The winner of the NBAD Tournament is…Martin Kasick and Joey Herman of Missouri, with 33.21 lbs! Pro Dennis Bacon, of MO and Ron Stanford of OK finished second at 27.88 lbs, and J. Armstrong and DJ Jorgenson, both of TX, finished a respectable 3rd place with 21.35 lbs.

These guys are not “Let’s cross our fingers” type of fishermen. They researched the Table Rock Lake aquatic system thru the Internet, by studying the map, and just following practical fishermen’s instincts. There was no genie in the bottle, to grant these men 3 wishes. It was pure knowledge of the fish and their tendencies that brought them to the championship, coupled with some luck.

Says Kasick, “We prepared ahead of time by researching the Internet, studying the map, and using the fish depth screen on the boat. Fish is always moving to different places undersea and if we notice no activity, it is time to move on to a different area of the lake.”

Added Kasick, “If you see Shad fish, then there are good chances that the Bass is around, because it follows. I navigated the Channel River by the bluffs to reach where the pool of fish were.”

“In the deep water, catching fish is more random than a sure catch. When it becomes windy, the fish come closer to surface of the water. When there are pools of fish deep in the bottom of the bluff, the Bass will come and eat them,” explained Kasick’s partner Herman.

Bass fish can be attracted to lures, such as browns and greens, and every fisherman had a different color lure. We expected to see the longest fishing rods or the most updated fishing innovations, but we kept seeing the fishermen dangling the lures and discussing them.

They are true fishers and will be prepared for tournaments by knowing the ins and outs of the Lake itself. The field of contestants was pretty competitive this year because they always had a head start by being at the inspection and launching dock punctually on time without any setbacks.

Throughout the tournament, the competitive fire was unquenchable. There is no other sport besides Bass fishing except maybe car racing where the crew has to work all day to fix mechanical problems just to start the race. That is why NBAD gives awards to praise the fishermen for enduring certain hardships to win this event, such as the Anthony Mowad Sportsmanship award, the Rookie of the Year award, and other awards of merit.

Tyrone Curry Sr., from Ohio, earned recognition by being awarded the Sportsmanship award for overcoming his frustrations dealing with boat mechanical problems that hindered him from going out to the lake. He was forced to change rental boats three times all week and kept running into similar problems, but he refused to walk away.

NBAD President Wilson explained, “Curry Sr. deserved this special award because he refused to give up despite the many setbacks he experienced, while keeping up with his great spirit.”

The intricacies of fishing can be learned simply by being around the NBAD fishermen and why they go home so fulfilled from casting the fishing rod. We spent 5 days with these goal-driven fishermen and learned so much about their sport of Bass fishing.

Maybe we can take what we learned from these strong-willed fishermen and apply their principles into our lives. That would net us a lot of fish!