Whoa what a night- Ross England's visit to Ultimate Bass University was a huge success! Y'all kind of caught us by surprise; we were expecting a lower than usual turnout since we didn't meet in January. You know, rebuilding the routine, realigning the ol' schedule, but no. The photo doesn't do it justice, since you can only do so much with an iPhone (thanks Kent) after dark. But apparently there was some pent up demand for a good seminar, or you really, really missed us, or something, becuase we blew through 10 pizzas, several dozen cookies, a jar of salsa with enough chips to scoop it all up, and gallons of soda. We all scrambled for chairs, seats in and on boats, and so forth, to make for a super party!
The Bassaholics nuts were out in force, including most of the GFM crew. Two lucky winners received Lucky Craft goods autographed by Skeet Reese, and this isn't a one-time thing either. The Bassaholics guys have stepped up in a major way to help support the class and our local fishin' community. It's only appropriate that we should all "be true to [our] school" and sport those Bassaholics clothes at every opportunity! We have the sweatshirts/T-shirts/beanies/ball caps/trucker hats, and whatever else your fashion sense demands in the tackle shop (thanks to Tackle Tyler), so no excuses. Wear Bassaholics to EVERY UBU (among all the other places you should be wearing them)- prize winning will ensue.
Ross England's presentation was probably one of the best we have had yet (and given the calibur of people we have already brought through, that's REALLY saying something)! His unassuming manner tricked us all, and left everyone stunned as he proceeded to answer all these questions we didn't even know we had about Clear Lake. Maybe it's just that he spends more time guiding than competing these days, but Ross had such great insight into what the weekend warrior needs to know to be successful out there.
He didn't share just what baits and what colors and what line he uses and wish us all luck. To kick off the class, he offered up his personal tackle box, and passed it around the room for everyone to check out- no secrets between us. Then he went on to give us a whole framework for thought process. How to find what we're looking for, more than just the facts and figures of where, when, and on what.
Speaking of "where," he also lent us a sneak a peek at his personal Clear Lake map.... It comes off as a primitive GIS overlay at first, but he showed us the lake map he keeps that has a waypoint for every big fish he's caught out there. And suddenly folks, we have a pattern. To bottom line it, this fella has done the research, and all we have to do is sign up for a trip to reap the rewards of his hard work! There is no doubt in our minds that he is second to none in Clear Lake expertise, and easily one of the most personable people on the water.
Of course, we enjoyed Kent's usual jokes at Rio Linda Frank's expense (welcome back Frank, we missed ya!), gave away a ton of free raffle prizes, sent Ross back home with some gas money (awesome participation for the pay in raffle- thanks guys, we don't take your support for granted), and finally called it a night by 9:30. Bunch of tired pups dragging in the shop this morning, but we decided, it was completely worth it!
If you feel like you really missed out, you can certainly sign up for a private tutorial with Ross- find him at ClearLakeGuideService.com!
