Deadmeat
Well-known member
I don't fish tournaments and don't keep up with them so I was surprised when I arrived at the South Knoxville Bridge yesterday morning and found almost all of the parking spaces filled with high dollar, spit polished, brightly painted, color coordinated trucks and matching trailers. I knew immediately that this was no ordinary tournament and asked some guy wearing a National Guard uniform what was going on. He said this was the final day of the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Tournament and that weigh-in was late that afternoon at the nearby Knoxville Coliseum. I really wanted to get out on the boat yesterday and figured I'd be off the water by the time the parade to the ramp started so I launched my boat, found a parking space, and fished for about four hours. All during that time these beautiful Ranger boats with really big motors would zip by me followed closely by another boat carrying a film crew. Four hours and no fish later I came back to the ramp just as most of the boats from the tournament were packing up to go. Most of the tournament guys were just standing around in the parking lot talking with each other. I loaded up the boat and fell in behind about five boats as they were leaving, and when I looked in my rear view mirror I saw about five more behind me waiting to turn on to Riverside Drive. So here I am--me with my little brown aluminum 1544 G3 with a Yamaha 25 motor sandwiched between these beautifully painted Ranger boats with matching trucks and trailers with sponsor names on their sides. These guys were wearing matching uniforms and I was wearing cut-offs and a ratty t-shirt with "Cadaver Search Dogs" on the front. As I waited my turn for the boats ahead of me to turn on to Riverside Drive I looked and saw three guys, each with these huge cameras on their shoulders, filming the boats exiting from the parking lot. I think it's safe to say that if this ever makes it to TV on Bassmasters or something similar, there will almost certainly be at least one section of film that will wind up on the cutting room floor.