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Right Coast / Left Coast,
USA. – They say that bass fishing can be like a drug, especially tournament fishing. Most anglers who dabble into tournament angling will go to great lengths to compete. Nobody exhibited the tendency towards extreme behavior and the desire to compete recently than Bassmaster Elite Series anglers Ish Monroe, John Murray and Mark Tyler.
Considering that each of these anglers fished in 14 tournaments on the Elite series schedule and the majors, traveled at least 25,000 miles towing their boats across country and back; you would think it have been enough for any sane person. Not these three, after competing in the final event of the Elite Series season at Lake Toho, they kept pushing.
When the chance to earn money, build their brands and promote their sponsors is out there, the three of them made treks to the opposite coast to compete. Each of them put great effort into planning and they received help from their sponsors in their attempt to excel at tournament angling. Their results varied, but their efforts were extraordinary.
Ish Monroe
After his 35th place finish at Lake Toho, Monroe hooked up his east coast Ranger and drove to San Antonio Texas to grab a flight to Sacramento before driving to his home in Hughson, CA. When he arrived home, he hooked up his west coast boat and drove to Clear Lake for the WON BASS tri States Team Championships.
| Between Elite Series tournaments Monroe and his team partner Zach Thompson, a former Bassmaster Tour pro and western pro teamed up to bring home the WON BASS Delta Region Anglers of the Year title. This Region featured some of the Delta’s most feared competitors, Bobby Barrack included. |
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Their Anglers of the Year title earned them the shot at competing against more than 100 of the top WON BASS teams in the Western United States at Clear Lake. Monroe and Thompson finished 18th. “I planned my year out from start to finish,” Monroe said. “Keith Tripp [Ranger Boats Western Representative] and Ranger Boats made sure I had a boat on the West Coast to use when I came home, and my other sponsors made sure I had plenty of equipment to compete with, wherever I was.”
Following the Tri States tournament, Monroe headed home for a few days before catching a plane to San Antonio, grabbing his truck and boat and trailering to Byron Velvick’s Amistad Lake Resort, and the last event of the BASS Central Open schedule, at Lake Amistad.
Monroe has traveled 5,353 miles since leaving Lake Toho, and has fished in three tournaments since the Sunshine Showdown began on September 13. “My sponsors stand behind me and partner with me in doing this,” Monroe said. “I couldn’t do it without them.”
[BZ Note: Monroe finished day one at the Lake Amistad Central Open tied for 25th place with 15 pounds, 5 ounces).
John Murray
Murray needed to catch one fish at Toho to qualify for his 5th trip to the Bassmaster Classic, so he felt comfortable enough to fish a local team tournament Championship at Lake Pleasant, near his home in Phoenix on the Friday and Saturday before leaving for Toho. Murray and his partner Joe Wheeler finished the event in 7th place.
“I thought I would sleep on the flight from Phoenix to Birmingham, but I was too wound up,” Murray said. “I landed in Birmingham on Sunday [9/9] and drove to Orlando; it’s been non stop since.” Murray finished in the 53rd position at Lake Toho, only three ounces out of cashing a paycheck.
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Murray hired a friend to fly to Orlando and pick up his truck and boat and drive it home to Phoenix. While his friend was driving, he spent Saturday night in Orlando at the party celebrating his roommate Skeet Reese’s Angler of the Year title. “I got a few hours of sleep before catching a 7:00 AM flight to Portland Ore. to fish the FLW Series event at the Columbia River,” Murray said. “Keith Tripp arranged for me to have a boat to use from Spokane Valley Marine so that I could fish.” |
He sent some of his equipment and tackle with his friend and FLW Pro Bret Hite to Portland so that he could fly to the event. “I sent four rods, and plenty of Berkley Gulp with Bret,” Murray said. “Keith Bryan at Powell shipped four more rods so that I would have plenty to fish with.”
“I only had one day of practice in Oregon, and I never got on anything good,” Murray said. “I caught 100 smallmouth a day up there on the Gulp; I just never caught any big ones.” (Murray finished in 96th place). He boarded another plane and flew home to Phoenix.
Murray is currently preparing to fish a second local team tournament championship on Lake Roosevelt and a third at Lake Mead. “It’s been a busy couple of weeks, and I’m not sure I would do it again,” Murray told The BASS ZONE. “The moral of this story is that it has been too much for me to do at this point in my career, I haven’t done very well at any of these.”
Murray has traveled 6,559 miles and will have fished four tournaments in four weeks.
Mark Tyler
Tyler left his home in Vian, Okla. the Friday before Lake Toho, but the trip was a lot shorter than expected. “I got two miles from home, and the water pump went out,” Tyler said. “I parked the truck, and a good friend of mine, Ed Barton loaned me his truck, so I left the next morning.”
| Tyler got to Toho a day later than he had wanted, but still was there to practice and get ready for the tournament, which did not go as well as Tyler had hoped. “I had a really bad tournament at Toho,” Tyler said. “I just didn’t catch
‘em.” So, Tyler parked his rig and caught a flight to Portland for the same FLW Series event that Murray was entered into.” |
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“I made arrangements with Adam Mokres, a Co-angler from Chico, Calif. to use his Bass Cat at the Columbia River,” Tyler said. “I was comfortable with the boat, because it was my boat in ’05; Adam bought it from me.” Tyler said that he had rigged the boat himself, so he knew what to expect.
As for tackle, Tyler said he likes to plan ahead, and he shipped two boxes of tackle to Mokres via UPS in preparation for the event. “I sent him an Aqua Vu camera and all of the stuff I thought I would need,” Tyler said. “Then, when I boarded the plane from Orlando, I had a rod tube with nine Kistler Rods in it, and some more tackle, and went to Portland.”
Tyler finished in 97th place, saying that he struggled to find quality fish, and, like Murray, he caught a lot of fish, but was unable to catch the big ones.
Following the Columbia River, Tyler caught another plane to Orlando, where he picked up Barton’s truck and his Travelodge Bass Cat, and drove home to Vian. He will be home for a week, and then he will head to Pennsylvania for a Travelodge promotion at Cabela’s. “This is all a part of the Travelodge Dream Team Promotion,” Tyler told The BASS ZONE. “I will be doing seminars at Cabela’s and helping people to learn how to fish, and tell them how they can earn bonuses at
www.travelodgedreamteam.com.”
Tyler traveled 8342 miles fishing his two tournaments.
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