Non-boater questions - bear with me

[dreaminbig]

I'll go ahead and give an overview of myself to familiarize you with me since I don't personally know any of you.

My name is Mike Thornton. I'm 32 and have been bass fishing since I was about 16. I bought my first boat when I was 17 and had one until 2 years ago. (had to sell my Nitro when my second child showed up unexpectedly- well worth it though) I'm now fishing out of my father in laws boat. It's great that he just keeps the boat at my house and I can take it whenever I want but....it's a Quantum fish and ski that will absolutely nickle and dime you death. It has left me without power on the water twice now so I don't trust it for too much use.

Anyway.....

As a poor guy living over here in the Shen. valley it's tough for me to get to the water very often and it's quite a ways to travel when I do. I've fished a decent amount of tourneys on Lake Anna over the past few years and placed my best of 4th and my worst being about 18th out of the usual 25-40 boats. I consider myself a decent stick even if I don't have all the high dollar equipment that some folks have.

What I'm looking for is the opportunity to fish the back end of a boat in some tourneys. I've never fished any draw type tourneys and so far I've always been the boater and had buddies as my partners. I'm absolutely addicted to this little thing called bass fishing and I'd like to have the opportunity to see what the next level of tourney fishing is like. Is there any kind of tourneys you guys know of that are like this and won't completely break the bank trying to do so?

Lastly, I've looked into the BASS Fed. tourneys and they seem to be similar to what I'm looking for. If any of you can give me some info about maybe getting into something like this please let me know through here, an IM or I can give you my email.

Thanks ahead of time for your help and patience with this newbie.

[Blue Steel]

Here's the tournie trail I fish.Take a look at the Draw Trail, you pick the tournie you want to fish,show up as a non Boater.

http://www.americanbassanglers.com/

[Big Johnson]

Check out the list of some of the clubs at the top of the VA/NC board. Most of them have websites and you might be able to find something near you.....

[dreaminbig]

Blue Steel, that's the series I've been looking at. It sounds really good. I may end up doing one next year.

As far as clubs in my area, they are almost non-existent. There is a jon boat club that I've fished an open tourney in but I just didn't feel welcomed at all in it. There is another club that several of my co-workers are in but they only do two day tourneys and right now there is a long waiting list for non-boaters.

I really hate living here in the valley. My wife and I can't wait till we finish college and head out of here.

[PATRO]

I agree with Mike, the ABA tx's would be a good fit for you.

[jrleewood]

dreaminbig: ease up on the Valley it is a great place to raise a family!! I don't live very far from you. The Shenandoah River is in your back yard and is a great fishery. Don't believe all the talk about it being dead Look me up sometime PM or email me if you want to get out. I work shift work and get to fish a lot during the week which is the time to be at ANNA.

[BrianD]

Look at http://extremebassanglerz.com/ they fish anna, potomac, and I think they have weekly tournaments at Egypts Bend which is east of new market. I know they fish partners they might have a boater looking for a non boater. I know alot of those guys are from the mt. jackson, woodstock area which is not too far from you.

[dreaminbig]

jrleewood, the valley really is a great place to raise a family. I don't mean to bash it but it seems there is nothing for our kids to do around here. You have to drive several hours to get to anything. The job market sucks around here too and that's the biggest reason for us wanting to leave.

The Shen. is a great fishery and I take advantage of Egypts Bend when I can. Other than river fishing there is almost no good places to go around here. I frequent the trolling motor only lakes near C'ville when I can but it's nice to be able to fire up the outboard once in a while also.

[Neilslure]

I would recomend the BFLs if you can afford $100 entry. A well run trail and alot of good guys.

[jrleewood]

No problem dreaminbig. Just give me a shoot when you want to go and maybe we can hook up. A couple of other places you may never think of that has big bass are Elkhorn lake and Skidmore They love them trout

[dreaminbig]

I fish Elkhorn quite often. I've caught many 5+ out of there.

[majorbass]

I second the suggestion from Neil-BFL's

[BassCatnVa]

BFL will teach you several bodies of water and some good fishermen. Very well run also