By Roy J. Clem

I grew up in the mountains of Colorado where my friends and I learned to fish by walking in the streams and rivers of the high country. We were taught to use a fly and small clear bubble half filled with water and always felt very lucky if we could go home with a rainbow trout that weighed more than one pound.

We would joke about how bass fishermen would laugh about the small fish that always made us so excited. I told my friends that someday I wanted to participate in one of the great bass fishing tournaments in the South. Thanks to Mark Whitlock I finally got my chance.

I met ABC 33/40's meteorologist Mark Prater at his house at 3 a.m. We drove to Lay Lake where I discovered a marina already filled with bass boats by 4 a.m. Numerous volunteers were on hand to help launch the boats and park the trucks with boat trailers.

Next, I was introduced to my partner for the day, Larry White. Larry asked me if I had ever used a bait casting reel. I said no so he quickly took me to an open area behind the marina for casting l0l. After my first practice cast, Larry must have known that he was in for a long day with a rookie that wouldn't be much help.

When the dawn started to break we could see all of the boats that had been hidden in the darkness, all waiting for their turn to hit the river. There were so many boats that you could walk across the water from shore to shore by just stepping from boat to boat. After a quick check of the holding tank by tournament officials we were off.

Larry was very patient with this first-time bass fisherman. First he showed me how to cast crankbait that weighed more than most of the fish I had ever caught. We were both casting in the same place on the river and Larry quickly caught two striped bass. All I managed to do was catch my foot with the excess line that spewed from my reel when I failed to keep my thumb in the correct position.

Throughout the day, Larry had many opportunities to remind me of how little I knew about bass fishing, but he didn't. He was always very reassuring and instructive and within a few hours I was able to cast the bait close to where I wanted it to go. At the end of the day we returned to Paradise Marina where expert fishermen and fisherwomen were lined up to have their fish weighed. I saw bags and bags of huge fish. I talked to the people around me about the conditions of the river, the type of bait used, what kind of electric trolling motor worked best, the rocks just under the surface of some parts of the river, and other fishing concerns. I started to feel like a bass fisherman, a rookie bass fisherman, but a bass fisherman. Everyone should do this.

You might be wondering if I caught any fish. I did catch one fish that was too small to keep. In Colorado, I would have had it mounted.