The younger Burghoff is paying his dues and collecting awards of his own in the form of tournament paychecks, and thanks to his allegiance to BoatUS ANGLER since winning the 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship, he’s recently added cash bonuses to his winnings as a member of the BoatUS ANGLER “Weigh-to-Win” program.

“I gained an early appreciation for BoatUS ANGLER in a pretty humorous manner when Casey O’Donnell and I won the championship on Lake Lewisville,” explains Burghoff.

“I accidentally left my livewell pumps running during the weigh-in, and then long after the weigh-in, while we were doing media interviews and photo shoots. By the time Casey and I returned to load up my boat, we had both a championship trophy, and a totally dead cranking battery,” grinned Burghoff.

“Everybody we knew had already left the ramp. Thankfully, I remembered to reach into my pocket and call the toll free TowBoatUS dispatch number. In less than 20-minutes, a TowBoatUS Captain was there to give us a jump. He was super nice. And I couldn’t believe how fast he got to us,” explained “Sonar.”

Burghoff learned the “there-when-you-need-them” goodness of his BoatUS ANGLER membership last year, but only recently recognized the benefits of their Weigh-to-Win tournament cash bonus program.

“I’ll be honest with you, a year ago, I didn’t pay much attention to tournament bonus programs. I just wanted to win!” admitted Burghoff. “But then I realized how much money I had been missing out on, and signed up.  Since then I’ve won $2,000 through Weigh-to-Win,” said Burghoff who is near the completion of his college degree at The University of Central Florida.

“The coolest thing about Weigh-to-Win is that you don’t even have to win the tournament to win the bonus money. You just have to be the highest eligible finisher,” said Burghoff. 

Four hundred college anglers will have a chance at the same $1,000 Weigh-to-Win bonus Burghoff won last year when they compete next week on Lake Pickwick in the 2012 BoatUS ANGLER Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship – but only if they’re members of BoatUS ANGLER and “Weigh-to-Win.”

Simply said, it pays to buy a highly affordable BoatUS ANGLER membership regardless of what B.A.S.S., FLW, LBAA, College Bass or PAA events you compete in, especially when you’re registered for the http://www.boatusfishing.com/ cash tournament bonus program, and that’s why hundreds of anglers signed up last year. To make sure you are eligible in 2012, just dial (918) 742-6424 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CST, Monday – Friday, and ask for Kendell, she’ll make sure you get signed-up.

Not a great event, but the comeback tour is still ok.....

After Bull Shoals, I said the Duckett Exchange might be on track. I think it still is.

Last week, I finished 48th at our Elite Series tournament at Douglas Lake. And it wouldn’t be accurate to say I’m happy with 48th place, because I’m not. But last year that 48th place would have been 88th. So that’s something positive. Now I just have to move on with four more solid events.

Douglas was a hard tournament.

I don’t want to sound like I’m complaining about Douglas Lake, because it’s a beautiful lake and there are some great fishing spots. But the reality, from a competitive standpoint, is that there are only about six or seven places on the lake where you were going to catch enough big fish to win a big-time tournament. And when you’ve got as many great anglers as we’ve got in the Elite Series, there are only so many people that can get on those spots. Everybody else was fishing just to make the cut. It’s a frustrating way to fish.

A friend of mine said after the tournament, “Well, I guess everybody must have known where the six or seven holes were. So I guess if you didn’t get the right boat draw the first day, you were out of luck.”

I told him that, well, I wish it were that simple. But that’s not the case. A good boat draw certainly helps, but you had to know where to find those places. And there are several ways to do that. You could:

- Consider the lake a home lake, and you’d probably know

- Have pre-fished and found them

- Networked with local anglers and gotten some solid waypoints

- Had a great practice and gotten on the fish

I didn’t qualify for any of the top three. The thing that disappointed me was that I didn’t have a good practice. I never really got on the deep bite, and that was the winning bite.

So here’s what I did.

The first day I went 30 miles upriver and found some shallow places that were good enough for about 12 pounds. That put me 38th after the first day.

The second day I gambled early, thinking I could find a deep bite early. I figured I had time, if I missed, to go upriver again and get enough to make the cut. That’s what I did. I didn’t get the early bite – I had zero at 10:30 - so I took the hour round-tip upriver and got a little over 11 pounds. Then I headed back down to fish late in the day for the bigger bite. I could have stayed up river and hoped to gain a few more ounces, but I rolled the dice and tried for one good bite.

Although it didn’t work, I have to say I was felt comfortable at the end of the day fishing to try and move up.

The third day I fished the deep water all day, but it was locked down. I did the best I could do. I might could have gone up river and gained seven or eight places, maybe. But I stayed near the deep bite, headed to the bank a few time, and wound up with enough weight to finish 48th.

The bottom line, as I mentioned, is that it was a frustrating tournament because I didn’t have a good practice. But as I said before, last year would have been a disaster. This year, I never felt the frustration that takes you completely out of an event.

The guy that fished the best, I think, was Aaron Martens. Aaron’s ability to find fish in a tough event is almost legendary. He’s as good at that as anybody on tour at that. He found nine schools. And he also did something he doesn’t normally do. He pre-

fished the event. Aaron usually just shows up and finds them.

Aaron found nine schools. But because there are so few places, he couldn’t fish his spots.

Randy Howell fished a great tournament, too. You know, even if you think you’re on them, sometime they’re not biting. Randy was so confident that he would find them, he never went to the bank. One day he was still at zero at noon, but he had found them and he was so confident he would get on them that he never gave up.

So the bottom line is that, taking Florida out of the mix (because I have other issues to deal with in Florida) I consider this a six-event season. I had a good event at Bull Shoals. And now I had what I consider a sub-par event at Douglas. Four to go.

But I’ll say it again. Last year I would have been at the bottom of the barrel. This year it was a 48th place finish and I made the cut. I’m still in the game.

She was baking cinnamon rolls when I phoned in an attempt to find the heart behind yet another of the gestures that makes professional bass fishing intangibly special.

This time, “intangibly special” was found in the form of a half-dozen envelopes that stood out like a donkey at The Kentucky Derby on the front seat of KVD’s Tundra. Each of the six envelopes labeled with the name of a fellow Bassmaster Elite Series competitor in his mother’s handwriting.

Inside the envelopes, newspaper and magazine articles the 70-something mother of bass fishing’s most dominant angler had taken the time to clip from publications and laminate.

“Mom gives me a pile of envelopes to deliver to the guys three or four times a year,” explained the career long Quantum pro and 7-time Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year, who dubs as a postman without stamps. “I’ve been doing this for 20 years,” he added.

Holly Lane, wife of Bassmaster Classic Champ Chris Lane, has seen the goodness first hand. “Oh yes, absolutely. Chris and Bobby were both so excited to get them,” said Holly of the envelopes, who’s been Chris’ wife, and Bobby’s sister-in-law, for 12 years. “I think it’s awesome that she follows all the guys, not just Kevin, and then takes the time to cut ‘em all out, and laminate them too,” said Holly, a loving mother of four.

As the cinnamon rolls baked, I asked for her thoughts about Kevin’s phenomenal success. But it quickly became obvious that this wasn’t going to be about Kevin, and certainly not about “KVD”, her brown envelopes, or the laminated articles inside them.

Instead, it was going to be a lesson in humility. A story of how competitive success can only be best enjoyed when punctuated with character and generosity.

“Oh yea, I’m competitive, it’s true,” she laughed. “From baking, to making flower arrangements, to playing dominoes, I want to do it really well. I want to do it the very best I can,” made clear the bride of 53 years.

“In fact, I didn’t do real well in dominoes this winter,” she said in a way that I’ve heard Kevin explain himself on the weigh-in stage after a very rare tough day on the water. Classy. Humble. But hungry like a spring grizzly on a salmon stream.

Let’s just say the snowbirds down in Lakeland, Florida better bring their “A game” when Dick and Nadine return south with their dominoes next November to escape Michigan’s harsh winters.

But for the VanDams, tenacity must come generosity. Winning is mission critical, but only if you compliment it with humility. “I’m not surprised by Kevin’s success, I mean all my boys love to fish,” she said, as if she were talking about a guy that dominated the Tuesday night trail down at the local pond last year.

“I was talking to a guy at a business in Battle Creek the other day, and when he saw my last name was VanDam he asked me if I was Kevin’s mom,” she explained.  “And then he got all excited when I said I was. I think that’s kinda crazy,” she laughed. “I mean, he’s (Kevin) just human,” she added.

Yep Mom, “just human” … in the same way Jordan was a decent dribbler.

Then after a second look in the oven to make sure the cinnamon rolls she intends to share with her neighbors weren’t burning, she told me about trophies. Some the kind you win in bowling leagues and Bassmaster Classics.  And others that mean way more to a mother like Nadine VanDam.

“What I’m most proud of Kevin for is that he never let it go to his head,” she said with the voice only a mother’s heart can deliver. “He’s a good kid.”

“I mean whaddya do with trophies?” she asked. “I used to have a bunch of bowling trophies that I won.”

Note the key words “used to have”.

But like the cinnamon rolls, and laminated newspaper articles -- she gave the bowling trophies away too. They went to an underprivileged children’s home in Kalamazoo in an attempt to boost spirits. But pride in Kevin being a “good kid” … now that’s a trophy she’ll hold firmly in her generous heart forever.

The final standings for the Walmart Bass Fishing League North Carolina Division event on Lake Wylie have been updated because of a disqualification.

Boater John Hoyle of Rutherfordton, N.C., who finished Saturday’s competition in third place, was disqualified for violation of BFL rule No. 9 Sportsmanship after an 11-ounce weight was found in the stomach of one of the fish he weighed in Saturday’s competition. Hoyle’s tournament winnings were forfeited and fourth through 11^th place moved up one spot in the tournament’s final standings.

Hoyle will not be permitted entry into any future FLW tournaments.

“It’s a really cool addition to all kinds of boats, but especially bass boats,” he said. “As someone who has left a boat on the ramp before, believe me, the SNAPPER captures your boat and locks it on in wind, current, any conditions you can encounter. It doesn’t matter if the ramp is deep or shallow, the SNAPPER will get the job done and it’s a lot cheaper than fiberglass work.”

The SNAPPER is easy to install and easy to operate. A simple push of the button on a remote control key fob is all it takes for the device to release or capture the boat. That’ll make any angler quicker off the ramp and faster to the fish, even when launching alone. You’ll never have to wade in again. Additionally, it’s theft proof, tested for impact resistance, and will secure up to 10,000 pounds.

“We’re happy to have Chad on the team,” Said EPCO Sales Manager Dwight Creger. “He’s worked diligently with us to design a pivot plate that will hold the SNAPPER Boat Latch in the correct position every time.”

“It’s a privilege to work with a longstanding pillar of the marine industry like EPCO,” Morgenthaler concluded. “The fact that they sought out my input is a real honor.

The SNAPPER Boat Latch will be especially helpful for physically-impaired boaters. EPCO is a proud sponsor of Paralyzed Veterans of American and the National Bass Anglers Association.

With Mother’s Day just around the corner, TowBoatUS Captain Dave Anderson may have some making up to do. But, accomplished female tournament angler Janet Parker will forever be grateful for the assistance he provided her during the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open on Table Rock Lake.

Yes, Janet swears it’s true, Captain Anderson actually declined a cell phone call from his own mother while assisting her with a dead battery in the midst of competition on Day One of the tournament.

Parker found Anderson’s decision to shun his own mother rather humorous, but there was nothing funny about being powerless, after just her second stop of the day on the first day of the tournament, when attempting to crank-up and run further north on expansive Table Rock.

“On my second location, I caught a keeper, but the fish were not really cooperating, so I decided to make a run further north, but my boat wouldn’t start,” explained the Little Elm, Texas angler. Thank goodness she listened to her inner voice at the mandatory angler registration meeting the night before, and signed up for a BoatUS ANGLER membership with representatives who were on site.

“I always had the ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude, “ said Janet who runs a Ranger Boat wrapped with a recognizable Minn Kota Talon graphic.  “Fortunately when I was at registration, I had a little voice say I better sign up for both the BoatUS ANGLER Unlimited On-the-Road and On-the-Water Towing services,” said Parker.  “I figured if I never used it I’d only be out $72, but if I needed it – it’d be priceless – guess what – it proved priceless.”

“The TowBoatUS Captains went above and beyond what was required or expected. With permission from the tournament officials, Ranger Boats rep, George Liddle met Captain Dave at a marina with a new battery, and then Captain Dave and Delton came to where I was fishing and installed the new battery,” said Parker who was introduced to fishing by another female angler, her God Grandmother, Viola Lassiter. 

“Captain Dave and Captain Delton even came to the weigh-in later that day to see how I did,” grinned Janet. “And I reminded Captain Dave that he’d better call his mama back.”

Turns out, Janet Parker wasn’t the only angler that TowBoatUS aided during the event. Captains Dave and Delton answered numerous other dispatch calls for on-the-water assistance from Parker’s competitors during the three-day event on ‘The Rock.’

Tournament anglers who buy a BoatUS ANGLER membership will also benefit greatly from their subsequent free participation in the BoatUS ANGLER “Weigh-to-Win” tournament cash bonus program.

Simply said, it pays to buy a highly affordable BoatUS Angler membership regardless of what B.A.S.S., FLW, LBAA, College Bass or PAA events you compete in, especially when you’re registered for the Weigh-to-Win cash tournament bonus program, and that’s why hundreds of anglers signed up last year. To make sure you are eligible in 2012, just dial (918) 742-6424 between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. CST, Monday – Friday, and ask for Kendell, she’ll make sure you get signed-up. Or to learn more, please visit http://www.boatus.com/angler/

Chad Schroeder topped a field of over 400 anglers at Lake Norman to win the Jamie McMurray Big Bass Classic with a 5.47 pound big bass and Phillip Cox’ 7.18 pound big bass took the honors at Smith Mountain Lake as over  500 anglers competed in the Blue Ridge Big Bass Classic.  Both champions took home fully rigged Nitro Z7’s powered by Mercury, along with their hourly cash, landing each a total payday of nearly $30,000.

Up next the Tour heads to the heartland with the 3^rd Annual Kevin VanDam Big Bass Classic on Table Rock Lake in Missouri and the 1^st Annual Quantum Big Bass Classic on Ft. Gibson Lake in Oklahoma. 

About the Oakley Big Bass Tour:

The Oakley Big Bass Tour is the nation’s premier open big bass tournament series designed exclusively for amateur anglers.  We provide anglers of all skill levels an exciting tournament format and event experience on some of the nation’s best bass fisheries.  Established in 2007 our tour is focused on the promotion of bass fishing and bass conservation at the amateur level.  The 2012 Tour will feature stops in Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.  2012 Events will also be televised on Fox Midwest and SportSouth throughout the season.  For more information please visit www.oakleybigbass.com

KELSEYVILLE, CA - Jay Wright of Seal Beach, Calif., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 26 pounds, 11 ounces Saturday to win the EverStart Series Western Division event on Clear Lake with a three-day total of 15 bass weighing 74 pounds, 5 ounces. For his victory, Wright earned $26,155.
 
“We got here on Sunday and it was 90 degrees and there were bed fish everywhere,” Wright, who made his first top-10 cut and won his first major tournament said. “You could catch 30 pounds in your sleep. But then things started to change and a major cold front was predicted so I knew I had to find another pattern, I knew those bed fish wouldn’t last.
 
“On Tuesday I was able to find some staging fish on dock poles and rock piles,” Wright went on. “I tried using a big swimbait; the bass would follow it but they wouldn’t eat it."
 
A major cold front rolled through on Wednesday evening bringing gale force winds and rain. Wright indicated that water temperatures cooled off 6 to 8 degrees depending on where you were on the lake. He was right, bed fishing was over.
 
“On Thursday you couldn’t see the bed fish any longer due to the wind and rain,” Wright continued. “I caught all my fish with a 6-inch Robo Worm around dock poles, rock piles and tules. The second day the big swimbait finally worked. I caught six bass with it. However, my big 7-pounder came drop-shotting a worm.
 
“Today conditions were perfect for me. It was sunny with just enough wind to make the bass eat my big swimbait. It was amazing. I think the biggest thing for me was being able to stay in the tournament mentally. I stayed calm and stayed with my plan and it paid off.
 
“This is an amazing feeling,” Wright went on. “We work so hard for this and put in so many hours I can’t even describe how I am feeling. I wouldn’t be able to do this without the support of my family, friends and co-workers, I am truly blessed. And I especially want to thank my old hockey coach Reg Dunlap who taught me to never stop swinging for the haymakers."
 
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd:      Wayne Breazeale, Kelseyville, Calif., 15 bass, 73-3, $8,967
3rd:      Mark Crutcher, Lakeport, Calif., 15 bass, 72-10, $7,437
4th:       Paul Bailey, Kelseyville, Calif., 15 bass, 70-13, $6,726
5th:       Jimmy Reese, Witter Springs, Calif., 15 bass, 70-11, $5,978
6th:       Troy Lindner, Los Angeles, Calif., 15 bass, 68-13, $5,231
7th:       Tony Franceschi, Livermore, Calif., 15 bass, 68-4, $4,484
8th:       Mark Casey, Fairfield, Calif., 15 bass, 66-12, $3,736
9th:       Greg Gutierrez, Red Bluff, Calif., 15 bass, 66-8, $2,989
10th:     Charlie Weyer, West Hills, Calif., 15 bass, 63-1, $2,242
 
Complete results can be found at www.FLWOutdoors.com.

BRANSON, Mo. — Watching fellow Bassmaster Elite Series’ pro Brandon Palaniuk win the Elite Series event at Bull Shoals Lake gave Casey Scanlon an idea. He decided to replicate Palaniuk’s pattern this week during the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Central Open at Table Rock Lake.

His strategy paid off as the Lenexa, Kan., pro won his first B.A.S.S. event and a berth to the 2013 Bassmaster Classic by catching 49 pounds, 4 ounces of Table Rock bass. He also took home a Triton/Yamaha rig valued at $45,000 and $6,720 in cash.

“Last week on Bull Shoals, a lot of the fish were being caught on (Storm Lures) Wiggle Warts,” Scanlon said . “I caught some deep fish in practice here on a deep crankbait, and everybody knows that Brandon Palaniuk kind of put us to shame with the bags he brought in on that deep crankbait. So I looked for that pattern in practice. I caught a lot of good fish doing that in practice, and I was catching some bigger ones on the bluffs.”

He stared fishing the bluffs the first day but he noticed that bite he had in practice was fading, so he switched to the deep-diving crankbait — a chartreuse sexy shad Strike King 6XD model that produced for him in the afternoon.

“I tried to target some fish offshore that not a lot of people were fishing for,” Scanlon said. “I was deep cranking over brush piles and points leading into spawning pockets.” Most of his fish were holding over depths of 13 to 20 feet.

The second day, he caught his biggest fish along a bluff on a phantom green Wiggle Wart, but the rest of his keepers were taken on the Strike King 6XD. Scanlon did a lot of running and gunning today and threw the Strike King crankbait again to catch a 13-7 limit that clinched the victory.

Flipping Berkley Havoc baits and a 4-inch Senko produced a second-place finish for Cypress, Texas, pro James Kiser, who accumulated a three-day total of 46-09. He targeted wood cover in the backs of creeks to catch his limit the first two days.

“I left those fish yesterday at about 11 o’clock with a limit thinking that I would save some for today, but it didn’t work out that way,” he said. “I had one fish at noon today, but I had one stop that I fished in practice and had just caught keepers there. The first fish I caught there was a 4-pounder.”

The other Top 5 pro division anglers were Kelly Power, Cape Fair, Mo., in third place with 45-4; Brian Potter, Claremore, Okla., fourth, 44-4; and Tommy Martin, Hemphill, Texas, fifth, 43-14.

Dustin Lester of Huntington, Calif., won the Luck “E” Strike Heavyweight Award for the heaviest single-day catch of the tournament in the pro division with a 21-15 sack, and Mike Hoese, Crown Point, Ind., earned the award on the non-boater side with an 11-5 limit.

The Carhartt Big Bass of the Tournament winner was Clayton Coppin, Wagoner, Okla., with a 7-1 largemouth. 

For complete standings, visit www.bassmaster.com