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Late Saturday night I spoke with Derek and he had told me his co-angler had contacted him and he would be practicing with him in the morning.
I asked Derek what time he anticipated that he and the other pros would be leaving for practice, and was shocked when he told me 4:30 a.m. So I called my friend Jeff Stahl, who is also fishing the tournament, and told him we would have to meet at 4:30 down at the dock.
There wasn't a boat in sight until about 5, when Derek pulled in. Another hour passed before a co-anglerless boat arrived, and seeing as how I did the scouting, I had dibs. When I read the name on the side of the boat my hands started shaking, and they did not stop shaking until I was brought back to the docks later that day.
The angler that pulled in without a co-angler was none other then RICK CLUNN! I think I learned more fishing eight hours with him than I have amassed in my 24 years of fishing. OK maybe not quite, but it sounds good and I did learn a ton.
So I thought long and hard about posting this and I did not know if I wanted to or not, but after thinking about it, I am going to share and hopefully it will teach a person a thing or two.
When I first approached Mr. Clunn he told me no, and he was going to give me a reason why but I told him the situation did not warrant one. I would be hesitant to pick some kid up off the lawn of a boat ramp to take fishing with me if I were him, too.
After he dropped his boat into the drink, he pulled forward and asked me where I was from. I told him Buffalo and he said "So you have been on this lake a lot."
I told him I grew up on it and occasionally I fished it off of a 16-foot aluminum boat with a little 9.9 hp motor. He then said, "If you want to go fishing, put your stuff in the boat and I will be right down."
Once we started talking, Mr. Clunn told me that there are a lot of loudmouth co-anglers out there. So many co-anglers have ruined opportunities like this by giving away anglers' spots, setups, and lures after the pros have been gracious enough to welcome them on their boat. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Mr. Clunn after that day of fishing.
And further more I would hope that by calling out blabbermouth co-anglers maybe they will think twice about sharing information in the future.
Charles Waldorf
