"I guess one of the worst bad days that a bass fisherman, especially a bass-tournament fisherman, can have is to experience equipment failure," he noted.
"Several years ago, I was running 15 miles down the lake and lost the lower unit on my boat. The officials sent out a rescue boat to pull me and my boat back to the launch site. I had to wait to have a new lower unit put back on my motor. So, instead of starting to fish that tournament at 7 a.m., I didn't begin until 9:30 a.m.
"When I was 40-miles down the river, about 10 miles from where I wanted to fish, I lost power to my boat's powerhead," he continued. "I looked at my watch. It was 11 a.m., and I hadn't been able to fish at all yet. I hadn't even made my first cast.
"I had enough power to idle, so I idled for about 40 minutes to get to one of the places where I thought I could catch bass. I actually was able to fish for only 45 minutes, but I caught 13 pounds of bass. Then I turned the boat around and idled all the way back to the launch site. When I reached it, I weighed in my bass. Those 13 pounds allowed me to move high enough up the leader board to be able to fish the Forrest L. Wood Cup. I finished second there and earned $100,000...all because I didn't give up after two major engine failures.
"If I just had given up and not tried to fish, I wouldn't have made that end-of-the-season tournament. When it looks like everything is going wrong for you, I think one of the biggest ways to salvage a day is to still find a way to fish. If you have to paddle your boat when the trolling motor breaks down, or your big engine gives out and you're on the water, regardless of what happens, you need to find a way to fish."
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