Sometimes it’s the “small” things that really get you excited about what you love to do. Sometimes it’s grabbing your favorite energy drink or coffee on the way to the lake that gets you amped on life.
Sometimes it’s turning up the volume on some Led Zeppelin and singing “Ramble On” at the top of your lungs that reminds you how much you love traveling across the country in your role as a “road warrior.”
Sometimes the trophies, titles and checks aren’t what keep the fire burning.
Sometimes it’s getting 3rd place in a nine-boat club derby that makes you remember how much you love the sport of bass fishing, and how sometimes the “big” stuff doesn’t matter all that much.
California Love
This off-season, instead of spending my time hunkered down in the Southeast, I have been spending some quality time with my girlfriend Katie at her home in Santa Cruz, Calif. So far it has been a stark contrast to my usual off-season routine of fishing on the regular while finding myself getting increasingly anxious to get the next season started.
Don’t get me wrong – I'm still extremely eager to get 2014 started because I’ve got a lot of exciting things in the works for next year’s bass fishing road show.
The biggest change has been the lack of on-the-water time. Since I’ve been in California I have only been on the water twice.
Normally this kind of fishing hiatus would drive me absolutely bonkers, but spending time with Katie, my mom, and some new and old California friends has kept the darkness at bay.
Also, since this is both Katie’s and my first time living with a significant other, the newfound balancing act that comes with it is both challenging and rewarding. Needless to say, we are both thankful for such a solid block of time to spend together since there’s not much time the rest of the year.
Derby Duo
I mentioned that I have been able to get out on the water for only 2 days in the last month. Those were spent with Katie on Lake Oroville, which borders my hometown of Paradise in Northern California.
I had found out that there was going to be a tournament put on by the Paradise Bass Club, which was a club that had formed right after my move to Florida. Despite the fact that I hadn’t been part of this club, I knew many of its members from my California fishing days, so I decided to enter the tournament with Katie.
We were both really excited coming into the event, and it couldn’t have worked out better. Katie has been getting into roller derby, as a referee, in Santa Cruz, and one of the teams was having a bout in Chico (only a few miles from Paradise) the night before. On top of that, an old college fishing buddy from San Jose State University, Anthony Lee, graciously let me borrow his boat for the weekend.
We were set!
Creating a Monster
Since we were up all night driving up to my mom’s house in Paradise, Katie and I weren’t able to get up for practice until about 10 in the morning, at which time we went straight to Oroville Outdoors (one of my favorite tackle shops) to gear up and get some licenses.
Since Katie had a long night ahead of her in Chico for the roller derby bout, by the time we got to the lake, we only had little over an hour to figure something out on a lake that I hadn’t fished in almost 8 years.
We had purchased all the usual Lake Oroville fare consisting of darter-headed Roboworms, dropshots and hula grubs. Knowing that the darter head was probably hard to beat for numbers of Oroville’s spotted bass, I set Katie up with one while I experimented a little.
By the end of our hour-long practice period, Katie had not only caught the first fish, she also caught the biggest and tied me for the total caught.
Girl’s a Ringer
After a night of fun at roller derby, we were pretty tired heading into the tournament, but both of us were very excited. Once launched, we headed straight for the middle fork, where we had spent our hour of practice the day before.
Once again, Katie, “the ringer,” showed her true colors, catching a very nice spotted bass right off the bat.
After that, I decided to switch primarily to the darter-head worm and we both commenced to catch a quick limit of the feisty Lake Oroville spots by about 8 a.m. Throughout the rest of the day we culled probably eight to 10 times – and when I say “we,” I mean we! Katie continued to catch fish that helped us throughout the day.
When we got back to the ramp to weigh in our catch, I was brimming with pride. I had never felt so good to have someone on the back of the boat catch so many fish, and she did it all like a champ.
We ended the day with a little over 8 1/2ounds, which is a decent bag on Oroville, and finished 3rd in the event, making a check in Katie’s first tournament.
I realized later that Oroville was also where I fished my first tournament – an event that I also finished 3rd in over 15 years ago.
Small is Big
Despite the fact that (as far as the number of boats) this was the smallest tournament I have fished in for years, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t extremely proud of our finish. On the drive home to Santa Cruz, I couldn’t help but reminisce on the weekend with Katie on the lake, and how excited both her and I were to be fishing a tournament together.
To be completely honest, I hadn’t felt this proud about a tournament for a while, and it had nothing to do with the money, a title or what the event could do for my career.
Sometimes it’s all about taking someone you love on a trip doing something you love.
Sometimes we forget the small things are really the big things.
(Miles "Sonar" Burghoff, a 2012 graduate of the University of Central Florida and the winner of the 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship, chronicles his quest toward becoming a tour-level angler in his Sonar Sound-Off column. To visit his website, click here. You can also visit him on Facebook and Twitter.
