"In practice, I launch my boat before daylight," he continues. "When I get to the ramp, 99 percent of the time, I'm the first one there. And I'll usually be the last one to load up. I've even gone so far as to get to the boat ramp at the end of the day, notice someone still out, and continue to fish in the area until they load up. If you don't need your running lights at both the beginning and end of your practice day, then you're not doing your best."
This veteran hard-charger tells of a B.A.S.S. Top 100 he fished in Mobile, AL, in which he burned 62 gallons of gas...on just the first day of practice, no less.
"I launched at daylight and didn't get back to my motel room until 8 p.m. that evening. The bass I found that day allowed me to make the top 10 cut.
"In a Honey Hole team tournament on Richland-Chambers," Wilcox continues, "I found a good school of bass that I believed I could win the tournament with. I was afraid someone else would locate them, because in these events, you can launch at 4 a.m. from any public ramp. It took a lot of extra effort to make sure we were the first ones to the spot, but it paid off. We didn't see another boat until 5:45 a.m.
Then there was a couple's tournament on Lake Tawakoni a few years back, when the water was more than 5 feet low. Wilcox knew this would make the lake fish very "small," because most of the docks were high and dry. As a result, he went about locating fish at an out-of-the-way area.
"About a month before this event," he notes, "I went to a creek that had held bass in the past. I knew I couldn't reach the spot I wanted with my Champion, so I went as far as I could, then waded into the creek to find a deeper channel. After wading in the muck, sometimes up to my waist, I found a slightly deeper area and marked it. I later came back with a 16-foot aluminum boat, got a good running start, and tried to jump the boat into the creek. I spent the next five hours stuck in the mud, but I wasn't going to give up yet.
"I went back a few days later with a high-school kid, who wanted to earn a few bucks, and we used shovels to dig a channel 200 yards long. During the second day of our digging, my friend, Ben, showed up in an aluminum boat with a Go-Devil on the back. He went right in around me and never had to get out of his boat. That was a good lesson for me. There's always a better way. You just have to keep an open mind."
Wilcox rethought his strategy and borrowed a 14-foot flat-bottom that was easier to push. When he and Ben returned to the lake before the tournament, though, they found it had dropped another 6 inches. That dictated more digging (about six hours' worth) to make the creek accessible, but that wasn't all. There was a huge tree jam about a half-mile farther up, blocking the way as well. It took a couple hours with a chainsaw to clear that obstacle and create a passage into the creek. The two then went to the ramp closest to this creek and dug it out for easier launching.
Even though neither one ended up winning the couple's tournament, Wilcox and his friend, Ben, did make a respectable showing. Wilcox and his daughter finished second, and Ben and his wife finished fourth. Both teams had limits each day.
This may sound like a lot of effort for a tournament, but it demonstrates the "going the extra mile" Wilcox spoke of earlier. "Doing whatever it takes to try and win will make you a more successful tournament angler," he says.
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