Won My First College Qualifier!

[Dalton Tam]

As some of you may know, I just started fishing for Louisiana Tech and have been stoked to fish in college for A LOOONG time. My first tournament didn't go so well as I did not get to fish it because I got in a bad wreck on the way to the tournament that morning. I felt like life had put a damper on my fishing since college started. With little time to get out on the lake, I felt like maybe I was loosing my will and drive to be a great angler. Some of you may have read a post of mine talking about that very thing. I appreciated the words of wisdom but it did little to actually boost my self esteem. Well... I just fished "MY" first qualifier Sunday on Lake Darbonne and WON! Not just won, I did very good considering the conditions and based off the other competitors' weights. I ended up having a 12.4 lb bag of fish. Second was apprx. 10 lbs., 3rd was my coangler which had 6 lbs. and after that was about 4 lbs. on to zilch. We had around 15-20 guys fishing and it RAINED.... ALL STINKING DAY. It was sooo cold. I caught my fish on a watermelon Jig with an ultra vibe speed craw for a trailor dipped in JJ's magic chartreuse color. I was fishing docks but it was very tough... I had to literally pitch my jig as far under the dock as possible and try to fish every post going into the water. I tried catching the fish off of structure around the dock but they just weren't there and I think that's where alot of guys went wrong. I really feel like a million bucks right now and feel like I am back in the game. I am qualified to Fish Sam Rayburn in a couple weeks but I don't think I am going to be able to because I only have a 16 ft. Skeeter and was told it would be a suicide attempt to put it on that lake if the winds picked up. I was supposed to fish with another guy that had a bigger boat but he backed out and no one else is going to be able to either. But on the other hand, I am also qualified to fish Lake Amistad this coming February, the 4th, I believe and it is an FLW tournament so I will be provided with a driver and 20-22 foot Ranger. I am So PUMPED! Guess I have to start my research on Amistad now because the unfortunate part of FLW is there is no prefishing time. So thanks for taking the time to read this if you got this far. I just needed to share the News with everyone. Also, if you are a Stick on Amistad and want to help someone out, I'm available for conversation.

Keep Fishing,

Dalton

[Sam]

Congrts on doing so well and qualifying for future tournaments.

Just remember your studies come first.

After graduation you can buy your Ranger and enter many more tournaments.

Keep us posted on your future adventures.

Geaux Tigers!!!!!

[matstone7]

Great job Dalton, congrats!

[Grey Wolf]

Congrats.

[slonezp]

Awesome!

[jeremyt]

Sorry that I just saw this. I am happy for you. Good to see you on a high, after reading about your low. Good luck to you in the future!

[psuangler91]

When you say you qualified what circuit was it? Were you just qualifying to fish for your team in the FLW's or is it a different circuit all together? This season was my first fishing for Penn State and my partner and I took 11th at the big ten classic. We were both psyched cause it was the first tournament for both of us. I can't wait for the FLW season to start up but we don't have our first regional qualifier until june! I'd imagine it's earlier for you guys.

[oldhippie]

way to go,some of you'all were up at the chickamauga this year,we were glad to help!!...oldhippie

[Glenn]

That's awesome Dalton!

[Bass Junkie]

Congratulations!

[lynyrdsky1]

Congratulations man. In the college clubs do you need to have a boat? Im going to alabama next fall and didn't know if I had a chance as a non boater.