Martin’s musings
Circuit Breaker star talks about his new boat, losing his phone and gearing up for 2014
Well, the season is in full swing here in Florida. I have been down in Florida since Dec. 31st and I know Lindsey is definitely missing me, but her support helps a lot while on the road and everyone knows she is my biggest fan.
I have been running around in the new Ranger z520c with the new Evinrude E-TEC and am really impressed with the speed of the boat – it handles great and fishes even better. I actually fished my first Rayovac FLW Series on Lake Okeechobee out of it and weighed in 22 pounds for 66th out of 225 boats and got a check. The bite was a tough with weather conditions changing and a lot of boat pressure. It wasn’t the finish I had hoped for but I just never got a good bite either day of the tournament.
I’m going to be spending the prepractice and off limits in Florida getting stuff ready for the FLW Tour event and fishing around the lakes outside of Okeechobee and Glades County. I’ve been working hard practicing and trying to get sponsorship stuff together for the upcoming season and a few things are started to come together. I have also been working hard on learning the ins and outs of my new rig and really like my new Lowrance HDS Touch electronics, which by far the most user-friendly electronics out there.
The weather down here has been insane with a lot of wind and multiple cold fronts coming through Florida. Some days have been good and some have been pretty tough but starting the season down here is something that tour pros always look forward to.
One of my goals this year is to learn as much as I can to help improve for the future. One thing I have learned is that there are always new techniques and technology out there to help improve fish catches and I have been experimenting with a bunch of baits that I think will make a big splash into the season.
This blog has been kind of tough to actually write since my last two weeks have pretty much consisted of waking up at daylight, eating a toaster strudel, launching the boat and fishing `til dark, eating dinner, checking some emails and making some phone calls and then heading to bed and doing it all over again.
Speaking of phone calls, I lost my phone in the lake while down here on Okeechobee. Maybe giving up the phone to the lake will help it give out some big bass come February for me. I did take a day off to relax when the temps dropped into the low 30s one night. We actually watched the BCS National Championship on TV down here at the Duck Pub (if you have ever been to Harney pond you know the Duck Pub, lol). I can’t believe how good the game was even though the national championship left the state of Alabama.
After Okeechobee I’ll be heading back to Alabama and plan on spending a few days prepracticing on Lake Hartwell and attending the B.A.S.S. Classic in Birmingham working for some sponsors and trying to promote the sport to future anglers.
It’s been hard keeping up with the news going on because we don’t have cable down here, but luckily we do have internet. Not much else going on down here, just trying to get ready for the season opener and recharging the batteries in the Florida sun.
Until next time, Casey.