TOUR NOTES & BLOG

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AUGUST 16
SMG's Jay Yelas in competing today or the FLW Championship, the only major fishing title he has yet to win.  Good luck Jay!  SMG's Bud Pruitt just missed the cut and finished in 11th.  Congratulations Bud on a great year!

AUGUST 15
SMG's Bud Pruitt is in 4th place, and SMG's Jay Yelas is in 15th place after Day 1 of the FLW Championship on Lake Murray.

Bud Pruitt found some quality fish today, and his day could have been even better.  Bud was disappointed that he missed some of his better fish.  He is cautiously optimistic about being able to repeat his performance again today.  Good luck Bud!

Jay Yelas is trying to win his first FLW Championship.  Jay is flipping in the river, and he believes that he can have another solid limit today.  Jay believes that with a couple of good bites today, he should be fishing on the weekend.  Good luck Jay! 

AUGUST 14
SMG's FLW Pros Jay Yelas and Bud Pruitt are competing today in the FLW Championship event on Lake Murray.  Good luck guys.

Jay Yelas was pleased with his practice and he plans on flipping in the river.  Jay has won the BassMaster Classic on this same sort of pattern, so it should be an interesting week.  Good luck Jay!

Bud Pruitt is having a great week and could be a serious contender here.  Good luck Bud! 

AUGUST 11
SMG's Alton Jones finished in 6th and thus clinched 5th in the Toyota Tunda Angler of the Year race.  SMG's Todd Faircloth finished in 2nd in the Angler of the Year race highlighting a great tournament season.  Todd fought Kevin "Tiger" VanDam tooth and nail until the last day before just missing on the title.  Congratulations Todd and Alton on completing a very special year!  Rounding out the accomplishments was SMG's Brent Chapman who completed another solid season by finishing 22nd in the Angler of the Year race and qualifying for yet another Classic appearance.

AUGUST 10
SMG's Alton Jones is competing today for a win and a top 5 in the Angler of the Year standings.  Good luck Alton!  Brent Chapman finished 40th.  Congratulations Brent on a great tournament and a great season!

Alton feels confident in his pattern, and he believes that he can catch the fish he needs to finish in 5th in the Angler of the Year race.  That would be a remarkable performance for a Classic Champion considering all of the distractions that come with that title.

AUGUST 9
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AUGUST 8
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AUGUST 7
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Lake Oneida today.  Good luck to all.

Alton Jones believes that he has found a strong pattern which should yield to a high finish.  If he has found what he believes he has, it should be another Elite 12 final for Alton.

Todd Fairlcoth has found some deep fish which he believes should yield him another top finish.  The Angler of the Year race between Kevin VanDam and Todd is coming down to the wire neck and neck.  Good luck Todd!

Brent Chapman is unsure of his practice.  He has located some fish, but he is not certain what kind of quality he will be able to pull out from his spots.  Good luck Brent.

AUGUST 6
SMG's BASS Pros are getting ready to fish the Elite Series' final event of the year on Lake Oneida.  Todd Faircloth will be competing to win the coveted Toyota Tundra Angler of the Year crown.  Alton Jones will be competing for a top 5 finish in the Angler of the Year race.  And, Brent Chapman will be competing for yeat another Classic appearance.  Good luck to all!

AUGUST 4
SMG's Todd Fairlcoth finished 6th in the event on Lake Erie.  Congratulations Todd.  Todd's finish moved him into the lead in the Angler of the Year race with only one event remaining.  Good luck Todd!

SMG's BASS Pros have started their practice on Lake Oneida today.  Good luck to all!

AUGUST 3
SMG's Todd Faircloth is competing in today's final round of the event on Lake Erie.  After 3 days of competition, Todd was in 7th place, and SMG's Brent Chapman finished in 20th.  Congratulations Brent, and good luck Todd!

AUGUST 2
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 3 of the event on Lake Erie.  After 2 days, Todd Faircloth is in 8th; Brent Chapman is in 33rd; and reigning BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones finished in 70th.  Todd and Brent are fishing again today.  Good luck guys!

AUGUST 1
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 2 of the event on Lake Erie.  After Day 1, Todd Faicloth has regained the lead in the Angler of the Year race by finishing the day in 8th; Brent Chapman is in 19th; and reigning Classic champion Alton Jones is in 72nd.

Todd Faircloth caught his fish early yesterday, and he feels optimistic about his chances to repeat his 20 lbs. bag again today.

Brent Champman came in two hours early concerned about the condition of his fish which he had caught deep.  Brent is optimistic about his chances to duplicate his performance again today.

Alton Jones caught about what he expected.  He was not pleased with his practice, and he knew that it would be hard for him to locate the better fish he needed to do well here.  Alton is going to plan B today, and hopefully, it will pay off for him.

Good luck to all! 

JULY 12
SMG's FLW Pros have completed the FLW Tour event on the Detroit River.   Bud Pruitt finished in 44th; Jay Yelas finished in 51st; Matt Herren finished in 118th; Sean Hoernke finished in 132nd; and Clay Dyer finished in 185th.

Matt Herren had mechanical difficulties which limited his fishing time.  To compound matters even further, he jumped off a 5 lbs fish later in the day.  Matt was pretty frustrated with his day.

Clay Dyer started the day with  4lb 10 oz. fish and thought that he was going to slaughter them.  Unfortunately, the tournament got much tougher after that.  As a testament to how tough this competition is, the anglers leading the angler of the year race coming into this event finished 192nd and 198th respectively.  

 JULY 11
SMG's FLW Pros are competing on Day 2 of the FLW Tour event on the Detroit River.  After Day 1, reigning Angler of the Year Jay Yelas is in 74th; Bud Pruitt is in 82nd; Sean Hoernke is in 102nd; Matt Herren is in 111th; and Clay Dyer is in 178th.

Matt Herren found local big stick Steve Clapper sitting on his preferred starting position first thing in the morning.  Matt only had one other area on Lake Eerie.  So when that spot didn't produce, Matt made the run to St. Clair.  Matt managed to put together a decent limit, and he has a good chance of qualifying for the FLW Championship.

Clay Dyer found the fishing much tougher this year than last.  The schools of fish are not nearly as bunched up, and the quality has not been as good.  Clay believes that he found a spot with some better fish at the end of the day, and he is looking forward to today's competition.

JULY 10
SMG's FLW Pros are competing on Day 1 of the FLW Tour event on the Detroit River. 

Jay Yelas is very pleased with his practice, and he believes he may be on a group of fish that can put him in the top 10 cut.

Sean Hoernke is pleased with his practice, and feels like he can have a decent tournament which should secure his FLW Championship birth.

Matt Herren has discovered a special place on Lake Eerie, and he believes that it should put him in the running for a high tournament finish.  Matt is also fishing for an FLW Championship birth.

Clay Dyer is finding the fishing tougher than it was last year for this tournament.  He is catching fish, but the schools of fish are not as large, and the fish are not as big.  Clay is going to try for a quick limit shallow before moving out deeper for better quality bites. 

Good luck to all!

JUNE 27
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on day two of the Tennessee Triumph on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, TN.  G.E. Silicone II angler Brent Chapman, having one of his most physically challenging days of his career, fishing through a sinus infection and constant body aches, tenaciously fought his way from 35th place up to 15th with a two day weight of 22-13. Brent is just 9 ounces from the magical 12 spot cut-off for Saturday. Reigning Bassmaster Classic Champion Alton Jones currently stands in 25th place with a weight of 20-12, and Todd Faircloth, is in 32nd with a weight of 20-03.  All of the anglers have been primarily working crank baits in both deep as well as shallow waters, looking for that one big bite.  Saturday promises to hold it's share of challenges as the weather is expected to make a change with a 50% chance of thunderstorms.

JUNE 22
SMG's BASS Pros will begin practice tomorrow on Tennessee's Old Hickory Lake.  Stay tuned for reports on their progress as the week progresses.

JUNE 21
SMG's FLW Pros have completed their competition on Ft.Louden/ Tellico.  Matt Herren finished 22nd; Jay Yelas finished 72nd; Sean Hoernke finished 140th; Bud Pruitt finished 156th; and Clay Dyer finished 199th.

JUNE 20
SMG's FLW Pros are competing on Day 2 of competition on Ft. Louden/Tellico.  After Day 1, Matt Herren is in 20th; Bud Pruitt is in 89th; Jay Yelas is in 113th; Sean Hoernke is in 151st; and Clay Dyer is in 190th.

Matt Herren was surprised by the weights today.  He really figured that he would be higher in the standings.  Matt is running an unusual pattern, and he has not seen anybody else doing the same thing.  Matt's fish bite better in the afternoon, and he will be in one of the last flights today, so he is excited about his chances.  Good luck Matt!

Bud Pruitt caught plenty of fish today, but he couldn't find the better quality fish.  Bud is having an excellent year, and he is hoping to find some better quality on Day 2 so that he can move up in the standings and stay in the Top 10 of the Angler of the Year race.

Jay Yelas never could find his quality bites on Day 1 and only managed to weigh in 4 fish.  The lake is pretty crowded, and Jay is going to go out and see if he can't find the fish to move up in the standings.

Sean Hoernke had a tough day today.  Sean said that he is confidant he is around where the quality fish are located, but that he hasn't figured out how to make them bite yet.  Hang in there Sean!

Clay Dyer was frustrated with his day.  Clay seemed to be zigging when he needed to be zagging.  Clay tried to grind it out on the ledges without much luck.  On Day 2, Clay plans on fishing to his strengths and seeing what he can put on the scales.  Good luck Clay!

JUNE 19
SMG's FLW Pros are competing on Day 1 of competition on Ft.Louden/Tellico.  Good luck guys!

Jay Yelas reports that he is uncertain what he has found in practice.  He has found a few areas with some better quality fish, but he is not certain how many fish are in these areas.  He anticipates being able to catch numbers of smaller fish, but the big key will be finding places that hold concentrations of better quality fish.

Matt Herren is cautiously optimistic.  He has found something a little different than what everybody else is doing.  Matt thinks it has the potential to be a top 10 pattern.  Matt is a little hesitant however because he's not sure how long this pattern/location will hold out.  It's the kind of thing/place that could die over night and leave him high and dry.

Bud Pruitt is struggling with his practice.  Bud is having a great year and is currently in 8th place in the Angler of the Year standings.  However, his practice here has him concerned that he will be dropping in that race.  Bud is still in search of the right pattern/location.

Clay Dyer is cautiously optimistic.  Clay has located what he believes will be a tournament limit of fish.  He thinks that he should be able to weigh in limits which at this tournament might well put him in the money.

JUNE 15
SMG's BASS Pros have completed the BlueGrass Brawl.  BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones finished 13th; Angler of the Year contender Todd Faircloth finished 18th; and GE Silicone II angler Brent Chapman finished in 46th.  Congratulations guys!

Alton Jones is a little frustrated.  Alton located a school of 3 and 4 lbs that he thought would give him a chance to move up the standings.  Alton only fished the school for 15 minutes thinking that he had safely made it into the top 12.  Alton figured that he should save the fish so that he could use them to move up the leaderboard on Sunday.  Given that his coangler was  catching the same fish, this seemed like the right strategy call.  Unfortunately, Alton slightly misjudged the weight he would need to finish in the top 12.   Alton missed the cut by 1 ounce, and now is second guessing his choice.  Alton is confidant that he could have increased his weight easily if he had stayed on that school another 15 minutes.  Competing at this level is far more complicated than most weekend competitors would imagine.

Todd Faircloth is pleased with his performance.  Todd never could find the better quality fish, but he stayed with what he knew and worked his way up the leaderboard every day.  Todd managed to find enough fish to hold himself in second in the Angler of the Year race.  Todd now has to find a way to pass Kevin VanDam in the space of three tournaments.  Good luck Todd.

Brent Chapman moved himself back into the Classic cut with his finish here.  Congratulations Brent!  Keep up the good work.

JUNE 14
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 3 of the BlueGrass Brawl on Kentucky Lake.  After Day 2, reigning BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones is in 18th place; Angler of the Year leader Todd Faircloth is in 21st; and GE Silicone II angler Brent Chapman is in 24th.

Alton Jones is pleased with his Day 2 catch and believes that he may be in position to fish on Sunday.  Alton continues to move up in the Angler of the Year standings which is very important to him.  He wants to follow up his Classic win with a strong showing in the Angler of the Year race.

Todd Faircloth is still struggling to find the better bites, but he continues to stay on large numbers of fish.  Todd will continue to do the same things and hope to come across some better quality.

Brent Chapman is catching lots of fish too, but he can't seem to get a better bite. 

JUNE 13
SMG's  BASS Pros are competing on Day 2 of the BlueGrass Brawl on Kentucky Lake.  After Day 1, reigning BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones is in 14th place; GE Silicone II angler Brent Chapman is in 22nd; and Angler of the Year contender Todd Faircloth is in 40th.  Good luck guys!

Alton Jones said that he was pleased with his day 1.  Alton had 10 spots he planned on using on day 1.  But, he discovered that he had his first spot to himself and the fish there were cooperative.  So, he stayed there and caught his fish all from that location.  He is fishing a ledge, and he believes that the location is one that should replinish each day.  If he is right, then he has found a spot that should easily get him to Sunday.  If not, he still has 9 other places to try.

Brent Chapman said that he was pleased with his first day.  He did say that it was quite a grind though.  Brent fished in a crowd all day long and had to work through a number of fish to catch the bag that he weighed in.  He is planning to go out today and grind it out again.

Todd Faircloth caught a ton of fish on day 1, but he couldn't seem to get a single one to break 3 lbs.  He is confident he can catch 15 lbs. again today, but he really doesn't have any idea how to improve his weight beyond that.  With VanDam and McClelland one-two in this tournament right now and just behind him in the angler of the year stangings, Todd is going to dig deep and try to pull a little magic out today to get back toward the top of the leaderboard. 

JUNE 9
SMG's BASS Pro's are on Kentucky Lake practicing for the upcoming BlueGrass Brawl.  Stay tuned here for updates on their practice.

JUNE 8
SMG's BASS Pro Todd Faircloth finished 6th today on Wheeler.  With this finish, Todd moves back in to the lead in the Angler of the Year race.  Congratulations Todd! 

JUNE 7
SMG's  BASS Pro Todd Faircloth finished the day in 4th Place.  Congratulations Todd, and good luck tomorrow.

Todd Faircloth says that he fished the same areas today that he has the first two days.  He still is not sure why he didn't get the big bites yesterday that he did today and the first day.  Todd is catching lots of fish fishing the Decatur Flats and is just grinding it out to get the better bites.  Todd's not sure what tomorrow will bring, but he is going to just keep doing the same things.

JUNE 6
SMG's BASS Pros have completed Day 2 of competition on Wheeler.  After Day 2, of competition Todd Faircloth is in 8th place; Brent Chapman finished in 57th; and Alton Jones finished in 63rd.

Todd Fairlcoth fished the same way today that he did yesterday and caught about the same number of fish, but for some reason he never got a better bite.  He knows he fishing in a good area that has quality fish, so he plans on going out and doing the same thing again tomorrow.

Brent Chapman made a good comeback today that fell just short.  In fact, if Brent had been able to cull his smallest fish (which he couldn't since you cannot cull expired fish), he would have earned a check and would be fishing tomorrow.  Brent's comeback should keep him solidly in contention for a spot in next year's Classic. 

Reigning BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones missed his first check of the year.  He too caught lots of keepers but just couldn't get enough quality bites to make the cut.  His finish should however keep him in the top 10 for the Angler of the Year race.  Famous quotes from the day....Alton Jones who was seen caddying his son's rods back to the RV, "I needed to find some way to make a little money today."  Alton Jones son Alton who made the cut and will be getting a check, "Somebody in the family had to win a little money."

JUNE 5
SMG's BASS Pro's have completed Day 1 on Wheeler.  After Day 1, Todd Faircloth is in 2nd; Alton Jones is in 69th; and Brent Chapman is in 71st.

Todd Faircloth was surprised and pleased with his day.  He really didn't expect to catch the kind of quality that he found today.  He reported catching losts of fish.  He said that the better quality was mixed in with the other fish, and that it was just a matter of working the area thoroughly until he got the better bites.  He feels sure he can catch over 10 lbs tomorrow, but he is unsure of how many quality bites he may get.  He has not figured anything special out for gettting the better bites.

Alton Jones caught lots of fish today, but he couldn't find any quality.  He is not sure what if anything to do different tomorrow.  So, he will go out fish the same kind of areas and hope to come across some better fish.

Brent Chapman caught a ton of fish today.  But like Alton, he never could find a quality bite.  Brent is not sure what to do different tomorrow either.  So, he will go out and try to work through the numbers to find some better fish.

MAY 9
SMG's FLW Pro Matt Herren still leads in the BASS Southern Open on Santee Cooper.  Today's competition was cancelled due to dangerous weather.  Good luck tomorrow Matt.

MAY 8
SMG's FLW Pro Matt Herren is competing in the BASS Southern Open on Santee Cooper.  After Day 1, Matt is in first place.  Congratulations! Matt.  Matt caught all of the fish that put him in the lead in 45 minutes.

SMG's FLW Pros Sean Hoernke and Bud Pruitt are competing in the FLW Texas Stren event on Lake Texoma.

MAY 5
SMG's BASS Pros have completed the competition on Clark's Hill.  Amistad Champion Todd Faircloth finishes in 7th and takes the lead in the Angler of the Year race.  Congratulations Todd!  BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones finished in 11th.

Todd reports being satisfied with his performance.  He said Sunday was much tougher than the previous days of competition.  Todd reiterated that it was way too early to being talking about Angler of the Year.  Nonetheless, we congratulate Todd on his standing.

Alton Jones reports that he simply ran out of fish.  There were large crowds of local fishermen competing for the bites on many of the productive points.  Given the sporadic nature of the blue back herring, it was necessary to run many points to try and be at the right place at the right time.  This practice is obviously made more difficult by large number of boats fishing on the spots that are being utilized.  Congratulations Alton! 

MAY 4
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 4 of competition on Clark's Hill.  BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones and Amistad Champion Todd Faircloth are tied for 10th place.  Good luck guys!  GE Silicone II Angler Brent Chapman finished in 47th.  Congratulations Brent!

Alton Jones had a difficult day yesterday, but he did just enough to stay in the cut and fish today.   Alton believes that he is too far back to be much of a threat to win, but there are good points on the table.  Accordingly, Alton will go give it his best today.

Todd Faircloth had a superb Saturday.  Todd vaulted from 32nd into a tie with Alton for 10th.  Todd believes he can have another good day today, and he is hoping to leave this tournament with the lead in the Angler of the Year race.  Good luck Todd! 

MAY 3
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 3 of competition on Clark's Hill.  After Day 2, BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones is in 5th Place; Amistad Champion Todd Faircloth is in 32nd; and GE Silicone II Angler Brent Chapman is in 42nd.  Good luck guys. 

Alton reports that his day 2 was tougher than his day 1.  He ran the same pattern with the same baits, but he changed the order.  The fish are definitely between stages.  Alton remains optomistic about his chances for a high finish.

Todd Fairlcoth was pleased with his day.  He found a little something at the end of the day that enabled him to improve the size of his bag and makes him optomistic about his chances for today.

Brent Chapman was most pleased to have made the top 50 cut.  Brent had a dificult practice and his happy to not be losing any points here.  Brent feels like he has no real place to go but up, but he isn't confident that he has a pattern that can greatly improve his finish.

MAY 2
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 2 of competition on Clark's Hill.  After Day 1, BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones is in 8th Place; Amistad Champion Todd Faircloth is in 58th Place; and GE Silicone II Angler Brent Chapman is in 67th Place.  Good luck guys!

Alton Jones reports that he was pleased with yesterday's performance.  His blue back herring bite never materialized which made his day's catch even more impressive.  Alton thinks that his bite should improve, and he is optimistic about his chances for a high finish.

MAY 1
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 1 of competition on Clark's Hill.  Good luck to all!

Alton Jones reports having a very good practice.  Alton is optimistic about his chances for a high finish in this event.

Todd Faircloth is satisfied with his practice, but is finding it difficult to find the better quality bites.  Todd thinks limits will be plentiful, but the weights will be bunched together.

Brent Chapman reports being disappointed with his practice.  He is catching fish, but he is not pleased with the quality he has found.  He will work on expanding his pattern, and he will try to determine the areas holding better quality.

APRIL 28
SMG's FLW Pro Sean Hoernke WINS FLW Tour event on Lake Norman.  Congratulations Sean!  SMG FLW Pro Bud Pruitt finishes in 8th.  Congratulations Bud!

 APRIL 27
SMG's FLW Pros Sean Hoernke and Bud Pruitt are competing on day 4 of competition on Lake Norman.  Sean finished day 3 in 1st place, and Bud finished day 3 in 8th.  Congratulations Sean and Bud.  Keep up the good work.

Sean reports having his areas mostly to himself.  He has seen Glen Browne running around some, but he feels that he will be able to freely fish his areas.  Sean is a little concerned about what today's weather (stormy) may do to his sight bite.  Sean has been catching fish off of a shad spawn pattern and a sight bite. The shad spawn bite has been largely unpredictable since Thursday.  Sean believes that if he can catc another 13 lbs he should be in good shape for the win.  Sean doesn't have a particular location he is fishing, but he does feel like he is in the right general area of the lake.  He is just going fishing within this area to find the bites he needs to secure the victory.  Good luck Sean!

Bud Pruitt was disappointed that he didn't fish very cleanly (ie - he lost fish he had hooked) yesterday.  However, after Bud's strong day 2 and meteoric rise into the top 10, he knows that anything can happen today.  He is optimistic about his chances of finding another magical spot like he did Friday.  Good luck Bud!

APRIL 26
SMG's FLW Pros Sean Hoernke and Bud Pruitt are competing on day 3 competition on Lake Norman.  Sean finished day 2 in 1st place and Bud finished day 2 in 10th place.  The weights will now be zeroed for this weekend's competition.  Good luck Sean and Bud!  Matt Herren finished the tournament in 17th; Jay Yelas finished in 126th; and Clay Dyer finished in 194th.

Sean Hoernke reports that his early morning shad spawn bite completely died yesterday.  Fortunately, he was able to put together a limit of sight fish to secure his top place finish in the preliminary round.  Sean is hoping that the shad spawn bite will be back on this weekend.  Sean thinks seven 3 lbs. over the next two days will probably be sufficient to secure the win.  Good luck Sean.

Bud came all the way from 96th place to make the top 10 and fish today.  Congratulations Bud!  Good luck!

Matt Herren reports that he finally just ran out of bed fish to target.  Matt was pleased with his 17th place finish and believed that he did as well as he could based upon what he found in practice.

Jay Yelas was frustrated that he never got a bigger bite during the tournament.  Jay was catching quality swimbait fish during practice, but that bite died early during the tournament competition.

Clay Dyer was pleased with his performance.  Clay caught mulltiple limits of fish each day during practice, but those large schools had played out by the time the tournament started.  Clay was catching most of his fish on a topwater bait.  With the clear skies, these fish went from crushing the bait to following the bait without biting.  Clay continues to improve his performance with each passing week.  Congratulations Clay!

APRIL 25
SMG's FLW Pros are competing in Day 2 competition on Lake Norman.  After Day 1, SMG Pro Sean Hoernke is in 2nd; Matt Herren is in 7th; Bud Pruitt is in 96th; reigning FLW Angler of the Year Jay Yelas is in 160th; and Clay Dyer is in 186th. 

Sean Hoernke reported catching a quick limit weighing 11-12 lbs.  This allowed Sean to run new water searching to expand his pattern.  Sean reports not seeing any other boats in the area he is fishing.  He is fishing pre- and post- spawn fish and expects his bite to improve as the week progresses.  He is cautiously optimistic about his chances to make the cut.

Clay Dyer reports having a clean day of fishing - he caught everything that bit.  There were a lot of boats fishing in his area, and the fish he had found in practice were getting heavily pressured by the competition.   Clay is focusing on putting as many fish as possible in his livewell this year.  So, he was pleased with his performance today.  Clay has located two 4 lbs on the bed that he hopes to catch today. 

APRIL 24
SMG's FLW Pros are competing in Day 1 of the  FLW Tour competition on Lake Norman.  All of the SMG FLW Pros report having a good practice.

Reigning FLW Angler of the Year Jay Yelas reports that the fish are behind where they were last year.  Last year was primarily a post spawn event while this year the fish seem to be in the middle of the spawn.  Jay believes that limits will be plentiful and that the key will be figuring out how to get some better bites.

Sean Hoernke reports having a good practice.  Sean says he learned his lesson last year about trying to swing for the fences with the swim bait.  Sean is going to just accept the history of Norman and try to shakey head his way to a $10,000. plus check.

Matt Herren reports finding a dock with mulitiple 4-5 lbs fish.  Matt plans on starting the tournament on that dock today, and he hopes to be well on the way to a solid finish after the first hour.

Clay Dyer reports catching 3-4 limits on each day of practice.  Clay has caught fish in multiple areas of the lake and on several different patterns.  Clay reports that this has been the best practice he has had all year going into a tournament.  Good luck Clay! 

APRIL 16
SMG's BASS and FLW Pros report a mixed bag during practice.  Bass are moving up on the beds.  They are fishes in all phases of the spawn.  There are fish being caught pre and post spawn and by sight fishing.  Mum is the word from the pros as they are all trying to gain a competitive advantage for their team.  Tomorrow will see all of the SMG Pros serving as boat captains for the pro-am event.  The competition will then commence on Friday.

APRIL 15
SMG's BASS and FLW Pros are practicing on Lake Fork for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic.  SMG Pros Alton Jones, Brent Chapman, Todd Faircloth, Matt Herren, and Sean Hoernke will serve as team captains for the event.  With the full moon coming Sunday, this event should be a slugfest of big fish and a great showcase of Texas fishing. 

APRIL 14
SMG's BASS  Pro Todd Faircloth returns to Magic Tree to secure 2nd Elite Series win.  With just over an hour left in the Battle on the Border, Faircloth had a limit that weighed just 11-12 lbs.  Faircloth, who was sitting in 10th place, knew he had little to lose as he was already guaranteed a top 12 finish.  So, he decided to return to the only place he knew of that held the potential to give him a win.  He recalled his magic tree from last year's competition.  For those who may not recall, Faircloth caught 5 fish weighing a combined 36 lbs in less than 20 minutes from one tree during last year's competition.  Faircloth had visited the tree during practice (catching a few smaller fish and one 4 lbs fish) and on each of the previous two competition days.  In fact, Faircloth visited the tree three times on Saturday without any luck.  Despite that lack of any big fish on any of his visits, Faircloth knew that it was THE spot he knew of that had the potential to catapult him up the leaderboard.  Having nothing to lose, Faircloth returned to the magic tree to see if he could work its magic one more time.  He was not disappointed.  On his first cast, a big fish smoked his swimbait.  The hookup was brief and the fish was soon off.  Todd dropped his rod in utter disbelief and disappointment.  He soon picked it up and began his retrieve again.  After just a couple of cranks, another big fish smoked the swimbait.  He landed that 8 lbs, and the magic was on again.  Over the course of the next hour, Faircloth was able to cull his way up to an almost 30 lbs. sack and the win.  In winning the tournament, Faircloth became only the third pro to notch multiple Elite Series victories.  Congratulations Todd! 

APRIL 13
SMG's BASS Pro Todd Faircloth WINS Battle on the Border.  Details to follow.  Congratulations Todd!!!

APRIL 12
SMG's BASS Pros have completed Day 3 (2) of competition on the Battle on the Border.  After Day 3, Todd Fairlcoth is in 10th and will be competing tomorrow for the title.  Alton Jones finished in 16th and Brent Chapman finished in 37th.

APRIL 11
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 2 (1) of the Battle on the Border on Lake Amistad.  Day 1 competition was cancelled due to weather.

APRIL 10
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 1 of the Battle on the Border on Lake Amistad on the Texas Mexico border.  Last year Todd Faircloth propelled by a massive 36 lbs stringer on day 2 finished in fourth.  The anglers practice reports follow:

BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones reports finding one spot where the bigger fish seem to be bunched up.  He is, however, pretty worried about what last night's wind may have done to his area.  If that area is destroyed by the wind, he will have several areas in which to fish, but he will probably only catch average sized fish.

Todd Faircloth reports catching very good numbers of fish, but he is having difficulty catching anything over 4 lbs.  Todd returned to his magical tree from last year and only managed to coax one 4 lbs fish into biting.

Brent Chapman reports having a very difficult practice.  Brent hasn't found the number of fish or the quality of fish that he expected.  Brent, however, is a grinder.  So expect him to put together a decent limit before the day is over. 

APRIL 4
Welcome to the slugfest on Falcon Lake. 18 anglers have caught  over 30 punds each, with the leader weighing in at 42 pounds after Day 1.  SMG's  BASS Pro Brent Chapman is currently in 13th place with a Day 1 catch of 31-15.  SMG Pro, and Bassmaster Classic Champion, Alton Jones is in 23rd place and Todd Faircloth is in 45th.  All three are optimistic about Day 2.  Todd is frustrated that his 25lb+ catch has left him in the position of needing a big Day 2 to make the cut.

SMG's FLW Pro, and 2007 Angler of the Year, Jay Yelas sits in 13th place after Day 1 of the FLW Tour event on Smith Lake Texas. SMGs other Pros fishing the event are Bud Pruitt, 44th, Matt Herren, 175th, Sean Hoernke, 177th, and Clay Dyer, 189th.  Jay remains cauciously optimistic about a top finish, while the other pros are very disappointed and hope to fish better on Day 2. 

APRIL 3
SMG's  BASS Pros are competing on Day 1 of the Elite Series event on Falcon Lake in Texas.  All of the pros report having an exceptional practice.

BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones reported that you can catch fish any way that you like.  He thinks lots of anglers will weigh in over 100 pounds of fish.  Alton did say that he thought some guys may have been misled in practice.  The lake was calm all three days of practice so there are a lot of guys who are on solid fish in the middle of the lake.  Well this being Texas, the winds are supposed to really blow today.  That will make it very difficult to fish those main lake places.  Alton spent a ton of time last fall learning this lake.  That effort should pay off this week as Alton has many options for getting away from the wind and staying on quality fish.  Good luck Alton!

Brent Chapman reports unbelievable fishing.  Brent said after fishing here, the famed Lake Fork will be a letdown.  Brent loves to flip, and the flipping bite is on.  The hardest part of fishing Falcon is figuring out how to get these monster bass out of the trees.  Good luck Alton!

Todd Faircloth also reports having a good practice.  Todd is making another strong showing in the angler of the year race, and this tournament gives him an excellent opportunity to cement his position.  Falcon will fish to Todd's strenghts.  Good luck Todd!

SMG's FLW Pros are competing on Day 1 of the FLW Tour event on Smith Lake in Alabama.  All of the pros are reporting a challenging practice.

2007 FLW Angler of the Year Jay Yelas reports the fish have not fully committed to the spawn yet.  Jay will primarily fish for pre-spawn fish while still keeping his eyes open for beds.  Jay does not believe that this tournament can be won on bedding fish.  Jay has caught some good fish in practice, but he believes the good fish bite on Smith is somewhat random.  Jay did very well here in an Elite 50 event in 2005, and he is optimistic that he can get back into the top 10 here.  Good luck Jay!

Matt Herren reports having a tough practice.  Matt says he is returning to his roots this week.  Matt has only three rods out on his deck, and he is just going to go fishing.  True fishing fans know that when Matt decides to just go fishing, the results are often pretty impressive.  Good luck Matt!

Defending Smith Lake Champion Sean Hoernke is cautiously optimistic about his chances to repeat here.  Sean believes that most of the field will b chasing the giant spots for which Smith Lake is known.  Sean is going to change it up and try something a little different.  He hopes that his contrarion approach will give him a chance to separate himself from the field.

Clay Dyer reports having a challenging practice as well.  Clay is really concentrating on one fish at a time and just following one good day up with another.  The last two FLW Tour events, Clay has been knocking on the door of winning his first individual check in a national competition.  This week he hopes to knock that door down.  Good luck Clay!

 

MARCH 29
SMG's FLW Pros have concluded their competition on Lake Wheeler.  Matt Herren finished 65th; Sean Hoernke finished 117th; and Clay Dyer finished 176th.  

Matt Herren reports having a large fish on which would have given him a chance to finish in the top 50 in this event.  Matt was frustrated that he didn't break out of his current slump.  Matt feels like he is fishing up hill all the time.  He is really hoping to get a break to go his way in the near future.

Sean Hoernke was very disappointed in this tournament.  He is already focusing on next week's tournament on Smith Lake.  Smith Lake holds fond memories for Sean as he won his first FLW Series event there in the fall of 2006.

Clay Dyer was pleased with his performance.  Clay put together a limit of fish on Day 3 and was culling by the afternoon.  Clay has struggled with his tournament catches diminishing throughout tournaments.  In this event, Clay caught more fish with each passing day of the tournament.  He really feels like the pieces are beginning to come together, and he anticipates that he will continue to rise in the standings.  Congratulations on a strong Day 3 performance Clay!  Keep up the good work. 

MARCH 28
SMG's  FLW Pros are competing on Day 3 of the FLW Series event on Lake Wheeler.  After Day 2, Matt Herren is in 77th; Sean Hoernke is 159th; and Clay Dyer is in 180th.  Good luck guys!

Matt Herren reports that he had to just go fishing yesterday.  Matt is still reeling from the loss of current.  As reported yesterday, Matt was on a strong current pattern during practice which has died with the generation schedule.  Matt did manage a good limit yesterday and is one big fish away from being in the thick of things.

Sean Hoernke is frustrated.  Once again he weighed in a limit but just couldn't find the better quality fish.  Today, he is going to change it up a little and see if he can find some better quality.

Clay Dyer weighed in three fish today but didn't find a quality bite.  Clay continues to develop as a tour level angler and is off to a very solid start this year.

MARCH 27
SMG's FLW Pros are competing on Day 2 of the FLW Series event on Lake Wheeler.  After Day 1, Matt Herren is in 100th; Sean Hoernke is 115th; and Clay Dyer is 178th.  Good luck guys!

Matt Herren was very frustrated yesterday.  Matt was on a strong pattern in practice, but that pattern was dependent upon current flow.  That current was non-existent  yesterday as the TVA turned off the generators to seach for the body of a suicide jumper.  Matt feels snakebit when it comes to fluke bad luck lately.  Hang in there Matt!

Sean Hoernke was also on a current dependent pattern and was likewise hurt by the lack of generation yesterday.  Sean is hoping to readjust today and improve his standing.

Clay Dyer encountered mechanical difficulties yesterday.  When Clay crossed over a wake, his trolling motor became dislodged and lowered into the water.  This shattered the shaft on his trolling motor.  Thus, for the rest of the day, Clay had to change locations with the big motor and then hold himself in place utilizing his power pole.  Clay is learning how to salvage such disasterous days and still weigh-in fish.  Way to hang in there Clay! 

MARCH 17
SMG's 

MARCH 17
SMG's 

MARCH 17
SMG's  Bass Pro and reigning BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones finished 6th in the Elite Series event on Lake Toho.  Congratulations Alton!

 MARCH 16
SMG's BASS Pro and reigning BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones is competing in Day 4 Competition of the Elite Series event on Lake Toho.  After Day 3, Alton Jones was in 9th; Brent Chapman finished in 16th; and Todd Faircloth finished in 23rd.

Alton Jones reports losing another "toad" on the frog yesterday.  While Alton is happy to be fishing today, he is a little disappointed that he isn't leading the tournament.  Alton is getting quality bites everyday on his YUM frog.

Brent Chapman was pleased to have righted his ship after just one event.  Brent had a strong finish this week despite losing a fish yesterday that may have gotten him into the final cut.  Keep up the good work Brent!

Todd Faircloth was pleased with his perfomance after a very disappointing practice.  Todd just wasn't able to get a quality bite yesterday, but his performance should keep him in contention for the angler of the year title.

MARCH 15
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 3 of the Elite Series event on Lake Toho.  After Day 2, BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones is in 16th; Todd Faircloth is in 19th; and Brent Chapman is in 23rd.  Good luck today!

Alton Jones reports that the fish are biting a frog in the shallows.  In fact, Alton lost two "toads" on the frog yesterday that would have catapulted him into the top 6.  Alton will try the same thing today as long as the wind will allow it.

Todd Faircloth has two primary patterns working.  He his flipping and cranking deep grass for post spawn fish in the morning, and then he is moving shallow and pitching for bedding fish.  He isn't sight fishing, but he is pretty sure that the fish he is catching are bedding fish.  He is concerned that today's wind could play havoc with both of his patterns.  Yesterday he only had one fish with a little under two hours to fish, so he is used to dealing with tough fishing.

Brent Chapman caught a ton of fish all the same size today.  Brent is fishing the shallows for bedding fish that he is not looking at either.  Brent also is concerned about today's wind.  If the wind blows hard, he will probably increase the weight on his soft plastics and try to grind it out in the same areas. 

MARCH 14
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 2 of the Elite Series event on Lake Toho.  After Day 1, Brent Chapman is in 9th; Alton Jones is in 14th; and Todd Faircloth is in 16th.  Keep up the good work guys! 

Brent Chapman is pleased to have had a strong first day and is pleased to be making a strong move in this tournament after a slow start last week.  Brent will attempt to duplicate his performance again today.

BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones swung for the fences first thing in the morning and struck out big time.  He had located a motherlode of bass, but unfortunately they were all of the pound / pound and a half variety.  After a couple of wasted hours, Alton switched gears and went back to what he had found earlier in practice.  He then put together a very solid limit despite not having a true kicker fish.  Alton believes the fish in his area are replinishing, and he anticipates being able to improve his performance today.

Todd Faircloth was pleasantly surprised by his performance today.  The fish he was finding in practice were bigger than he had at first believed.  Todd is going to just go fishing again today and see what he can put together.

MARCH 13
SMG's BASS Pros are competing on Day 1 of the Elite Series event on Lake Toho.  Good luck guys!

Brent Chapman reports that his practice this week was much better than his practice last week.  Brent is planning on rebounding strongly from his disappointing season opening performance.  Brent reports finding fish scattered and is catching them on a variety of patters.  Brent thinks the key will be finding a big bite.

Todd Faircloth reports that his practice this week was much tougher than last week.  Todd never found the reliable location or pattern like he did last week on the Harris Chain.  Todd is going to just go fishing and hope to put together a decent limit.  He also thinks the key will be getting at least one big bite.

BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones reports a solid practice.  Alton reports that he had a pretty significant pattern in practice for catching a limit, but has not found where the better quality was located.  Alton found something at the end of practice on Wednesday which caused him to completely change his game plan.  Because he has already secured his Classic berth for next year, Alton is more willing to gamble for the win this year as points aren't as important.  Alton says his game plan will now be a high risk/high reward strategy.  He is going with an area/pattern that he thinks has the potential to win the tournament, though it might well not fully develope.  If that happens, it could be a tough week for Alton.  We have our fingers crossed for you Alton. 

MARCH 10
SMG's Todd Faircloth finished 8th in the first Elite Series event of the year.  Congratulations Todd!

SMG's BASS pros are all participating in the first day of practice for the 2nd Elite Series event which is taking place on Lake Toho.  Stay tuned for updates on their progress. 

MARCH 9
SMG's  BASS prod Todd Faircloth is competing in Day 4 of the Elite Series tournament on the Harris Chain in Florida.  Todd was in 11th place after Day 3 of competition.  BassMaster Classic Champion Alton Jones finished the tournament in 37th place.

MARCH 8
SMG's BASS pros Todd Faircloth and Alton Jones are competing in Day 3 of the Elite Series tournament on the Harris Chain in Florida.  After Day 2, Todd is in 16th place, and Alton is in 47th place. Brent Chapman finished the tournament in 93rd place.

MARCH 7
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 2 of the Elite Series tournament on the Harris Chain in Florida.  After Day 1, Todd Faircloth is in 31st; Alton Jones is in 64th, and Brent Chapman is in 104th.

MARCH 6
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 1 of the Elite Series tournament on the Harris Chain in Florida.

BassMaster Classic Alton Jones says:  I have a couple of fish located on the bed.  I have an early boat draw, so I hope to be able to pick up a couple of decent fish pretty quickly.  I think the sight fishing bite will be over before noon today, and then it will be done for the tournament.  I think this will be a tournament where there will be a lot of fishing in crowds.  I do however have one pattern going that I think I will have to myself.  We will see this afternoon how productive it may be.

Brent Chapman says that he is disappointed with his practice.  He has managed to find some fish, but the quality has not been what he hoped for.  He will work on trying to put together a limit and hoping for a big bite to move him up in the standings.

Todd Faircloth says that he has been getting a pretty good number of bites each day of practice.  He has not hooked many of these fish so he really doesn't have a good feel for their quality.  He has however caught a 5 lbs and a couple of 4's in practice, so he is feeling pretty good about the possibilities.

FEBRUARY 28
SMG'sFLW Pros have completed Day 2 of the FLW Tour event on Lake Toho.  After Day 2, Jay Yelas finished in 53rd; Sean Hoernke finished in 74th; Bud Pruitt finished in 87th; Clay Dyer finished in 105th; and Matt Herren finished in 125th.

FLW Tour Angler of the Year Jay Yelas had the exact same weight today as yesterday.  Each day Jay weighted in a small limit, but he was unable to hook up with a quality fish either day.  While Jay didn't get the result he hoped for, his finish should keep him in the running to defend his AOY title.

Sean Hoernke had a tough second day failing to weigh-in any fish and obviously didn't want to prolong his torture by talking about it.

Bud Pruitt made a remarkable comeback.  Bud managed to put together a limit of fish today; thereby, avoiding a disasterous start.  Congratulations Bud.  Way to go!

Clay Dyer continues his rise up the fishing ranks.  He is now ranked in the top 350 professional anglers in the world.  BassFan ranks approximately 600 top tour level anglers.  Clay just missed finishing in the prize money for the second straight tour event.  Keep up the good work Clay.  You are going to get there!

Matt Herren was bitterly disappointed in his performance.  Matt was in the same area as several of the better finishing anglers, but he never could figure out the pattern.  This was probably partly the result of his lone wolf maverick strategy of preferring to avoid the crowds and do his on thing.  Hang in there Matt, you will break back through to your dominating performance level again. 

FEBRUARY 28
SMG's FLW Pros have completed Day 1 of the FLW Tour event on Lake Toho.  After Day 1, Sean Hoernke is in 18th; Jay Yelas is in 60th; Clay Dyer is in 85th; Matt Herren is in 144th; and Bud Pruitt is in 153rd.  Good luck on Day 2! 

Sean Hoernke says;  Thank goodness for a big bite.  I think that this may have been the least help I have ever given a big fish with just four swimmers to go with it.  I am just going to go back to the same places and try for another 5 swimmers.  Maybe, if I get lucky, I'll have another big fish to go with them.  Florida has usually treated me pretty bad.  If I can get out of here with a top 50, I'll be ecstatic. 

Clay Dyer says:  All in all, I was pleased with my day.  I caught everything that bit.  This cold front really shut the fish down.  I am going to go back to the same places tomorrow and hope that the weather has the fish in a little more cooperative mood.  I know there are good fish in the area that I am fishing.  I just need to figure out how to make them bite. 

FEBRUARY 23
SMG's ,BASS Pro Alton Jones wins the Bassmaster Classic!!! Click Here to read about his winning pattern.  SMG Pro Brent Chapman moved up one spot after day 2 to finish in 23rd place and Todd Faircloth couldn't overcome a horrible bout of the flu and finished 25th.

FEBRUARY 22
SMG's ,BASS Pros have finished Day 2 of the BASS BassMaster's Classic.  After Day 2, all of SMG's BASS Pros have qualified to fish tomorrow.  Congratulations!  After Day 2, Alton Jones is leading; Todd Faircloth is in 15th; and Brent Chapman is in 24th.  Good luck to all tomorrow.

Alton Jones says:  I had another good day today, and I am thrilled to be leading the Classic.  This is an honor that every angler dreams of.  I am catching my fish deep, and I think that I can do it again tomorrow.  It took me until 10:30 to catch my limit today, but my first 5 fish weighed nearly 15 pounds.  I am optimistic that my pattern will keep up for another day.  With the quality of the competition at my heels you certainly cannot let up.  I know the result is in God's hands, and I am just going to give it my all for Him tomorrow.

Todd Faircloth says:  It was really a struggle today.  It  was hard for me to put together a limit.  I think that I will start deep tomorrow and then gradually transition to more shallow water.  I still haven't determined my game plan for tomorrow, but I will definitely give it my best.

Brent Chapman says:  I really didn't find what I expected today.  I am still missing the quality bites that I had in practice.  My first fish today was nearly 4 pounds, and I thought that I had found them again, but it proved to not be the case.  I am starting deep and then moving shallower.  I am pleased to be fishing tomorrow, and I plan to swing for the fences and see if I can't put together a monstor sack.  There is only one place to finish in the Classic.

FEBRUARY 21
SMG's BASS Pros have completed Day 1 of the Classic.  After Day 1, Todd Faircloth is in 9th; Alton Jones is in 10th; and Brent Chapman is in 20th.  Keep up the good work guys.

Todd Faircloth says:  I had a fairly random day today.  I caught a fish here and then a fish there.  I came into this tournament really expecting to do well fishing deep, but that has not panned out for me.  I am catching most of my fish shallow in a variety of places and with a variety of baits.  I don't have any particular pattern or area that I am working.  I am hoping that the fish continue to move shallow and that I can repeat my performance of today.

Alton Jones says:  I had a very good start to the day.  I had my limit within my first 6 casts.  That always feels pretty good.  I am catching my fish deep, and I am catching them in places where I expect that the fish will continue to filter in.  I am optimistic about my chances tomorrow.

Brent Chapman says:  I was a little disappointed in my day today.  I had a great practice on Wednesday with lots of quality bites.  Today, I couldn't buy a big bite.  I am continuing to catch good numbers of fish, but I need to find more quality bites.  I am starting deep and then moving shallow, and I expect to do the same tomorrow. 

FEBRUARY 20
SMG's BASS Pro's will begin competition in the 2008 BASSMASTER'S CLASSIC tomorrow.  Good luck to all!

Alton Jones reports that he was pleased with his practice, but feels like he still needs to fine tune his pattern to put himself into position to win.  He isn't sure what efffect the weather will have on his pattern.  The weather calls for heavy rains overnight which he fears may change what the fish he has found are doing.

Brent Chapman reports that he had his best day of practice yesterday.  He had quality bites from a variety of locations.  He is hoping that what he found wasn't a fluke and that it will continue to hold up as the weekend arrives. 

Todd Faircloth reports a fair practice.  He has found a decent number of fish, but still needs to figure out how to get some more quality bites.  Todd is hoping to fine tune his strategy as the tournament progresses.

Stay tuned tomorrow for first day reports and an update on our anglers' progress and strategies.

JANUARY 25
SMG's FLW Pros have completed their third day of competition in the FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee.  After Day 3, Sean Hoernke has finished in 51st; Matt Herren finished 112th; Bud Pruitt finished 137th; and Clay Dyer finished 189th.

Sean Hoernke was crushed last night as the wind changed directions and began to blow.  He knew the place where the fish were stacked like cord wood would be unfishable with the wind blowing in.  Sean had a limit inside of 6 casts both of the first two days.  He saw fish blowing up all over everywhere in the shallow water.  Sean caught most of his fish on a flat shad/rattle bait pattern and topwaters.  Yesterday, Sean saw a big bass chasing bait fish in the shallows.  He quickly made a cast in front of the fish and began working his topwater.  The fish turned toward his bait and he could see the big wake as the fish scurried toward his bait.  Just as the fish was getting ready to explode on his bait, a seagull swooped down and grabbed the bait and flew up into the air with it.  As Sean played tug-of-war with the bird, Sean's coangler cast a top water in the same direction of the wake and immediately had a 4-5 lbs bass explode on her bait.  Sean also lost a fish in the 8-9 lbs category, so his day easily could have been better.  Today, however, was very different.  Sean went first to his magical honey hole to see if by some miracle the fish would still bite.  Sean learned long ago that when Okeechobee gets muddy, the fish just refuse to bite.  Sean could feel  his bait regularly bumping into the large schools of fish that were still in the area.  Sean refused to take the cowards way out and snag the fish that were so stacked in the area that he couldn't retrieve his bait without bumping into them.  Sean decided instead to go fight it out with the masses in the canal.  Sean only managed 3 small fish despite watching more than 30 being caught in the general area he was fishing.  This ended up being a crushing development as Sean fell from 7th to 51st just missing a $10,000 check by mere ounces.

Matt Herren rebounded today with a limit of almost 10 lbs.  If Matt had stuck with the plan on Day 2, he may have succeeded in staying in the running for a check.  Matt has come to the conclusion that he is going to have to suck it up and learn how to fish in a crowd despite his preferences.

Bud Pruitt struggled today and fell more than 50 places.

Clay Dyer found his primary location muddy as well, and he struggled through most of the morning.  Shortly after lunch, however, he found some fish in the canal and managed to catch 2 small swimmers on a shakey head.  This was a very positive development for Clay.  Clay is working hard to learn how to scatch out a few keeper bites on the tough days.  This will be an important skill for him has he continues his rise up the tournament standings.

JANUARY 24
SMG's FLW Pros have completed their second day of competition in the FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee.  After Day 2, Sean Hoernke is in 7th; Bud Pruitt is in 68th; Matt Herren is in 134th; and Clay Dyer is in 184th.

Sean Hoernke has found the deal.  He had his limit of 15 lbs. within 6 casts today.  He believes that unless something major changes overnight, he should have another 15 lbs tomorrow.  That should be enough to have him fishing on Saturday.  Sean will reveal his pattern tomorrow should he miss the cut or first thing Saturday morning should he make the cut.

Bud Pruitt had another solid day today and is just out from the $10,000 check range.

Matt Herren says he has definitely out thought himself in this tournament.  He keeps banging his head against the wall fighting it, but he is on the virge of biting the bullet and fighting it out with the masses.  That means throwing the sissy stick, and we all know how much he hates that.

Clay Dyer was back in form today.  Clay weighed in 4 fish today, and he had his limit fish on.  Unfortunately, he lost that fish as he was bringing it back to the boat.  Clay is optimistic about his chances of getting a limit tomorrow.  We're all rooting for you Clay!

JANUARY 23
SMG's FLW Pros have completed their first day of competition in the FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee.  After Day 1, Sean Hoernke is in 14th place; Matt Herren is in 54th; Bud Pruitt is in 72nd; and Clay Dyer is in 184th.

Sean Hoernke is pleased with his first day performance and believes that he will be able to duplicate his catch again tomorrow.  Sean thinks that if he can duplicate today's performance the next two days, he should be fishing on Saturday.  Sean will reveal more details about his pattern later in the week.

Matt Herren elected to play it safe and fish close in the crowds.  Matt hates fishing in a crowd.  Matt is well within striking distance of the leaders.  Matt is leaning toward fishing in the same area tomorrow, but he may slightly alter his approach.  Tomorrow will tale whether this a wise decision.

Bud Pruitt only had 4 fish today, but they were the right quality of fish.  A fifth fish today would have put Bud among the leaders.  Hopefully, he'll put a whole limit in the boat tomorrow.

Clay Dyer had a frustrating day.  Clay has found a spot that holds many quality fish.  Clay reported losing more than 10 lbs. of fish today.  The fish either pulled off or jumped off as Clay was attempting to get them to the boat.  Clay was able to weigh one 2 1/2 lbs. fish today   If Clay can keep those fish on tomorrow, he should move way up the standings.  Clay believes he is in a prime location for catching a quality limit of fish tomorrow.

JANUARY 22
SMG's FLW Pros are preparing for tomorrow's start of the FLW Series on Lake Okeechobee. 

Matt Herren reports a disappointing practice.  He says that the lake is really not giving him what he expected.  He has one spot that he terms a "hero or zero" location.  Other than that, he will be battling it out with the masses.  Matt is most frustrated because he is anticipating yet another tournament where he is going to have to rely on the "sissy" stick (spinning rod for finesse fishing).  As you all know Matt loves flipping with the big stick in his hand so he is already depressed.  As of press time, Matt has not yet decided if he will go for broke or grind it out with the masses.  I'm betting that one way or another Matt will figure out how to catch them.

Sean Hoernke reports an up and down practice.  Some days saw him whacking big sacks of fish while other days saw him grinding out a small limit.  Sean predicts that this will be a typical Okeechobee tournament where limits of small fish will be common and the difference between winning and finishing in the middle of the pack will be that one random large bite a day.  Sean is planning on grinding it out with the masses and hoping for a big bite.  Sean reports that he has had several of the "right" bites during practice, so I'm betting he'll find one or two in the tournament as well.  Sean has a previous top 10 finish in this event, so I wouldn't count him out.

Clay Dyer reports that he is happy to be back in the groove of tournament fishing.  He has found that special bait that seems to be producing well for him.  Unfortunately, he is down to his last one and none of the stores around the lake have any in stock.  Clay plans on doing whatever is necessary to keep that bait.  Well, anything short of not actually throwing it.  Clay is optimistic about his chances tomorrow and feels like he is now comfortable grinding it out with the big boys.  Clay will be fishing in the crowds, but I suspect that he will be able to throw elbows with the best of them.

Bud Pruitt should have won this event going away last year and would have except for that unfortunate boat out of water incident.  I suspect that Bud is on them again, and I don't look for him to make the same mistake twice.

Tune in tomorrow on www.flwoutdoors.com to watch all of the excitement.

JANUARY 20
SMG's FLW Pros are practicing for the first FLW Series event on Lake Okeechobee.  Matt Herren, Sean Hoernke, Bud Pruitt, and Clay Dyer will all be competing at the event.  Matt and Sean missed the first couple of days of practice as they were competing in the BASS Southern Open on the St. John's River.  Clay has reported finding a number of smaller fish in practice.  He feels decent about his chances of weighing in a limit each day.  Under the new FLW format Tuesday will be an off day for the anglers.  Check back here on Tuesday for a full practice report from each of the anglers. 

JANUARY 19
SMG's FLW Pros Matt Herren and Sean Hoernke just completed competition in the BASS Southern Open on the St. John's River.  Matt finished in 34th, and Sean finished in 134th.  Sean's finish was hurt tremendously by his costly error on Thursday when he ran out of gas less than a mile from weigh-in missing his weigh-in time and having his day's catch eliminated.  Hey, Sean, watch that gauge a little closer next time!

JANUARY 16
SMG's FLW Pros are practicing for the BASS Southern Open on the St. Johns River in Florida.  This is the first pro-level tour event of the season.  Both Sean Hoernke and Matt Herren are competing.  Stop back by tomorrrow for an update on their practice.  Sean and Matt both report that the fishing seemed to be picking up in Florida before they had to leave.  The last two days, they have been in Kilgore, Texas for sponsor meetings with Skeeter while most of their competitors were practicing for the upcoming derby.  Such is the life of a top level pro fisherman - often pulled in many different directions with not nearly enough time.

SEPTEMBER 14
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in the final event of the year at Lake Toho in Florida.  After Day 2 of competition, Brent Chapman is leading the event.  Alton Jones is currently in 12th place, and Todd Faircloth is in 14th place.  That performance puts Brent and Todd both in the top 10 in the Angler of the Year standings.  Way to go SMG Team.

Brent Chapman says:  It feels great to be in the position that I am, and I owe a lot to Alton Jones for my standings.  He turned me on to a little something that is really paying dividends.  I feel pretty good about my chances of having two more decent limits.  If I can get a couple of good bites, I might really have a chance at winning.

Alton Jones says:  Helping Brent here has been pleasing and beneficial here.  I am happy to see the success he is having and knowing that I had a small part in it.  I am also very appreciative of the help that he has given me.  He's come up with something a little diffferent that's getting him some better bites, and I believe that it's going to do the same for me today.

Todd Faircloth says:  I had a good day yesterday, and I feel fortunate to have come across some better quality fish.  Hopefully, I'll be able to duplicate that again today.  I really want to  finish the year in the top 10 of the Angler of the Year standings.  It is definitely a goal of mine.

 

JULY 26
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in the 2nd Major of the Year.  Good luck guys.

Brent Chapman says:  I am still catching fish in the same places I did here last year, but they seem to have all shrunk.  I think limits are going to be no problem at all, but it will take a few four pounders to put you over the hump. 

Todd Faircloth says:  This tournament is going to be a lot  tougher than it was last year, and I think that the weights will be down.  I am able to catch plenty of fish, but quality is very hard to come by.

Alton Jones says:  I hoping this tournament is the inverse of last week.  Last week I had a great practice which was followed by a disappointing tournament.  This week my practice has been lousy, so I am hoping that my tournament will turn around.

JULY 15
SMG's Jay Yelas WINS FLW AOY TITLE!!!!!!!!  Jay won his third angler of the year title yesterday in the last 5 years.  Congratulations Jay!

SMG's Clay Dyer had his highest tour finish yet finishing 102 out of 200.  Clay just missed getting a check by 1 oz.  Congratulations Clay, way to finish the year.

Jay Yelas, Matt Herren, Bud Pruitt, and Sean Hoernke have all qualified for the Jacobs Cup Championship later this month.  Good luck guys!

SMG's BASS Pros have completed their competition on Lake Champlain.  Brent Chapman finished 13th; Todd Faircloth finished 16th; and Alton Jones finished 36th.  Having passed the half way point in the season, all three are currently qualified for the Classic.  Keep up the good work!

JULY 14
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 2 competition on Lake Champlain in New York.  After Day 1, Brent Chapman and Todd Faircloth are tied for 48th, and Alton Jones is in 74th.

Brent Chapman says:  I think I fished pretty well today, but I was disappointed in my finish.  I expected to be doing a little better.  I just never got a quality bite yesterday.  Today, I am pretty much going to do the same thing.  I may have moved around a little too much yesterday, so today I'll try and focus more on a couple of areas and hope to get at least one kicker.

Todd Faircloth says:  I thought I had a pretty good area located, but the quality didn't end up being what I expected.  I caught a good number of keepers, but I really need to find some larger fish.  Today, I'm going to fish the same style, but I'm going to move around quite a bit and see if I can't find some larger fish.

Alton Jones says:  I was really disappointed with the quality of the fish I was catching today.  I caught plenty, but I was really expecting the size to be better.  Today, I am going to completely change it up and head to the other side of the lake.  I should have more weight blind prefishing in that area than what I was able to put in the boat yesterday. If I can find the right sweet spot, I could get back in position to fish on Saturday.

SMG's FLW Pros are competing in Day 2 competition on Lake Eerie in Michigan.  After Day 1, Jay Yelas is in 46th; Matt Herren is in 87th; Bud Pruitt is in 91st; Clay Dyer is in 105th; and Sean Hoernke is tied for 186th.

JUNE 22
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 2 competition on Grand Lake in Oklahoma.  After Day 1, Alton Jones is in 36th; Todd Faircloth is in 41st; and Brent Chapman is in 63rd.  Good luck guys!

Todd Faircloth says:  I had a good day of fishing yesterday, and I found one special spot where I caught a fish on every cast for about 20 minutes.  Today, I'll be flipping in the willows early and then throwing a crank bait a little deeper.

Brent Chapman says:  I caught over 20 keepers yesterday, but I just couldn't get a better bite.  I also wasn't able to find any better fish deeper.  Today, I'm going to do the same thing again and hope that I get some better bites.  I know this lake pretty well, so I'm just going to go fishing and see what happens.

JUNE 21
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 1 competition on Grand Lake in Oklahoma.  Good luck guys!

Brent Chapman says:  I am catching a lot of fish flipping in the willows.  I haven't really caught any better fish, and I haven't had any luck fishing deeper.  But, anytime I can be competitive fishing shallow with a flipping stick in my hand, I like my chances.

Todd Faircloth says:  I have caught a number of keepers flipping in the willows.  I spent a fair amount of time trying to come up with a secondary pattern, and I didn't have any luck in that regard.  It always makes me a little nervous when I don't have a backup pattern.  The shallow bite should stay good for another day or two, so I will just stick with what's working and hope for the best.

Alton Jones says:  I had a really good practice, and I feel good about the fish I'm catching.  I have three good spots to choose from, and until last night, I was stressing about where to start.  That changed last night.  I drew out 105 out of 108 anglers.  There are ton of anglers fishing the same water.  Being almost last to take off, there will already be people in all three of my prime locations.  I will just have to find a spot to work in.  Ironically, this has given me a much more relaxed feeling.  I know there will be plenty of keepers to catch, and I don't have to worry as much about making the right choices.   I will just make the most of the places that are available for me.  I have found a few fish that aren't shallow, but the offshore bite is very inconsistent.  If I can be competitive in the willows, that is where I will stay.

JUNE 15
SMG's FLW Pros are competing in Day 2 of the FLW Tour event on the Potomac River near Washington DC.  After Day 1, Jay Yelas (currently leading the AOY race) is in 21st place; Sean Hoernke is in 70th; Matt Herren is in 124th; Bud Pruitt is in 128th; and Clay Dyer is in 163rd.

Jay Yelas says:  All in all, I am pleased with my performance yesterday.  I am catching all of my fish flipping which I like doing here on the Potomac.  I feel pretty good about my chances today.  I will continue fishing the same pattern and hopefully, I will be able to get a better bite or two to put me into contention to make the cut.

Sean Hoernke says:  This tournament is playing out about like I would have anticipated.  Everyone looks at a tournament like this and thinks it's just a slug fest, but it really doesn't play out like that.  While there are a ton of good sacks being wayed in, we really aren't catching that many fish.  It's just that the fish we are catching are pretty good quality.  My day went according to plan.  I went to a community hole and ground out a limit before looking for better fish.  My strategy was perfect.  Unfortunately, my execution wasn't.  I hooked up with about a 5 lbs fish late in the day, but he jumped off.  That fish would have me solidly in position to make the cut.  Now, I've got my work cut out for me.  I still haven't decided whether I'm going to try and do the same thing today, or whether I'm going to go searching for something better.  I think that I'll need 18 to 19 lbs today to make the cut.

Matt Herren says:  I blew it.  I just got stubborn and didn't change soon enough.  I was on a very strong bite in practice, and yesterday everything changed.  The tide was unusually high and the winds kept it from going out very quickly.  We also had overcast skies all day.  Fishing at this level, you just have to stay open minded and change with the fish.  I really thought that I knew how I was going to catch them, and I think that I got a little too locked in to what I did in practice. Now, I have my work cut out for me.  My son is fishing the co-angler side of this tournament, and that's pretty cool.  Unfortunately for me, he really caught them yesterday and the trash talking has already begun.  I'm going to have to go out today and make sure that I put him in his place.

Bud Pruitt says: Bud needs sun!

Clay Dyer says:  I really enjoyed fishing with David Dudley's father yesterday.  We had a good time together.  I am happy to have two good fish yesterday, but I'm a little disappointed with the ones that I lost.  I had the fish on to have around 15 lbs and still be in the thick of the competition.  Unfortunately, when you're fishing in grass, you are going to lose fish.  It happens to everyone.  I am going out today, and I am going to concentrate on one fish at a time.  There is a lot to learn about fishing tidal fisheries, and I am very happy with my progress here.

JUNE 14
SMG's FLW Pros are competing in Day 1 of the FLW Tour event on the Potomac River near Washington DC.  Good luck guys.

Jay Yelas says:

Matt Herren says:

Sean Hoernke says:

Clay Dyer says: 

JUNE 9
SMG's BASS Pros have finished competing in the Bluegrass Brawl.  It was a tough tournament for the SMG anglers.  Todd Faircloth finished 69th; Brent Chapman finished 89th; and Alton Jones finished 95th.  We will update this entry soon with the anglers' comments. 

JUNE 8
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day 2 of the Bluegrass Brawl on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.  After Day 1, Todd Faircloth is in 72nd; Alton Jones is in 97th; and Brent Chapman is in 98th.  Better luck today guys!

Todd Faircloth says:  It was a struggle all day yesterday.  Fortunately, I managed to catch a limit.  I really thought the fish would be out on the points, and they just didn't seem to be there in the concentrations that I had anticipated from my practice.  Toward the end of the day, I managed to catch a few dock fish.  I think that I can probably catch another limit today, but I'm not sure how to find the bigger fish that I will need to make the cut.

Alton Jones says:  I had my chances yesterday, but I just couldn't get them in the boat.  It is frustrating to be around the right kind of fish to make the cut and not get it done.   If I can figure out how to make the fish that I can see bite, I might still be able to make the cut even thought it's a long shot.

Brent Chapman says:   It was really tough yesterday.  I thought that I had found something that would help me get a limit, but it just didn't work out yesterday.  Today, I'm just going to go fishing and see what I can work out.

JUNE 7
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in Day1 of the Bluegrass Brawl on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.  Good luck guys!

Brent Chapman says: I am really struggling to find fish right now.  The don't seem to be on any particular pattern, and I will be very lucky to get a decent limit today.

Todd Faircloth says:  I am feeling a little better about this tournament after yesterday's practice.  I think that I have finally figured a little something out that may help me to do well.

Alton Jones says:  I am very pleased with my practice.  When the schedule for the year came out, this is the tournament that scared me the most.  I thought it really had bomb potential for me.  Fortunately, I think that I have figured out how to catch a limit.  I'm not sure that I have found anything that will help me fish on Sunday, but I do feel like I have found what I needed to avoid a disaster.

MAY 20
SMG's Jay Yelas finished 2nd at Beaver Lake.  Congratulations Jay!

Details to come soon. 

MAY 19
SMG's BASS Pros have finished Day 2 at the BassMaster American on High Rock Lake.  After Day 2, Alton Jones finished in 17th; Todd Faircloth finished in 19th; and Brent Chapman finished in 32nd.

Alton Jones says:  All in all, I am pleased with my performance.  This is the first major in which I have won a check, so that makes it a satisfying result.  It is a little disappointing though, because I lost a couple of fish that would have put me into the cut so that I could by fishing today.  I had one 3 lbs fish on a bed that I managed to catch and then lose twice.  All in all, I probably wasted about an hour of my day on that fish which never made it to the weigh-in.  Today, I am on my way to New York.  We have a couple of weeks off, so I am going to go practice on Lake Eerie on the good weather days and spend some quality time with the family on the days when the wind blows.

Todd Fairlcoth says:  I had a good day today, but unfortunatley, I lost two fish that would have easily put me in the cut.  One of those fish was 4 lbs and the other one was a whale.  I basically stuck with the crank bait all day today again.  I really wish that I could be fishing Townsend this weekend.  The fish today bit really poorly.  Every fish I caught was barely hooked on the very last hook on the bait.   I think this is probably why I lost the two fish that I did.  I really feel like there were a bunch of pros who were sandbagging here.  There's no way I thought I would need more weight than I had based upon what everybody was saying before the tournament started.  I am happy to have picked up another good check here though.

Brent Chapman says:  I feel like I had a pretty good tournament.  I am really disappointed that I didn't make the cut, but I feel like I did all that I could. I caught limits both days, and I didn't lose any fish.  I just never got a good bite the whole week.  I feel like I was fishing to my strengths (primarily flipping and cranking), and I was fishing in areas that should have had quality fish.  It just didn't work out for me.  This weekend, I am going to get to go fun fishing with some of my sponsors, so that should be fun and should help me take my mind off not fishing on Townsend this weekend.

SMG's FLW Pros have finished Day 2 at the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake.  After Day 2, Jay Yelas is in 1st place; Matt Herren finished in 11th place; Bud Pruitt finished in 36th place; Sean Hoernke finished in 87th place; and Clay Dyer finished in 196th.  Jay Yelas made the cut and is fishing again today.  Matt Herren missed the cut by less that 1 oz.   Ouch!  Good luck Jay!  This is Jay's 3rd top 10 cut in a row.  Way to go Jay! 

Jay Yelas says:  I am very pleased to have made my 3rd top 10 in a row.  That is very satisfying.  I have one main area that I am sharing with Andy Montgomery who finished 3rd.  We are fishing opposite sides of the same stretch of boat slips.  There is a strong shad spawn going on in this area.  The first day they came up on his side, and yesterday they came up on mine.  I caught all the fish I weighed-in yesterday in the first 40 minutes.  They were also all schooling fish associated with the shad spawn.  After that start, I threw the swim bait almost all day looking for a large kicker fish.  I am a little worried about this weekend.  I think that if either Andy or myself were fishing that boat slip by ourselves, we would probably win.  But, I'm not sure that there will be enough fish left for both of us to fish it for two more days and win.  Despite that, I will ride that pattern as long as it last.  The fishing on the lake other than the earling morning shad spawn bite is very tough, so I think that doing the same thing is still my best chance to win.  I believe that if I can keep getting myself into these top 10 cuts, sooner or later, I am going to win one again.

Matt Herren says:  What a difference an ounce makes.  I really thought that I had it.  At weigh-in, my weight was fluctuating bewteen two ounces.  I was lobbying for the higher ounce, but the official weight was called the lower one.  My worst fears were realized when I was knocked out of the cut by one ounce.  While I am obviously disappointed, I am very happy with my effort.  I struggled early this season for the first time in my professional career, but I think I really righted the ship last week.  A win and an 11th in back to back weeks is really what I am striving for.  I think that I really fished well this week.  I didn't really have any strong pattern working here, so I just had to go out and catch what I could catch any way that I could catch them.  I feel like I did a good job of that.  This week, that required finesse fishing.   I really felt the pain of that today when I lost a 5 lbs. large mouth bass which broke my 6 lbs line before I could land him.  That fish obviously would have had me fishing this weekend, but that's fishing.  I can't wait until the Potomac.  I really feel like my form has returned.

Sean Hoernke says:  This lake still frustrate me.  I watched the leaders catch a limit this morning withing site of where I was fishing, but neither I nor my coangler could get a bite.   I fished the same place the leaders were fishing in practice, and I didn't get  a bite then either.  Fortunately, I was able to piece together another limit today.  I even improved my weight by over a pound.  The only other check I have ever won here was during the spawn, so I am very happy that I was able to pick up a check here post spawn.  This event has cost me dearly the last few years in the angler of the year race.  This year,  I am out of the race already, but this finish would have been good enough to keep me in the running the last few years.  Thus, I think that this tournament was a step in the right direction.

Clay Dyer says:  I had two fish on today that both probably would have gone better than 3 lbs.  Unfortunately, I lost them both.  I hooked up with both of these fish on shakey heads finesse fishing in the deep trees.  I had to fish very slowly to get them to bite.  I fought both of these fish through the branches of these trees before they pulled off just when I thought that I had them.  I know that I'm getting closer to figuring out fishing at this level.  I just have to bear down and work through this.  I know higher finishes are just on the horizon.  I am really looking forward to going to the Potomac.  That should better fit my style and allow me to fish the way that I enjoy.

MAY 18
SMG's  BASS Pros have finished Day 1 at the BassMaster American.  After Day 1, Alton Jones is in 14th place; Brent Chapman is in 29th; and Todd Fairlcoth is in 32nd.  The top 12 will make the cut to fish on Saturday.  Good luck guys!

Alton Jones says:  I feel really good about my day.  I have a strong pattern that seems to be working all over the lake.  I think I can duplicate today what I had yesterday.  If I do that, I believe that I will make the top 12 and get to compete this weekend on Townsend.  I think that I should have a limit of 13 to 15 lbs. by mid to late morning.  At that point, I will try to find a kicker fish that should insure a top 12 finish.

Brent Chapman says:  I am really surprised by the weights.  I really struggled in practice and everybody else was saying the same thing.  I was really pleased with putting together a limit, but I am a little disappointed with being in the middle of the pack.  I really want to fish this weekend on Townsend.  Yesterday, I stuck  with one rod and fished to my strengths.  Today, I plan on doing the same thing.  I think we will have more sunshine today which should help my bite.  Additionally, what I am doing really should yield one or more kicker fish.  Yesterday, it didn't so I should be due today.  If I can put a kicker fish in the boat, I should be in the running to fish tomorrow.

Todd Faircloth says:  What a bunch of sandbaggers!!!!  All I heard all week was how tough the fishing was.  Things (weather wise) didn't change enough to explain all the fish that were caught yesterday.  I was doing cartwheels with my limit until I came in and saw what everybody else caught.  I really don't know of anything I can do different.  I'm going to go back out today and do the same thing I did yesterday - cover a bunch of water throwing a crank bait.  Hopefully, I will run across some better fish.  I am a little frustrated in that when I went to my second spot yesterday, I found Mike McClelland was already there.  Apparently, Mike stayed there almost all day and ended up in the top 5.  Maybe, I should have started there.  That's one thing about fishing at this level, you will always have plenty to second guess yourself about.

SMG's FLW Pros have finished Day 1 at Beaver Lake.  After Day 1, Jay Yelas is in 10th; Matt Herren is in 14th; Bud Pruitt is in 38th; Sean Hoernke is in 110th; and Clay Dyer is in 179th.  The top 10 will make the cut to fish Saturday and Sunday. 

Matt Herren says:  I feel very fortunate to be where I am right now.  I am not on any pattern, and I certainly don't have a winning area.  I am moving around a lot and covering a lot of water.  I am utilizing a variety of techniques including finesse fishing.  Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to catch a 4+ lbs. largemouth to move me out of the crowd.  Without that fish, I would have been right in the middle of the pack with everybody else.  There was nothing special about the technique or the location from which that fish came.  So, I have no expectation of catching another one today.  My history here has been characterized by one day with a kicker fish and one day without for a solid check but no cut.  I feel like that is probably where I am going to end up again.  However, I am just going to go out today and make the most of the opportunities that come my way and let the cards fall where they may.  That was something that was a key to my victory last week, and I am just going to try and focus on that on each tournament going forward.

Sean Hoernke says:  I tried to mix it up yesterday.  I started  by playing it safe and catching a quick limit.  I was able to do that by mid-morning.  After that, I tried to run what I thought may be the winning pattern.  While I had a lot of quality fish follow my bait to the boat, I couldn't figure out how to make them bite.  Accordingly, I really didn't improve my weight very much after that early limit.  Today, I am going to start the same way.  After that, I am not sure which way I'm going to go.  I still feel like the pattern I ran yesterday is the best way to make the cut, but it could lead to a crash.  The other option is to just grind it out for ounces where I am catching my limit.  I believe that if I can work my way up to 8 1/2 lbs today that I can make the top 60 and get a $10,000. check.  Considering my history here, that would be quite an accomplishment.  I have one other option that I'm considering.   At the end of the day, we pulled up on a particular spot and my co-angler caught a couple of nice fish utilizing a different technique frow what everyone else is doing.  I might go camp out on that spot for a while today after I have my limit.  I dont knot that it can get me to the cut, but I'm pretty sure it can get me a good check.

Clay Dyer says:  I feel like I'm getting closer to where I need to be, but I still have a ways to go.  Once again, I saw many of the tournament leaders fishing in the same general area that I am.  I managed to catch a bunch of short fish again yesterday.  I finally found something toward the end of the day that seemed to be where the better fish were.  In fact, a caught my second and largest keeper on the next to last cast of the day.  Today,  I am going to start in that location and start building upon that.  I know that if I can put together a limit today, I still have a chance to get back into the money.

MAY 17
SMG's BASS Pros are competing in the BassMaster American - the first Major of  2007.  Good luck guys!

Brent Chapman says:  I'm really glad there are no points involved here.  I had a terrible practice, and I have no idea what pattern I should be fishing here.  Today, I  am just going to put a flipping stick in my hand and see how many prime targets I can hit.  I have no idea if that will work or not, but my thought is to fish to my strengths and see what happens.

Todd Faircloth says:  I'm really glad I didn't have to waste an entry fee on this event.  I have had a horrible practice, and I haven't been able to put together any sort of pattern or any solid location. Today, I am just going to put on a crankbait and cover as much water as possible.  Hopefully, I can catch a couple of decent fish to keep me in the running until I can figure out what I need to be doing.

Alton Jones says:  I have had a decent practice, and I am cautiously optimistic about today.  We'll know a lot more in 8 or 9 hours.  I am catching fish a couple of different ways, and we'll just have to see which works best.

SMG's FLW Pros are fishing the FLW Tour event on Beaver Lake today.  Good luck guys!

Clay Dyer says:  I have had a decent practice, and I feel good about my chances of catching a limit.  I have had  a migraine headache the last couple of days that has limited my practice time.  In fact, I didn't even go out yesterday.  I'm trying to give myself the best chance to put in full effort all day tomorrow.  I have heard the fishing is tough, so I know any edge I can get may pay huge dividends.

Matt Herren says:  This is going to be one tough tournament.  I haven't found anything that I thought was dependable.  I have caught a fish here or there, but nothing to get excited about.  I think that this tournament will be even tougher than normal here with 16 lbs maybe getting you into the cut.  The key as always will be figuring out how to catch a couple better fish.

Sean Hoernke says:  I have been fighting a cold all week, and it has been miserable.  I will fish for 10 or 15 minutes and then lay down and rest for 10 or 15 minutes.  I tried to take it easy yesterday so that I could make it through the whole day today.  I think this tournament will be as tough or tougher than usual.  Beaver historically has not been very good to me.  I am really conflicted between which one of two patterns I should pursue.  I know a location which will probably yield a limit of fish, but I'm not sure that you can win there.  I also have a hunch about a pattern that really could be a winning pattern, but it is a hero or zero gamble.  I am really not sure what I should do.  Given my history here, it would be very nice to play it conservative and pick up some good points and maybe a check.  On the other hand, I am trying to elevate my game by learning to trust my insticts and judgments.  This is a decision  I probably won't make until the last minute.  I know that either way, once I make my decision, I need to disregard the other option and commit myself fully to the path I choose.

Jay Yelas says:  I have alternated between good practice days and average practice days.  I think that this will be a typical Beaver tournament.  I have caught fish all over the lake on a variety of techniques.  I think limits will be plentiful, but the key will be picking up some better fish.  I have had a couple of 13-14 lbs days, so I'm optimistic that I can do enough at least one day to make the cut.

MAY 13
SMG's Matt Herren WINS Lake Dardanelle!!!  Congratulations Matt!  SMG's Bud Pruitt improves to 6th place.  Congratulations Bud.  Bud's 6th place finish elevates him to 3rd in the FLW Series Angler of the Year race.

Matt Herren says:  I never saw it coming.  I figured that I was too far behind Larry Nixon, and I know that Larry Nixon is a closer.  I have seen him finish far too many tournaments off to have expected to close a 4 lbs deficit.  I knew, however, that I couldn't worry about that.  I knew that I just had to worry about me and making the very most of my opportunities.  This past week, I did exactly that, and I couldn't be more pleased with my fishing.  This has by far been my most difficult year on the tour, and I am finally happy to be turning that around.

SMG's Alton Jones is traveling to HighRock lake for the BASSMASTER American and had these thoughts on his week off and Mother's Day.

Alton Jones says:  I have thoroughly enjoyed having a break from the tour.  The season started with a crazy busy schedule with virtually no breaks.  Having a little over a week to download, reload, and clear the mind has been very good for me.  I am also really excited about this week's major.  Last year, I failed to cash a check in any of the major tournaments.  This year, we have had a break before the event and a break after the event, so it will be much easier to focus on obtaining a great result.  Additionally, I am a fired up to get my revenge for last year's finishes in the majors.

I would also like to take this opportunity to say a special word of thanks and appreciation to all of the mothers in my life.  Specifically, I would like to thank my mom, Jimmye Sue's mom, and finally Jimmye Sue.  Each of these very special ladies have significantly improved the quality and enjoyment of my life.  I would never be where I am today without their love, support, and encouragement.  Thanks.

Finally, I would encourage each of you reading this to tune in later today ( 2 PM Central Time) to watch the Toyota Texas Bass Classic on CBS.  This is a very significant event.  It is the first event ever endorsed by the PAA, and it is the first fishing event ever aired on a major network.  Besides, my team finishes second, and that is pretty cool. 

MAY 12
SMG's FLW Pros have finished Day 3 of the competition on Lake Dardanelle.  After Day 3, Matt Herren and Bud Pruitt are in 4th and 5th place respectfully.  Accordingly, they both will be competing tomorrow for the top prize of $100,000.  Congratulations Matt and Bud!  Sean Hoernke pulled a remarkable come back finishing in 80th after having started in 167th.  Way to turn it around Sean!  Clay Dyer finished in 195th.  Hang in there Clay!  We're all behind you and believe in the dream.

Matt Herren says:  I had a really good day of fishing yesterday, and I am excited about today.  Whatever is going to happen is going to happen.  I just have to go out and make the best of my area.  I have one primary spot.  It is the intersection of a feeder creek and a river and the flat that is adjacent to the intersection.  Once they start drawing water out of the lake, a mud line is created.  This actually results in a small area of clearer water, and this really seems to turn the fish on.  I am catching these fish using a variety of baits and techniques.  When one technique seems to slow down, I change it up until I find something that works again.  Today, I will rise or fall based upon this single location.  This place seems to reload with fish all day long.  It also seems to have the right quality fish to win.  I don't know that I can catch Larry, but I know that I can get close.

Bud Pruitt says:  I have been changing things up everyday.  These fish almost seem to be changing by the hour.  How I catch then changes several times a day every day.  I am pleased that I have been able to stay in tune with the fish and make the appropriate changes as they are needed.  I feel good about fishing today, and I am going to just go out and see if I can stay in tune with the fish again.

Sean Hoernke says:  I am very pleased with this tournament.  It started horribly, and I had a sinking feeling that it was going to be a disaster.  I managed to work through some pretty scary mental blocks and pictures to find a way to catch fish here.  I managed to constantly improve throughout the tournament.  I really go dialed in the last couple of hours yesterday, and I just missed getting a check.  In fact, I had a 6 lbs. fish on in the last hour that probably would have put me in the top 50.  Given where I started, I am extremely pleased with the result.  If I can apply what I have learned here to my future tournaments, it should really help my consisitency and improve my results.

MAY 11
SMG's FLW Pros have finished Day 2 of the competition on Lake Dardanelle.  After Day 2, Matt Herren has moved up to 11th; Bud Pruitt has moved up to 30th; Sean Hoernke has moved up to 129th; and Clay Dyer is in 194th.

Matt Herren says:  I am happy with how my day went yesterday, but I am very concerned.  I have used up most of my water, and I only have one small productive stretch left.  I am also worried that that area may muddy up and become unfishable.  If the water stays good, I think that I will be OK.  This stretch is only 125 yards long, but I am certain that the fish are replinishing in this area.  I am going to commit myself to winning this tournament rather than just collecting some good points.  Accordingly, I am going to force myself to stay in this area for the whole day today and just grind it out to the best of my ability.  To keep myself from getting tempted to wander, I didn't put any more gas in my boat last night.  Thus, given where this spot is, I am pretty much stuck in that general area.  I guess we'll see this afternoon how that works out.  I think that I will need 13-14 lbs today to make the cut and fish on Saturday.

Sean Hoernke says:  While I am still not happy with how yesterday went, it was a large improvement over Wednesday.  While I still need to put a big day together today to have any chance at a nice check, it is at least possible.  This didn't seem likely on Wednesday.  I think that I am getting a better understanding of what these fish are doing and how to catch them.  It does, however, seem like a very odd pattern for this time of year.  I think that if I can catch 14-15 lbs today,I may still be able to finish in the top 50 and get a nice check.

Clay Dyer says:  I am still catching a ton of fish.  I just can't seem to get the better ones to bite.  I am also still fishing in site of a number of the top 10 anglers in this tournament, so I feel I'm in the right area.  Fortunately, I did finally catch up with a good keeper yesterday afternoon that went almost 5 lbs.  Hopefully, today I can put a few more just like it in the boat.  I think that I am getting closer to getting these fish dialed in, and I'm looking forward to fishing today.  And even though my last couple of tournaments haven't really shown it, I am getting more comfortable on tour.  I also feel like my tournament skills are continuiing to improve.  There is so much to learn about fishing at this level.  I am also getting to know several of the pros better, and they are very good people.  I really appreciate their words of encouragement and support. 

MAY 10
SMG's FLW Pros have finished Day 1 of the competition on Lake Dardanelle.  After Day 1, Matt Herren is 33rd; Bud Pruitt is 37th; Sean Hoernke is 167th; and Clay Dyer is 192nd.

Matt Herren says:  I have mixed feelings today.  I had a really good day fishing yesterday.  I found  a spot late in Tuesday's practice session.  It was a little different than everything else I had been fishing.  I went there yesterday, and it really paid off.  Best of all, I had the spot to myself.  This is the way a lot of tournaments are won - a spot that's a little differenent/better without the crowds.  If it wasn't for all of the new water rushing in, I would be really excited.  However, I am very worried that this spot is going to be destroyed by the new water.  If that happens, I will be back to grinding it out with the masses.  I should know much better how I will do once I see how the area looks first thing this morning.  So far, I have been able to catch fish fishing to my strengths.  If that will continue, I should be ok.

Sean Hoernke says:  I am so frustrated that I am almost numb.  Everybody seems to be catching fish all over the lake with every kind of bait regardless of their style or skill level, and I am getting my tail kicked.  I am really struggling with my consistency, and that drives me crazy.  Having now won a tournament at this level and being aware of my strengths and skill level, these kind of performances are crushing.  I really don't even want to fish today.  I feel like just throwing in the towel and moving down the road.  I know I need to work through this.  But having been here before, I know how this is going to end, and it isn't pretty.  More than anything, I feel that great anglers are consistent.  I couldn't be further from that if I tried.  When I am on fish, I feel that I can close out a tournament as well as anyone.  But, when I struggle it just doesn't seem that I can ever put anything together.  I have no idea where to go to day, what to throw, or how I might possibly catch anything.  I have got to get out of this rut.

Clay Dyer says:  I believe that I fished much better yesterday than the scoreboard indicated.  I caught a ton of fish many of which were just short of the legal limit.  I know that I'm probably in the right area, because half of the top 10 guys are fishing within sight of me.  I think I may have finally figured out where the better fish have repositioned themselves.  I didn't find them where I caught them in practice.  They had moved.  But, I think I know where they are going to be today.  I really think I will be able to bring in a limit today and start moving up the scoreboard.

MAY 9
SMG's FLW Pros are in action today on Lake Dardanelle for the 2nd event of the FLW Eastern Series.  The weigh-in can be seen live today at 3:00 PM on FLWOutdoors.com.

Matt Herren says:  I am catching lots of fish and feel good about this tournament.  I found something late in practice yesterday that I think might give me an edge.  I think everyone will catch fish pretty well here.  Thus, finding those few larger bites will be the key to a high finish.  I feel like the lake is fishing really small, and I keep bumping into a bunch of anglers wherever I go.

Sean Hoernke says:  I don't really feel like I am on the fish to win here, but I think I have a pretty decent shot at a high finish.  I think most of the fish will come from the flooded grass.  That is also where almost all of the anglers will be located.  I believe at least half of the ten anglers that make the cut will be fishing something off shore and away from the grass.  That pattern will be very specific, and I never found it.  I also believe that whoever hasn't found those specific off shore locations had better be fishing the grass, or they will probably find themselves at the back of the pack.  Accordingly, I will be pounding the grass with the masses hoping that I can come up with the right combination to catch some of the better bass.

Clay Dyer says:  I had a really good practice, and I have enjoyed fishing here.  I have been able to catch fish in a variety of places with a variety of baits.  Today, I'm just going to go out and fish the way I enjoy fishing and try to bring a limit to the scales this afternoon.  I am striving to carry on the momentum I started this season with at Okeechobee where I had my best finish to date.

APRIL 28
SMG BASS Pro Alton Jones made the cut and is fishing in tomorrow's final round.  SMG BASS Pro Todd Faircloth surged into 21st place today.

Alton Jones says:  I feel good about my performance today and though I am several pounds out of the lead, I am optimistic about my chances tomorrow.  I am still catching good fish out of my best spot from last year despite having 7 local tournament boats share the spot today.  I have also found another key area where I am catching good fish on a Texas rigged worm.  It would be pretty cool to be the first guy in a long time to win a major tournament on a Texas rigged worm.  I have really fallen behind in my goal of becoming angler of the year this year having missed a top 12 cut in each previousevent.  Thus, I am very happy to be fishing tomorrow.

SMG FLW Pro Jay Yelas made the cut and is currently in 9th place.

APRIL 27
SMG's FLW Pros are beginning the second day of competition on Lake Norman.  Jay Yelas is currently in 10th place and poised to make the weeekend cut.

Jay Yelas says:  I had a good day of fishing yesterday.  I caught a large number of fish that were all about the same size, and I had one big fish.  The key to a high finish here will be the big fish bite.  Yesterday's big fish was quite the story.  I am staying at a condo which is adjacent to the lake.  Near the condo is a marina where I have rented a slip to park my boat.  This particular marina has a fish feeder over the water.  The fish feeder is set up where guest of the marina can put a quarter in the machine and then the machine will dispense fish food into the water.  There is a large school of carp which are feeding on this food.  There is also a ton of bream which are feeding on this food as well.  

Every evening when I came off the water, I would stop for  a moment and watch the fish feeding on this food.  What I noticed was that there was  a five pound bass hanging out with the carp that were near the feeder.  I saw this bass every evening when I came in.  Knowing that in this tournament every ounce would be important, I knew I needed to catch this fish.

I started yesterday by heading directly to this fish.  I carefully maneuvered into position, and then I made a long cast with a bream imitation swim bait.  I chose this bait, because I knew that this bass was hanging out around the feeder to eat the bream that were feeding on the fish food.  I made numerous cast around the feeder without any success.  Unfortunately, this fish would not easily be fooled.  After a brief but sufficient amount of time attempting to catch this fish, I decided to set about fishing my game plan.

I caught a number of fish throughout the day on a variety of baits.  All of these fish could have passed for identical twins.  They were all 2 lbs class fish.  I made a conscious decision to leave myself an extra 15 minutes of fishing time to try and catch the marina bass.  So, as I was on my way in to the weigh-in I stopped by the marina one more time.  Once again I stopped away from the fish feeder.  I  carefully lined up my cast, and then I heave a Pop-R just past the target and began working it through the prime spot.  I noticed as I brought the Pop-R through the feeding area that it caused the carp to disperse.  I knew that the bass was not detered by this action.  I also soon realized that the bass was not going to take this offering.  Once again, I picked up the bream imitation swim bait.  I heaved it by the target, and I began to slowly reel it in.  Wham!!!!  The big fish took it.  After a brief fight, I was able to land this fish.  This fish was the key bite between sitting in 10th after Day 1 and being in the middle of the pack.

APRIL 26
BASS Cancels Day 1 of Guntersville event due to weather. 

Weather in Charlotte is good, FLW Tour event is under way there.

APRIL 26
All of SMG's pros are in action today.  SMG's BASS Pro's are fishing Guntersville in Alabama, and SMG's FLW Pros are fishing Norman in Charlotte, NC.  BASSFAN has listed Alton Jones as one of its Top 10 to watch for Guntersville.  BASSFAN has listed Matt Herren as one of its Top 10 to watch for Norman.  The FLW Pundits have listed Jay Yelas as one of their favorites for the Norman event.  It should be an interesting week.

BASS Pros:

Alton Jones says:  I have three spots that I have confidence in for this event.  One of those spots was the primary spot in my second place finish here last year.  One of the other spots is also a deep water spot.  My third spot is an area I can sight fish.  I think that the deeper spots will provide the best opportunity for me to win.  The sight fish are mainly in the 3 lbs. category, and I don't think that will be good enough to win.  I do like having the sight fish as a sort of insurance policy to keep me in the running in the event of a difficult day.  I am hoping for a pretty good breeze to blow without it being too hard to fish the main lake.   My primary spot will produce much better with the wind blowing than without wind, but it is on the main lake and very exposed in the event of too much wind.  Obviously, too much wind would also be bad for my sight fish.  I am also a little concerned because I drew a late take off this morning.  I think that many of the guys will know where I finished second last year because of the television coverage.  I am a little concerned that I may be showing up late to a crowded fishing location.  I feel like I will know much better about my chances upon arriving at my first fishing hole.

Brent Chapman says:  I really didn't have a very good practice here.  Sometimes, I feel like I really do better in a tournament when my practice hasn't been as good.  The fish seem to be scattered and sort of finicky.  I don't feel like I've really patterned anything special.  I am just going to go fishing today and see what happens.

Todd Faircloth says: I had a pretty good practice.  I have found three things that work pretty well.  Somtimes, you had rather just have one thing working so you can concentrate on that pattern.  I still haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do, but I really think I just need to settle on one approach and stick to it.  I think that if I can do this and stick to it that I can do fairly well here.

FLW Pros:

Matt Herren says: The fish are biting really well here.  I'm catching many more fish than I expected, and I'm also catching better fish than expected.  I know the fish are feeding way too much for this to last a long time.  If it will last throughout the tournament though, I think I can get a high finish.  I think there will be a strong morning bite and then it will settle in to a pretty steady bite for the rest of the day.  I have a group of big fish for here (4-5 lbs)  located.  These fish are fairly skittish and  may be hard to make bite.  I am however thinking about swinging for the fences and starting with these fish.  This may be a little easier to do since I think catching a limit here will not be a problem.

Jay Yelas says: The fishing here has been good.  I am expecting a very competitive tournament, and I think ounces will separate many places.  I think fish can be caught right now on just about any pattern.  I feel good about my practice, and I feel good about my chances.  We'll see how things play out.

Sean Hoernke:  I had a great practice.  My best day here, I would have had a 20+ lbs day.  I know that that is incredible for this lake.  I have found a location that seems to have a good concentration of quality fish, and I can catch them several different ways.  This is my first tournament to fish out of the Field & Stream boat, and I'm hoping to christen it with a high finish.

Bud Pruitt says:  The fish are biting, and I think it is going to be a fun tournament.  This place is loaded with fish.  The key here is going to be getting a better quality fish.  The winners here will be separated by ounces not pounds.  I had a good practice, and I'm looking forward to this tournament.

Clay Dyer says:  I had a really good practice.  I have caught many more solid keepers than I anticipated.  I think that I can get a good limit early and then go from there.  I have had some quality fish that have hit my bait but missed hooking up.  If I can get these better bites to hook up and stay on, I should be just fine.  I am hoping to ride the momentum from our high finish at Lake Fork and hopefully win my first individual check at this level.

APRIL 22
SMG BASS Pro Brent Chapman finished 29th in the Clark's Hill event.

Brent Chapman says:  All in all, I was very pleased with this tournament.  I felt that I fished well.  I caught a number of keepers on Saturday, but I just never could find that big bite.  My goal this year is to win the Angler of the Year title.  If I an keep all of my finishes at 30th or better, I think that that will remain a realistic goal.  

I had a 4 lbs on Saturday for my first fish, and I really thought I might have a chance to move up in the standings, but that was the last quality bite I had.  I didn't have a single fish from my best area, so I started moving and covering a lot of water.

Now, it's off to Lake Guntersville... 

APRIL 20
SMG's  BASS Pros have finished Day 2 of the Clark's Hill event.  Brent Chapman is currently in 28th.  Good luck Brent!  Alton Jones finished 54th, and Todd Faircloth finished 75th.

Brent Chapman says:  I was really glad to see the return of my big bite today.  I caught the big fish in the same cove as one of the ones I had caught in practice.  My fish came on a variety of baits today.  I am really not sure what I am going to do tomorrow, but I am very happy to have made the cut.  My goal is to find at least one more big fish and finish in the top 25.  I have no idea how the guys at the top are catching the weight that they are. 

Todd Faircloth says:  I am really surprised to see the weights rise the way they did today.  They didn't go up at the top, but most of the guys in the middle had 2 or more pounds extra today.  I thought that I had done what I needed to do to put me right at the cut, but I was wrong.  These fish seemed to be very particular.  They wanted a very specific color and a very specific action.  I never really keyed in on the right thing.  My coangler today had 14 lbs throwing a particular bait that I didn't have, and it really seemed to make a difference.  I am pretty wiped out from this week's grind, and I think that I am just going to take a day off tomorrow and relax a little bit.

APRIL 19
After Day 1 of the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Clarks Hill, SMG touring pro Brent Chapman is in 41st place and SMG pros Alton Jones and Todd Faircloth are in 76th and 78th places, respectively.

Brent Chapman says:  Today was much tougher than my practice had been.  The main change was that today I never got a better bite.  I think that I probably only need 9 lbs tomorrow to make the cut, but I'm not sure that I can do that.  I haven't decided whether to just scrap what I'm doing and just start fishing new water, or whether to just grind it out.  I have one area where there are some schooling fish.  If I could get these fish to bite, I think I could be ok.

Alton Jones says:  Today, I really struggled. This really didn't suprise me as I had had such a tough time in practice.  These fish don't seem to be on a strong pattern of any sort.  I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do tomorrow.  I'm going to try and put together a limit, and then just go looking.  I do have one bass located near a bed that I think may be catchable.  This fish is probably about 5 lbs.  If I believe that tomorrow that that fish will put me in the cut, I may just camp out on her and see if I can't make her bite.

Todd Faircloth says:  I have no idea how these guys are catching the kind of weights that I'm seeing.  I had a limit of little fish pretty early today, but I could tell pretty soon that there weren't any quality fish where I was.  After I had my limit, I went looking for better fish.  I didn't find any.  I have no idea what I'm going to do tomorrow.  I may just start from scratch, or  I may just return to where I started, put a limit in the boat, and go from there.

SMG's FLW Pros are continuiing to practice for the Tour event on Lake Norman.

Clay Dyer says:  I have been happy with my practice so far.  I feel like that I'm putting together a pattern that if it holds through the tournament will give me a limit each day.  I am still trying to figure out what to key on to get the better bites.

Sean Hoernke says:  Today was a treat as I got to fish with my old team partner.  He now lives on the east coast and I travel the country so it was good to share time on the water.  We were able to catch fish in a number of different areas, and we had some quality bites.  Tomorrow, I will be heading to Texas for the Total Outdoorsman Challenge, so I was glad to have some productive time on the water today.

APRIL 18
SMG's BASS Pro's have finished their practice for the Clark's Hill event.

Brent Chapman says:  I had a pretty good practice.  Catching a limit of fish should be no problem.  I also had a number of quality bites in practice including one 8 lbs. fish.  Unfortunately, these better bites were scattered and in random locations.  I am not real confident that I can duplicate the better quality fish I found in practice.  I hope I haven't exhausted my fortune in this regard.

Todd Fairlcoth says:  I think that this is going to be a tough tournament.  I caught some fish earlier in the week, but I really struggled today.  The fish aren't locked onto any particular pattern, and I haven't found a group of them early where.   i think that this is going to be one of those tournaments where I am just going to have to grind it out.  I'll know a lot more about where I stand after tomorrow.

Alton Jones says:  I think this is going to be a very low weight tournament.  Last year it took 22 lbs to make the 2 day cut.  This year, I am expecting that it will be closer to 18 lbs to make the 2 day cut.  Of course, the guys on this ciruit have a  way of surprising you sometimes in how well they figure things out.  I hope that I am not surprised by the weight tomorrow.

SMG's FLW Pro's are beginning to arrive at Lake Norman for next week's FLW Tour event there.

Clay Dyer says: I have had two good practice days this week, and I am feeling pretty good about my chances.  I think that if this pattern will hold up, I will be able to weigh-in limits both days.  Then it will be just a matter of getting a better bite.

Sean Hoernke says: Today, I dropped my boat off to have the new Field & Stream wrap placed on the boat.  I am very excited about this new partnership.  Fortunately, I have a good friend in the Charlotte area who is going to let me borrow his boat while mine is being wrapped.  This weekend, I will be flying back to Dallas for the second regional qualifier in the Total Outdoorsman Challenge.  For those of you who do not know, I serve as a co-host/emcee for that event as part of my sponsorship with Field & Stream.  This will put a premium on efficiency in my practice for the upcoming tour event.

APRIL 15
SMG Pro Alton Jones' Team finished 2nd in the inaugural PAA event, the Toyota Texas Bass Classic.  SMG Pro Bud Pruitt's team finished in 5th.  Congratulations guys!

APRIL 14
SMG Pro Alton Jones' Team is currently leading the Toyota Texas Bass Classic.  SMG Pro Bud Pruitt's team also made the cut to fish tomorrow and is currently in 5th Place.  SMG Pro Clay Dyer's team just missed the cut finishing in 6th Place.  This was Clay's first tour level check.  Congratulations Clay! 

APRIL 13
SMG  Pro Alton Jones' team is leading after one day of competition in the Texas Toyota Bass Classic.  SMG Pro Clay Dyer's team is currently in 4th place.

APRIL 12
SMG's Pros are all preparing for the start of tomorrow's Texas Toyota Bass Classic.  The only SMG Pro not participating is Sean Hoernke who is in Florida fulfilling sponsorship obligations to his newest sponsor Field and Stream.  SMG Pro's Alton Jones, Jay Yelas, Brent Chapman, Todd Faircloth, and Harold Allen all participated in today's Pro/Am challenge. 

APRIL 11
SMG's Pros are all excited to be present for the first ever PAA sanctioned event, the Texas Toyota Bass Classic.   

APRIL 6
SMG Pro Alton Jones shares his thoughts on the Western Swing of the Elite Series and the upcoming PAA event on Lake Fork.

Alton Jones says:  Well, the western run is over and I'm in 26th place in the Angler-of-the-Year standings.  Not exactly where I was hoping to be, but not a bad start either.  Tournaments never turn out to be like what you expect.  The fish don't read all of the "pundits", so they don't know that they are supposed to be in a certain stage or location.  No matter how much pre-study you put in, it always boils down to figuring out the current pattern and it's almost never predictable.

I really thought that all of the first 3 events would be spawning slug-fests.  They were slug-fests alright, but none of them were truly spawning events.  Hopefully at least one of the next 3 events will be a spawning tournament. 

We arrived home from California on Wednesday and have just enough time to do the laundry, pay some bills, and re-pack the motorhome.  It's always great to be home even it's just for 3 or 4 days.  I think the best part is re-connecting with many of our friends here in Waco.

We attend Fellowship Bible Church and have strong friendships with many families there.  It is so important to have like-minded friends who provide prayer support when we're on the road.  I meet so many people who think it's not important to go to church, but it really is.  God designed us in such a way that as believers in Christ, we need each other.  Iron sharpens iron.  I need others who can be an example for me, and hopefully I can be an example for them too!  I thank God for our friends and family who love us and care about us.

We will be leaving on Easter Sunday (after church) for Lake Fork and the PAA Texas Bass Classic. Then it's off to Augusta, Georgia and finally to Guntersville.  This will be the first PAA tournament ever, so I'm really excited about it.  All you Texas fans should consider coming to the weigh-ins next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  Besides the fishing there will be some great entertainment.  There will be at least 2 free country western concerts including Clay Walker.  So come on out to Lake Fork and say hello.

APRIL 3
SMG  FLW Pro Jay Yelas shares his thoughts on Ft. Louden/Tellico.

Jay Yelas says:  Obviously, I would really like to have won this event, but all in all, I am happy with my performance.  While I came up about 5 lbs. short of my goal, I was able to incorporate some new little used techniques to play a key role in my finish.  With this sport becoming increasingly more competitive, and with the rapid spread of information, it is becoming increasingly more important to stay on the cutting edge of new fishing techniques.  That little something different gives you a huge advantage over the crowds that are now all so good with the tried and true techniques.  Two keys for me in this tournament were waking a long A, and using swim baits.  The two primary swim baits I used were the Storm swim bait and the baby E.

I fished a very solid tournament, and I had no mishaps, bad breaks, or slip ups that usually are fatal to a win.  I didn't however get any of the key bites (big fish) necessary to elevate a solid finish into a win.  On the last day, I had 10 keeper fish, but none of them were that big.  I did manage to catch a 4 1/2 lbs. small mouth off of a bed which really helped.  This weekend really reiterated to me just how hard it is to win at this level.  That said, I am happy with how my year has started, and I know that if I keep fishing at my current level a win will come. 

APRIL 1
SMG FLW Pro Jay Yelas finished 6th today at the FLW Tour event on Lake Tellico.  Congratulations Jay! 

MARCH 31
SMG's Bass Pro's have competed Day 3 of the Elite Series tournament on Clear Lake.  Todd Faircloth finished in 32nd and Brent Chapman finished in 40th.

Todd Faircloth says:  This place is incredible.  I continued to catch a ton of fish.  Unfortunatey for me, most of my fish were in the the 3-4 lbs range instead of the 5-6 lbs range.  All in all, I am pleased with the way my year has started.

Brent Chapman says:  I just couldn't get a big bite today.  This is an amazing fishery.  The difference between winning and finishing well down in the pack is a matter of figuring out how to stay around the big fish that will actually bite.  I didn't do that today.  However, I am very pleased with the start of the year.  I am on path to requalify for the Classic which is always my first goal for the year, and I am solidly in competition for angler of the year which is another one of my goals.  I feel much better about my fishing than I did last year.

SMG Pro Jay Yelas is in 2nd place after Day 3 of the FLW Tour event on Lake Tellico.  Congratulations Jay!  Keep up the good work.

MARCH 30
SMG's BASS Pro's have completed Day 2 of the Elite Series tournament on Clear Lake.  Brent Chapman is in 28th; Todd Faircloth is in 49th; and Alton Jones has finished in 67th.

SMG's FLW Pro's have completed Day 2 of the Tour event on Lake Tellico.  Jay Yelas finished the day in 10th place and has made the cut to fish again tomorrow.  Congratulations Jay!  The weights of the final 10 will be zeroed, and two more days of competition remain.  Sean Hoernke (27) and Matt Herren (47) both finished in the top 50 and will earn $10,000. a piece for their efforts.  Bud Pruitt surged back from a disappointing Day 1 with a limit of fish to finish 114, and Clay Dyer suffered through a day with a ton of short fish but no keepers to fall back to 190th. 

Jay Yelas says:  Today was much tougher than yesterday.  I still caught fish on two different patterns.  I am catching fish sight fishing, and I am also catching fish on a moving bait.  I plan on repeating these patterns again tomorrow.  The lake level dropped 6-8 inches overnight which really slowed the sight fishing bite.   I think tomorrow is going to be even tougher than today.

Sean Hoernke says:  At 1:00 today, I had not landed a single keepable bass.  I decided that my only option was to cruise the banks looking for bedding fish.  I was able to come across three that would keep, and that was enough to salvage a decent finish.  I am really glad that we are moving out of the winter/pre-spawn period where I really struggle.

Matt Herren says:  The dropping water level which had already been low was disastrous for the shallow water flipping bite that it my strategy.  With so little cover in the water, I decided to cover a ton of water with a shallow running crankbait.  I fished a lot of empty water, but I finally found an area where the fish were stacked in.  I managed to put together a limit there fairly quickly to salvage a decent paycheck.  I think that I am beginning to get things turned around.

Clay Dyer says:  Today was pretty frustrating.  I caught as many or more fish than yesterday (over 30), but I just couldn't get a keeper bite.  I have had more than 20 fish the last two days that were less than 1/2 inch from keeping.  I feel like my fishing is continuiing to improve, but I am just missing a little here and there which keeps me down.  My determination, however, is as strong as ever.  I am going to bust through this stretch to continue my progression up the standings.

MARCH 29
SMG's BASS Pro's have completed Day 1 of the Elite Series tournament on Clear Lake.  Brent Chapman is in 23rd; Alton Jones is in 26th; and Todd Faircloth is in 45th. All are currently in position to make the cut to fish Saturday.  They will all need great days Friday to stay there though as the competition is incredibly close.

Brent Chapman says: I caught a lot of fish today, and I caught them from a variety of areas.  I also caught them with a variety of techniques.  I learned today that I don't need to waste any time tomorrow fishing for 3 lbs fish.  Thus, tomorrow  I think that I will start by throwing a bigger swim bait early.  After I get a decent limit, I am going to go back to flipping soft plastics and try to upgrade my limit.  I caught (3) 5 lbs fish yesterday that really helped my limit, so I want to transition to the flipping technique as ear