Lake Eufaula Elite Marshal Experience

[OCdockskipper]

I was able to marshal for 3 days at the just concluded Elite event on Lake Eufaula.  It is a long way from my home in Southern California, but I have a sister who lives in southern Georgia, so I stayed with her during the event.  This was the 3rd time I have marshaled and originally signed up in anticipation that it was going to be a shallow water battle (it had been scheduled for the start of April).  The Covid19 postponements changed this to a early off shore event for the most part, but it was still a good time.  This post is going to be a bit long because I want to give a clear representation of what to expect for anyone one who is considering doing this.

 

DAY 1 - BRANDON LESTER

After the marshal meeting on Tuesday, I found my Day 1 pairing to be Brandon Lester from Fayetteville, Tennessee.  I met Brandon at the launch ramp at 4:30 Wednesday morning and found him to be a very fine young man (same age as my sons).  Not real emotional, very even keeled and very much a consummate professional.

 

Brandon was boat 51, he was a little concerned that the spots he wanted to start on might have other anglers on them.  Sure enough, as we move down the lake, his first spot has a boat on it.  Brandon said he prefers not to fish spots he has found while other anglers are there, but understands anglers who want to share spots.  We get to his number 2 spot, an offshore hump not far from the main channel.  A couple of casts with a crankbait nets a 2 lb bass to start the day, but the action quickly dies down.  After a few minutes, Chris Johnston pulls around to the opposite side of the spot and asks Brandon if it is okay to fish it.  Brandon graciously says yes and both anglers throw different baits in the area.  Brandon hooks up with a 2nd fish, but it is short & he releases it.

 

After about 20 minutes, Brandon decides to go to a unique spot that he believes no one else will find, it looks to be nothing special but is a well hidden gem.  Sure enough, as we get there, Brandon Palaniuk's boat is there, to which I remarked "maybe this is a spot that only people named Brandon find".  Brandon (Lester) smiled and responded "These guys are good, it is tough to find stuff that they don't find.  He moved down the lake towards another offshore hump, positioned the boat, set the spot lock and started casting with a deep diving crankbait.  His first 4 casts result in 3 fish, nothing giant, and then he switches over to a large plastic worm on a heavy shakey head.  About this time Chris Johnston pulls up to our right & says "Looks like we found the same spots".  Chris is about 40 yards away, so while they are casting the same direction & fishing the same area, they are not casting to the exact same spots.  Brandon catches a couple of bass, including a 3 lb bass, with the worm & then switches over to a drop shot.  Nothing for a few casts & then  he switches over to a Big TRD on what looks to be about a 1/5th oz Shroomz head.  First cast nets another 3lb bass, next 2 casts a couple of 2 lb fish and the 4th cast results in another 3 lb bass.  All the time, Chris Johnston is not getting bit.  From what I could tell, it was a small area that the fish were stacked up on that Brandon was repeating casts to and it was out of Chris's range.  Chris made some humorous, self deprecating remarks and took it all in stride.

 

I took a few pictures and texted them into B.A.S.S. as Brandon caught fish after fish.  Within moments, I got a skype call from B.A.S.S. and they wanted to put Brandon on BassMaster Live during this flurry.  I get my phone in position aimed at Brandon when he once again hooks up.  This time the fish is pulling drag, and after a couple of minutes, Brandon lands his largest fish of the day, a solid 5lber.  The B.A.S.S. guy on the other end of skype responds, "Nice timing Brandon", which drew a big grin.

 

The rest of the day, Brandon jumped around between his offshore spots & some brushpiles, seemingly catching something at just about every spot.  He had small culls throughout the day, catching a total of 43 bass, with his best 5 going 19lbs, good enough to put him in 21st for the day.

 

 

DAY 2 - CHAD PIPKINS

My day 2 pairing was with Chad Pipkins from Lansing, Michigan.  While close in age to Brandon Lester, Chad has a very different personality.  A ball of positive energy, always moving and doing something efficient with his time while constantly using positive self talk to keep him focused on what he is trying to accomplish.  Engaging & charismatic, Chad is also a consummate professional like Brandon, in a different package.

 

Chad was boat 71 for Day 2, so he fully expected to not have many of his spots open by the time he made it to them.  Sure enough, we passed about 4 spots he wanted to fish that were occupied until we made it down to his first stop.  Fishing started a little slow, even though Chad could see fish on the spot with his depthfinder.  He tried different lures and angles with no success.  Then, he moved from being downwind of the fish to being upwind & spot locked the boat.  Casting with the wind allowed him longer casts, which would get the deep diving crankbait down in the zone for a longer time.  This resulted in 3 bass in about five casts before action slowed back down.  The changing of position seemed to be the trigger for the day, he would stop on different spots, not get a strike, only to then shift 180 degrees to the fish and pick off one or two.

 

Later that morning, Chad stopped at another offshore spot that actually had 3 different good areas all near each other.  He had been finding the fish moving from one location to another each day, but always somewhere on the spot.  This day was no different, when he finally found where they were, he hooked up on 8 straight casts.  This flurry caused B.A.S.S. to call me via skype and after a few minutes of filming, we were joined by Tommy Sanders and Mark Zona.  It was fun playing camera man for the interview and Chad was very comfortable being on camera.  Following that, Andy Crawford from B.A.S.S. followed us for a few hours taking photos.  His gallery can be seen on the Bassmaster website under the trending "Day 2 with Pipkins".  I'm the dude in the back of the boat, face completely covered and taking pictures of Chad as he is landing fish.  I had forgotten to take my life jacket off during the flurry, so I look like this enormous tub of goo .

 

Chads day was not as good as his day 1, he ended up catching 24 bass, with his best 5 going 17-8.  It was more than good enough to make the cut and he ended up just missing the top ten the following day, finishing the tournament in 13th (one spot behind Brandon Lester).

 

 

DAY 3 - GARY CLOUSE

After 2 days with 30 something anglers, the final day was with someone closer to my own age.  Gary Clouse, the founder of Phoenix boats, met me at the takeoff dock, where he was currently sitting in 21st place following the cut.  Gary is what you would expect out of someone who built a thriving company like Phoenix, straightforward & personable with the ability to focus on exactly what he is trying to accomplish.  Gary is originally from Missouri but now hails from Winchester, Tennessee, home of his company.  Not reliant upon sponsors allows Gary the freedom to choose products he wants on his boat with no conflict.  The best example of this is found at the bow of his Phoenix, where he has Humminbird, Lowrance & Garmin screens, all 3 doing something different than the others (and chosen for being better at it).

 

Also fishing offshore, Gary's Day 3 started much slower than his first 2.  He picked off a 2 lb bass on his first spot, but then hit a dry spell.  After a couple of his other spots didn't payoff, Gary made the choice to run brushpiles he had marked in practice instead.  Over the day, he would hook up at every other brushpile, most of the fish in the 1-2lb range.  Near midday, he did cap his limit with a 4 lb fish and allowed him to relax and try to cull.  As the afternoon began, the action picked up a bit, but the culls were small, 4 oz or so per fish.  With less than 45 minutes to go, Gary pulled up to a channel bend not far from the launch site.  He didn't get bit on the brushpile there, but then noticed a fish off to the side of where he expected it to be.  He made a cast and immediately hooked up with a 3 lb bass.  As the clock counted down, Gary hooked up with 2 more better fish, getting his total up to 13-6 for the day & putting him in a tie for 29th with Gerald Swindle.  He left them biting, had he found those fish 20 minutes early, it is foreseeable he could have culled out another few pounds and moved into the top 20.

 

 

In all, it was a very memorable experience.  If you are considering signing up, I would recommend taking (& texting in) photos as well as getting connected with B.A.S.S. via skype.  It allows you to be more than just a passenger on the boat, between those activities and keeping a running total on Basstrak, you are helping the angler document his day.

 

[Mike L]

@OCdockskipper

Excellent report, Thanks!

I also recommend being a Marshall.

 

A few years ago I was one at an Elite event a few years ago (David Mullins) and learned a lot about preparation and the finer points of situational adjustments, while getting some of the things I do validated. 

If anyone has the time and extra cash you won’t regret it. 
 

Again, Thanks for posting

 

 

 

 

Mike

[Hammer 4]

Great read..Thanks for sharing..

[12poundbass]

Great read, and sounds like you got lucky and paired with some good guys. 

[OCdockskipper]

15 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Great read, and sounds like you got lucky and paired with some good guys. 

Yeah, I did, although for the most part, there really doesn't seem to be many jerks on the Elite series now.  You have different personalities, some quiet, some outgoing, but since a good portion of these anglers are guys who benefited by the other anglers leaving for BPT, you tend to find an attitude of gratefulness.

 

An example of this was Brandon Lester, who asked whom I had marshaled for on Lake Havasu.  I told him the three names and then added that I was a little surprised at how difficult one of the anglers seemed, even though we were both from California.  I chalked it up to the old Nor Cal not liking So Cal thing, which has been around for generations, but Brandon confirmed that angler had always been a bit complex and not always the easiest guy to get along with.  He said some guys become known names in the bass fishing world and it kind of goes to their head.  He then said that whenever he starts to do that himself, or begins to think how tough it is to be a pro, he thinks back to a tournament on Lake Norman that was blazing hot.  Brandon was moving down the shoreline, just miserable when he looked up and saw a couple of roofers working on a nearby home.  Suddenly, being out fishing in the heat didn't seem so bad.  Great example of a good attitude and wonderful perspective.

[FryDog62]

Great OC, appreciate the color and detail?

[BassNJake]

Awesome, thanks for the write up!!

 

I'd recommend the marshall experience as well

[Rpratt]

Thanks for the post! Very good job of giving some of the inside skinny. However I have one request....

 

Come film me on Skype so I can pull in a 5lb bass on cue ?

[Oregon Native]

Nicely done...tks

[TnRiver46]

Thanks for that! Good read..... day 1 19 lbs gets you in 21st place??? Geez tough crowd!

[EWREX]

12 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

Thanks for that! Good read..... day 1 19 lbs gets you in 21st place??? Geez tough crowd!

LOL seriously! i'm ecstatic when i get a 15lb bag on tournament day

[OCdockskipper]

A funny addendum, I had taped all of the "Bassmaster Live" Episodes for this tournament that were broadcast on ESPN2 last week.  I was curious how it would all play out on TV compared to being there, plus I wanted to see if i would end up on TV  .  So midway through the first episode, they show the footage I had shot over skype where Brandon Lester catches the 5 lb bass.  I rewound it, called my wife into the room and showed it to her, letting her know I was behind the camera.  She didn't seem too impressed and then asked "If he had dropped the fish on the carpet, would you have had to put him in timeout?".

 

She catches just enough of the fishing shows I watch to be dangerous...

[WRB]

Thank you for sharing your detailed and personal report.

I fished Eufaula back in 1969 and watching this event on TV didn't recognize the lake.

Highway bridges and causeways I don't recall and spent all my time near a big channel swing near the dam with long underwater points left side and no grass to speak of.

Never thought of being a Marshall and had several opertunities the past few years.

Tom

[OCdockskipper]

Tom, it would be great to have video footage of you as a marshal and watching the conversation between you & the pro meander over to personal bests.  You could casually bring a photo out of your wallet of one of the 17 lb fish and then say "this one was a good one, it just barely made my top 5".

 

Those anglers over 40 would love to have you in their boat, I wonder if any of the younger guys would be a bit intimidated.

[WRB]

1 hour ago, OCdockskipper said:

Tom, it would be great to have video footage of you as a marshal and watching the conversation between you & the pro meander over to personal bests.  You could casually bring a photo out of your wallet of one of the 17 lb fish and then say "this one was a good one, it just barely made my top 5".

 

Those anglers over 40 would love to have you in their boat, I wonder if any of the younger guys would be a bit intimidated.

My wife is uncomfortable being on a cruise ship with me because I also want to drive the boat, I am not a good back seater.

Tom

[ReedFish]

Great report, being a Marshall is worth every penny it costs.  I highly recommend it also.