SOMETHING FANS MAY NOT KNOW: I fished my first bass tournament when I was 45 years old. I HAD played slow pitch softball (about 2-4 nights/ week) since I was 19 years old and griped about some of my teammates missing games for a bass tournament! Then, one of my buddies asked me to fish a team event on Grand Lake. I caught 1 fish and we came in 4th/100 teams. We won $700! I thought that was pretty easy! So, I was basically “hooked” right then! I had always fished… for fun, catching crappie, white bass, catfish, and noodling for flatheads (I’ll post pictures later). But after that first tournament, I understood why someone might miss a ballgame. I fished local tournaments about 5 years, and actually won 13 in a row on Grand. Fun time! I started fishing The Anglers Choice Pro Draw Circuit in ‘90 and was AOY that first year. The I started fishing BASS Invitationals in ‘91 and qualified for the Top 100 for ‘92. I qualified for the Classic in ‘96. Then I fished FLW’s first tournament in ‘97. We had a really fun year in ‘99. I won the FLW CHAMPIONSHIP ( CUP) in September and 5 weeks later, I won The Ranger Millennium Tournament in November, for a combined total of $850,000.00 and nearly a million dollars for the year. Blessed, indeed! Our family has quite a testimony about those tournaments that I will post on my page. It was even featured during an interview, which I did on ESPN! I continued to fish FLW (MLF) through last year, when I chose to start fishing the NPFL Circuit. Someone told me once that I sure must love to fish. I replied that “I really like to fish, but I love to hunt!” I have archery hunted elk (at least 1 time and sometimes 2&3 times/year) since ‘81. I love hunting whitetail with our daughters and grandkids on our farm/ranch near Jay and Grove, OK. I believe that I have had such a successful Pro Angler career because I fit in a unique niche. I’m one of the very few that fish professionally while simultaneously owning/running family businesses, which include a 1,000 head of mama cows with a cow-calf operation on our 5,000 acre farm,(Circle R Farms), our manufacturing plant with 80+ employees (AST STORAGE- SILO MFG), and a construction company, which installs our steel tanks and silos (Circle R Construction). I always say that I’m probably one of the most Blessed men, ever because if I’m fishing—I’m happy! If I’m baling hay or working cattle—I’m happy! If I’m working at the plant or erecting tanks on a job site—I’m happy! I’m Blessed too, because our family works together at all of our businesses and we even share meals several times a week! Blessed, indeed!