the Bassmasters would match a professional angler with a co-angler in every event. The pro in the front of the boat competed against all of the other pros in the tournament, while the co-anglers all competed amongst each other. During the past several years, the executives at Bassmaster decided to change this layout for the Bassmaster Elite series, and keep the co-angler format just in the Bassmaster Opens level. The new program was called the "Bassmaster Marshal" program. This gives the hard-core fans of professional fishing a chance to sit in the back of a professional angler's boat, monitor that he and other anglers are abiding by the tournament rules and state laws, all while learning how the "best of the best" anglers fish a body of water that is possibly in your neighborhood.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF A BASSMASTER MARSHAL?

When you arrive to the meeting room of the Marshal briefing, you will be greeted by the top tournament officials of Bassmasters, the registration team, as well as some event sponsors. In the La Crosse event, one room held the marshals meeting, and the adjacent room held the tournament anglers meeting.

During the meeting, you will meet the senior tournament director who will go over the tournament rules in detail. He will explain that the role of the Bassmaster Marshal is to be their "eyes and ears on the water." He will give you his personal cell phone number and tell you that if you have any issues with the anglers - contact him. Your role is not to tell the angler that he is in any violation, you are to report any infractions at the weigh in to the tournament officials. When anglers are competing for $100,000 trophies, the amount of rules are very high and the tournament officials are extremely strict. As a Bassmaster Marshal, you can not assist the angler in any way when it comes to landing fish, handling fish, operating a livewell, boat positioning, driving, holding on to docks for fishing. All of these things will give the angler an "unfair advantage" and is prohibited.

BASSTRAKK & BASSMASTER.COM

Another key role of the Bassmaster Marshal is covering the angler in which you are assigned for the day. Since ESPN2 can't throw a cameraman in 110 boats, they rely on updates from the Bassmaster marshals in 2 forms - BASSTRAKK & blogging reports. BASSTRAKK is an app for your smartphone that Bassmaster gives you in the Marshal briefing. Each tournament has a secret login code needed to run the app, which is announced in our briefing. The app is very simple to use - when your angler catches a legal fish that goes into their livewell, you enter the weight in lbs and ounces of that fish into the app. The app automatically estimates the daily weigh in bag and culls out the smallest fish weight with every entry. Media and fans can track these weights during each event live on www.bassmaster.com and get a rough idea of what an angler is at for the day at any point. There is always a margin of error since most of these anglers estimate these weights without a digital scale. Since this live technology is accessible to anyone with mobile devices, BASS prohibits a Bassmaster Marshal from using the internet during the tournament. They do not want the anglers finding out what the other anglers are up to, what lures they are using, what their weights are at, what their location is. They do not want this live technology interfering with the raw competition found at this level of professional sports. Live blogging is explained in this briefing as well. Basically the Marshal takes a picture of an angler, beautiful scenery, wild animals, etc and email them to the producers of Bassmaster to post on their Marshal blog on the website. Here is an example below:

THE WALL OPENS- MEET YOUR PRO ANGLER!

When the angler and Marshal briefings were complete, a wall opened up between the banquet rooms and we are then joined up with the greatest professional anglers in the world. At this point, BASS Tournament Director Trip Wheldon comes to the front and takes over. He introduces the Marshals to the pro anglers and they all give us a round of applause. The mayor of La Crosse and the local tourism officials come to the front and thank Bassmaster and the pros for helping their economy by drawing in the fans with this event, and thank them for getting children into fishing, as well as influencing families to spend quality time together in the outdoors. The mayor also stated that role models like bass fisherman teach people how to enjoy positive time on the water instead of getting involved in crime and drugs. It was a great moment watching city officials pay their respects to the Bassmaster community.

CHECK YOUR PHONES - YOU HAVE A TEXT!

When the angler & Marshal briefing is complete, Trip Wheldon asks you to check your text messages. You then receive a text with your boat #, weigh in time, flight number, professional angler's name, and his personal cell phone number. Trip asks that you find your angler in the short social by calling the angler and making agreements on meeting location, time, and arrangements for your food/drinks/ice, etc. I was very happy to check my texts and find that I landed Bass Pro Shops sponsored BRIAN SNOWDEN. Alex and I had previously met Brian in Escanaba, Michigan during the 2014 AOY event. Brian took 4th on Little Bay de Noc with giant smallmouth bass and happened to be camping right by us that weekend. He even took a picture with our General Lee boat "The Crawfish Bandit" in the campground as we were leaving. Brian is a super laid back guy, so I was really looking forward to Day #1 as I figured I would learn a lot while being stress-free with a super polite professional angler in the boat with me. After the meeting was done, I walked outside and had conversations with some of my super hero anglers as they were headed out - Brandon Palaniuk, Mike Iaconelli, and Skyler Hamilton. One thing a fan would realize in a hurry meeting these people for the first time - they are the most friendly, down-to-earth, celebrities you could ever meet! 99% of Bassmaster anglers are fantastic people! After we chatted a while, I headed to the campground to get some sleep and prepare for my big Day #1.

BRANDON PALANIUK WITH HIS TOYOTA TUNDRA AND SKEETER BOAT

BRANDON ALWAYS TRAVELS IN STYLE!

OFF TO THE CAMPGROUND!

DAY #1 -

Day #1 started off with rain. And ended with rain. It never stopped the entire day. That didn't stop me from having fun! Its a good thing that I packed the essentials for a fishing trip - SAVE PHACE mask, Dude Wipes, still camera, UV BUFF, and a rain suit! The Save Phace really did save my face as we got into rain at full speed in the 250 hp Nitro. But before I get into the events later in the day, lets start at the meeting. Brian wanted to meet at the boat ramp around 5:30 am. I arrived a little early since I was so wound up about this experience. I ran into Bassmaster Elite John Crews at the ramp so we chatted as he prepped his boat for the big day. He asked me to help him uncover his boat which I did. It is a blast interacting with these big time anglers at their Elite events. I asked him how he was doing, how Missile Baits has been doing, all good stuff. One thing that the tournament officials mentioned is that there is ZERO information sharing in Bassmasters, so you have to watch what you say and ask the pros when conversing with them. Only anglers can talk to each other about the fishery, the conditions, the lures, the patterns, etc. I was not allowed to talk to them at all about fishing La Crosse. Fortunately for me I have never fished there before so I had nothing to say. Another thing that I had to keep in mind all weekend was that I couldn't tell an angler about another angler's spots, patterns, lures, etc. I believe the rules are very fair but as an excited fan you really have to think before you talk. The anglers know the rules and they never bring up the prohibited conversations with fans or marshals.

A few minutes later, my pro angler Brian Snowden showed up with his wife, and we hopped in the boat to start our day as his wife hauled the truck and trailer out for us. We grouped up under the Clinton St. bridge as Trip Weldon and his crew checked in angler boats, checked livewells with the Marshals, called out the flights, and started the tournament. We circled by the Veteran's Freedom Park dock, while BASS Emcee and Facts of Fishing star Dave Mercer announced the anglers in front of the hard-core fans. I put on my Save Phace as Brian opened up his 250 hp throttle, and we were rocking, with rain pelting our faces! Brian pulled up to a spot he found in practice loaded with fish, and immediately started getting bites. He landed some small bass, a walleye, and his first keeper of the day, a nice smallmouth bass that went into the livewell and was fish #1 entered on Basstrakk. I entered the blog immediately and Brian was on the board!

BLOG #1

Brian Snowden starts his day off with a smallmouth in the livewell on his third cast
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Brian was catching several fish in this spot, but only one was a legal bass. He was using a technique I was familiar with, but something I don't use a lot. It was nice to see this professional demonstration in person. After a while, Brian said he can't put together a good bag of bass on this school of under-sized fish. We hammered down on the Nitro and moved on to a different spot. He said it was a very small area and if another pro was in there we would have trouble fishing it. Brian didn't feel that the area was big enough to share. As we pulled in, Mr. Snowden started catching bass after bass. I couldn't believe it. It was constant action in the flooded banks. They would not touch topwater at all, so he stuck with finesse fishing. I have never seen such accurate casts in my life. Brian can throw a finesse lure anywhere he wants with extreme accuracy. I loved what I was watching it was so much fun! After sorting through small bass, Brian hooked into one that was legal, and I was ready for Blog #2.

BLOG #2

Snowden's move pays off. He is catching fish steadily, and is sorting through the small ones to find a few that are livewell-worthy
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Brian continued working the stretches of flooded banks and timber in this area, catching bass steadily. He was not finding the quality fish he needed to contend for a win or make a top-50 cut, so he pulled his trolling motor up and we went for a very fast boat ride. Brian had great control and safely ripped us under bridges, over wingdams, in tight grassy channels. The boat ride was worth the Marshal fee alone! We pulled up into a new area that he was not very confident in, but he felt the bass sizes would increase. He fished a very long time without a bite, then he hooks into a beautiful 3+ lb largemouth, but the fish threw the hook and he got off. Brian was very disappointed, but from that point on, Brian found a pattern and started boating quality fish at a decent pace. He felt like the potential for a decent day had been found. Back in these areas we did see several famous Bassmasters cruise by, so as a fan I was loving all of this activity. Brian and I got along great, and he taught me a lot. On his off time from Bassmasters, he spends his time as a professional guide on Table Rock Lake, in Branson, MO. I highly recommend hiring Brian for a trip, as I hope to get down there and hire him in the next few years. He explains things very well and is a super good person. He does have a website at www.briansnowden.com for info on his guide service.

BLOG #3

Snowden still catching, still sorting his way towards a limit. Here is his 4th keeper in the livewell.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

At 11:30 am, Brian says he is tired of the rain. At this point we figured it would never let up. But the fishing was decent and he just boated his 5th keeper for weigh-in. Brian was hoping to cull the small ones out soon and replace them all with 3 pounders

BLOG #4

Brian Snowden says the first two hours of rain was ok. Brian says he is now tired of the rain as he boats a complete limit of 5 bass. He is looking to upgrade throughout the day as he feels he needs 16 pounds a day for a shot to win.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

BLOG #5

Brian Snowden makes his first cull. He has changed presentations and is now finding more quality while catching less quantities.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

As the day rolls on, Brian appears to be timing out his quality catches that he could end up with 15 pounds by weigh in. The bass were biting, the sizes were big enough to cull here-and-there, things were looking positive. He sets a hook on a very hard-fighing beast, and we both new right away when we saw a reptile-looking head that this fish was not going to get into the livewell.

BLOG #6

Brian Snowden hooks into about a 7 pounder, unfortunately he needs to release it since this isn't Dog Fish Masters!
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Shortly after the dogfish situation, Brian hooks into a beautiful 3 pounder, culling his smallest fish and puts a big smile on his face!

BLOG #7

Brian Snowden upgrades again, catching his heaviest fish so far. This puts his daily bag around 13 pounds as he continues to catch a quality fish here and there working new areas.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

BLOG #8

Brian Snowden is still catching quality bass, culling up a few ounces this time hoping for a giant soon.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

DAY ONE IS COMPLETE!

Brian Snowden fished hard all day, tried multiple places with multiple techniques, and managed to boat a 5 fish limit with some culling. We headed back for weigh in and on the stage, he weighed in 13 lbs 10 oz. To our surprise, weights were up compared the the previous BASS events here. Brian figured he would need a huge day friday to make up ground and make the top-50 cut for Saturday. Here is a picture below of Brian on Day #2 at the weigh-in on a beautiful sunny day:

POST WEIGH-IN TEXT FROM BASS OFFICIALS:

After the weigh-in was complete, I headed back to the campground. Since I didn't have cell phone reception at the site, I had to call all my buddies and fill them in on this crazy experience that I just had as a Bassmaster Marshal. As I was telling my stories to my buddies, I received a text from BASS officials with my day #2 pairing. As I checked it, I was stunned again - Brent Erhler. Are you kidding me? You mean Forrest Wood Cup World Champion Brent Ehrler? This guy is one of the best in the world! I was super excited. And just like with Brian Snowden, I actually met Brent Erhler in the past - he camped right behind us in Sturgeon Bay, WI at AOY in 2015. He was a super cool guy, too, and I couldn't wait to watch this guy fish in person! We met at the boat ramp by Dave Mercer, and both got some quick interview pictures with him (THANKS DAVE!)

BASSMASTER EMCEE & FACTS OF FISHING STAR DAVE MERCER

DAY #2 BEGINS -- BLOG #9

A beautiful la crosse morning for fishing. No rain!
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

TACKLE PREP, INTRO TO THE FANS.....

Brent finished up prepping his rods and tackle at the docks, while chatting with his good buddy Brett Hite. Brent's wife delivered a rush-shipped package of secret baits from Gary Yamamoto for this tournament. As we moved out waiting for flight #4 to be announced, we got really close to some fishing superstars. I was boat-to-boat with Rick Clunn, and he politely thanked me as I wished him a good day of fishing. Fred "Boom Boom" Roumbanis came by and Brent told him that his new hollow-body frog is awesome and said he will be looking for royalties after he has been spreading the word. Brent told me that we would be fishing a spot that he found in practice on Wednesday morning that had a lot of 3 lb quality fish, but some other anglers were sharing water in that area. When our boat was checked in and we passed the fans, we headed out of the no-wake area and then Brent opened up the 250hp Ranger. Once again, the ride was a blast! We raced towards a lock that was closed, so Brent fished the area near the dam until it opened. We shared water with Marty "The Party" Robinson as he was bragging about the 4 pound brown fish he just caught. Later, in the lock, he admitted it was a freshwater drum, not a smallmouth as we laughed at him.

Brent Ehrler and his good buddy Brett Hite are ready for their flight to be called on Day #2

EHRLER HAS A FEW BITES, OVERALL A SLOW START....

The tournament started at 6 AM, and as of 9 am, Brent had only boated few small bass and several northern pike. He was sharing a large area and a few different key locations with Boyd Duckett, Timmy Horton, and a few others. He was covering a large area with "fan casts" looking for a reaction bite since topwater seemed to not be working well. One thing that I noticed about Brent Ehrler is that he is a very fast-paced individual. He is extremely energetic and he never slows down. He has very high expectations for himself, and has very high confidence in his fishing abilities. It was amazing to watch a person this successful go to work in an actual Bassmaster Elites tournament.

Brent began hooking into the largest average sized northern pike that I have ever seen in my life! One was over 40", but he was able to lose it on purpose right in front of the boat. I noticed that with every single northern pike bite he had, he checked the hook sharpness, replaced his plastic lures, and retied his lures. Even in a hurry under pressure late in the day, he followed this routine, STRICTLY. Both Brent and Brian Snowden were very particular in their ways and never took shortcuts when it came to there equipment. I suppose that professional anglers can't take risks with frayed line and dull hooks when their income is on the line. This was very neat to witness in person. I remember my 2 guided trips with Dale Stroschein of Wacky Walleye Guide Service in Sturgeon Bay, WI where Dale had the same habits, even after knicking a zebra mussel with a jig. He always checked the hooks for sharpness and looked for frays in the line. Around 9am, Brent landed a very nice 35" northern pike, and he wasn't happy. Minutes later, he landed his first largemouth bass for the livewell, a nice 2.5 pounder! He had his first Basstrakk entry for the day, and I began my Day #2 blog for Bassmaster.com.

BLOG #10

Brent Ehrler was very confident after a successful Wednesday practice, but is feeling frustrated trying to adjust to the rising water. After several large northern pike bit on multiple presentations, he finally puts a solid fish into the livewell. He hopes to built on this and start a pattern.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Unfortunately, this one nice bass was the only legal bass willing to bite for half the day! The world champion FLW star was very frustrated, and was losing faith in his gameplan. As Timmy Horton worked very shallow near us Brent lost all hope on his area and began working the lily pads opposite of Timmy's area. He tried topwaters and finesse baits, but was disgusted in the results. He went back to his waypoints from practice again, and was catching nothing but northern pike. Finally he had enough, and told me that if he does not catch another bass, we will leave his area at 11:30 am. He continued to fish the area until 11:45 am, when he told me that he is already 15 minutes past when he said he would quit, he can only keep banging in his head for so long, and after the next cast, he is giving up everything and making a 20-minute run and starting all over. On that "final" cast, Brent Ehrler figured out his pattern was there after all......

BLOG #11

Brent Ehrler, frustrated with his first day and a half of fishing, moved to a new location searching for bass. After a long period of time with no keeper bass, he told himself multiple times he was going to scrap his plans and leave everything behind. After second-guessing himself multiple times, a quality bass helps him commit to his original plan. He hopes to see things come together by the end of the day.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

As Brent struggled through the morning, he was experimenting with several presentations, trying to locate fish near his practice waypoints, and trying to establish a pattern. As the different presentations failed him (1 fish from 6:30 am - 11:30 am) he began believing his fish from practice were gone. The second legal bass, along with multiple undersized bass, gave him the confidence to commit to this area and try and make the top-50 cut for Saturday on Day #3. Soon after that, he found certain areas of weeds combined with open pockets that would produce a strike when he worked his reaction bait the same way as it hit the water. Also he needed the floating vegetation debris from the heavy flooding to open up long enough for a decent distance of lure retrieval. The debris would kill his lure action instantly, and the cast would be a waste. Even though the bites weren't often, he consistently called several of his shots and began hooking up with more and more bass in the second half of the day.

BLOG #12

Brent Ehrler adds number 4 to his livewell. He feels that he needs to catch at least two bigger bass to make a bag limit and cull this smaller fish to have a chance to make the 50 cut.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Minutes after putting his 4th legal bass into the livewell for weigh-in, he hooks up with his biggest bass of the day! Easily a 3+ lb largemouth bass, Brent was extremely excited as a landed this bass at boatside and scooped it up. The big bass landed on his lap, as we began high-fiving and laughing in celebration together. It was a great moment, as Brent realized the pressure was on and he did have a legit shot at making the top-50 cut with time running out. His confidence was high and he was ready to begin culling out the 2 little bass and work his way into Saturday's tournament.

BLOG #13

Brent Ehrler is ecstatic as a quality bass sits on his lap after a great fight at boatside. This gives Ehrler a 5 fish limit. His pattern seems to be coming together and improving as he hopes to cull at least his smallest two bass.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

BLOG #14

Brent Ehrler is culling his first small fish, this one will gain him just a few ounces, he knows he has more work to do before weigh in.
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

Time is running out, will Brent cull enough to make the 50-cut??

As time is running out, Brent catches a few more bass, and is able to cull a few. With less than an hour to go, he catches a quality bass and upgrades a bit in the livewell. But as time expires, he feels he is at about 11 lbs 13 oz and one quality 2.5-3 pound bass away from making the cut.

BLOG #15

Brent Ehrler makes a decent cull and feels that one more solid bass could get him into Saturday's cut
PHOTO: BASSMASTER MARSHAL JESSE PIONTEK

EHRLER NEVER QUITS!

As Brent throws his last cast, his good buddy Brett Hite showed up and warned him that we need to hurry up as the lock was opening. Missing the lock would mean possibly missing weigh-in. Brent opened up the throttle on his 250 hp Mercury and we headed back towards weigh-in. We arrived in the area ahead of schedule, so Brent began throwing desperation casts. He still thought he needed one more quality bass for a huge cull. The bites didn't come, so he hammered down on his 21' Ranger again, and arrived in the no wake zone near a train bridge. Here several pros in our flight were working around the shorelines and the bridge. I looked around and couldn't believe who I was watching. Right in front of me was Morizo Shimizu, the angler famous for catching "BIG MAMA." I looked to my right as my hero Mike Iaconelli pulled up, and lowered his trolling motor. Way to his right was the most popular angler in the world, 4 time Classic champion and 7-time AOY Kevin VanDam. I chuckled to myself watching the always animated Mike Iaconelli setting the hook on his jig super hard under the bridge. Then he hooked into a fish, and I could see his excitement. When he got the fish to the surface, he calmed down as it was just another northern pike. The anglers had enough time to throw a few quick casts at the boat houses near weigh-in, so we headed up there minutes before their flight deadline of 4PM.

MIKE IACONELLI SETS THE HOOK ON A NORTHERN PIKE

Brent Ehrler & Mike Iaconelli head towards the boathouses near the weigh-in for a few quick, final casts

DAY #2 WEIGH-IN

BRENT EHRLER LOADS HIS BASS INTO THE WEIGH-IN BAG AS I HOLD IT

ALEX FINDS "G MAN" GERALD SWINDLE

NOT ONLY A FANTASTIC ANGLER, THIS GUY (ALONG WITH HIS WIFE LEANN "LULU" SWINDLE) ARE ALL AROUND FANTASTIC PEOPLE AND ROLE MODELS TO ALL. THE BEST TIP EHRLER GAVE ME WAS G MAN'S GNAT SPRAY - VANILLA BODY SPRAY w/ LISTERINE!!!

ALEX FINDS TOURNAMENT LEADER AARON MARTENS

OUR CAMPING NEIGHBOR IN ESCANABA & STURGEON BAY, THIS GUY IS A GOOF & A SUPER GOOD GUY

LOCAL HERO SETH FEIDER & HIS BEAUTIFUL HAIR MADE THE TRIP TO LA CROSSE!!

THIS GUY CAME FROM NOWHERE AND BECAME A FISHING ROCK STAR IN THE PAST 2 YEARS. THANKS SETH FOR THE PICTURE!

EVER HEARD OF KVD, KEVIN VANDAM??

4 BASSMASTER CLASSIC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, 7x ANGLER-OF-THE-YEAR, 25 BASSMASTER VICTORIES, $6,402,476.33 CAREER WINNINGS. ENOUGH SAID.

THE IKE FOUNDATION WELL REPRESENTED IN LA CROSSE, WI

OUR CEO, ALEX JAMES, IS PROUDLY SPONSORED BY THE IKE FOUNDATION. The Ike Foundation is a non-profit charity that provides fishing tackle to inner-city kids to introduce them into the outdoors for a positive life experience. Since Alex was 8 years old, Mike Iaconelli proudly told Alex in Mille Lacs, MN that he could be his first sponsored angler. Alex has taken this sponsorship very serious, and spreads the word at trade show booths as well as a speech at UW-Stout at a campus hall full of college anglers. Alex was very excited to see his buddy Mike Iaconelli and was able to meet Ike's awesome wife and two youngest children, Vegas & Stelly. According to Mike's wife, Becky, Stelly gets a little camera-shy, but Vegas loves pictures. Becky is a great person, and had a lot of positive complements towards Alex's efforts while chatting with our family on Friday and Saturday at the weigh-ins. Vegas Iaconelli & Alex James got together for this awesome picture below:

VEGAS IACONELLI & ALEX JAMES PROUDLY REPRESENTING THE IKE FOUNDATION

MIKE TOOK TIME TO GIVE ALEX A MOMENT AS WELL....

ALEX JAMES WITH HIS HERO AND SPONSOR, BASSMASTER MIKE IACONELLI

THE IKE FOUNDATION ON DISPLAY!

THE IKE FOUNDATION SPONSORED ALEX JAMES PROUDLY GIVES A "THUMBS UP"

ALEX JAMES SIGNS THE IKE FOUNDATION BOBBER DISPLAY

ALEX SHOWS HIS SIGNATURE TO THE CAMERA ON THE IKE FOUNDATION BOBBER DISPLAY

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE IKE FOUNDATION, CLICK THE LINK BELOW:

CLICK HERE FOR THE IKE FOUNDATION INFO

SO, HOW DID THE WEIGH-IN END?

BRENT EHRLER WAITS IN LINE TO SEE IF HIS BAG IS ENOUGH FOR THE TOP-50 CUT

THE FLOOD IS RISING AS THE WATERS ARE KNEE-DEEP FOR THE ANGLERS. HERE MIKE IACONELLI TAKES TIME TO TALK TO JAMES GANG PRO-STAFFER MAT EICHINGER ABOUT HIS NEW "IKE" REELS COMING TO iCAST

As Brent Ehrler expects disappointment on stage during the weigh-in, he is shocked by Dave Mercer as his "11-13" was actually weighed 14 lbs 7 ounces! Because of this weight, Brent finished Day #2 in 43rd place, and was fishing on Day #3 in the top-50 cut after all! It was so amazing to spend the day in the boat with such an accomplished and talented angler and witness the lows & highs in a day of tournament fishing at its highest level. Even though I learned a lot about how he works lures and manages his equipment, the decision-making and mind-control is what I loved seeing the most. With Brian Snowden & Brent Ehrler, I watched two world-class anglers struggle in the beginning of a day, and I watched both of them turn it around to manage a strong finish by the time they were ready to weigh in. It was an amazing and unforgettable experience!