Partners!

I would like to take a minute to talk about an outstanding fisherman, a true friend, and someone I truly care about. When I was a young fellow and going to the lake to swim, ski, and chase girls, a group of older couples had formed a supper club. It was at one of the supper clubs 4th of July BBQ's that I first met Tommy and his dad Billy. I recall walking into their banquet hall that they had constructed, and was in awe of all the plaques and awards from tournament wins and finishes from years past. The biggest tourney around those parts at that time (1982) was the World Championship Crappie Tournament held out of Popular Creel Landing on the Santee Cooper lakes. During that same year, I was introduced to one of the supper club members named Dickey Hodge, he was the first person that showed me how to vertically jig fish for crappie. Back then there were no specialized crappie poles, I used a 5-foot piece of bamboo cane, a 4-foot fiberglass pole tip taped to it, with 17 lb. line. My first trip was jig fishing stumps and trees in the hot August sun. The very first tree we fished I got a bite. I missed that fish 5 times before finally catching it. Needless to say, that was a changing point in my life, and I have been hooked ever since. As time passed into the next year, I was ready to fish my first crappie tourney during the World Championship out of Popular creek landing. Back then; teams could weigh a 60 fish limit. Plaques were given to the top 10 and I wanted one bad. At the end of the 97-team weigh in, we stood in 11th place. As luck would have it, the first place team failed the polygraph and we bumped up to 10th. I still have that little plaque, and that day remains one of my fondest tournament experiences. I believe Tommy and his dad finished second that year, they are the team that everyone feared and respected. No finer people could be found, Tommy's dad always had a joke or a story to tell, nobody fished harder, knew that lake better, or attempted different techniques or baits more so than Tommy. He is an innovator, someone that always looks for a better way to catch more fish. Dickey and I were still fishing together, and Crappiethon tournaments were the new thing. During the 1987 lake Sinclair Ga. event, Dickey and I won it while jig fishing docks. The 2,000.00-dollar payout was our biggest to date, and a motivating factor in my desires to pursue more tournaments. Top 10 finishes became the norm on the familiar waters we fished. Not certain of the date, but again moving forward a few years, Billy became ill with cancer and passed away, the Vaughan team was no more, a great crappie angler/person was gone and will forever be missed. Crappie USA was now the tournament series of choice. My partnership with Dickey was waning, but I continued to fish with a couple of different partners, along with my wife. Tommy began fishing with his lady as well. We started traveling to different events as a foursome, sharing lake information to better our odds. Both teams were successful at varies times along the way. One highlight for me was the Crappie USA Regional event held on the Harris Chain of lakes in Florida. My wife couldn’t go, so I went it alone. The majority of the teams were either long line trolling, or tight lining. We both long lined during practice, as we neither had the equipment nor knew how to tight line at that time. On a whim, I decided to try and jig a few docks after a day of trolling. I found some nice fish right off the bat. I decided to cut my hook off, and fish for bites to see which docks held fish. The next practice day was spent doing the same. Tournament day I told Tommy that morning I was going to jig docks, If I wasn’t back in a short while, the bite is on, come to my location. After two hours, I lost the only jig I could get them to bite. It was an odd colored Rooty Tooty 309, one that Tommy had tied. I went to Tommy and told him of my successes and asked if he had any more jigs like that. He looked and found one in his box, and he gave it to me. I went back to fishing and just slaughtered them. I quit at 11:00am, as my fish were beginning to appear weak as I had so many quality fish in the aerated cooler. I weighed in and sat at that landing for the next 3.5 hours waiting for everyone else to come in. That was the longest, most stressful wait of my life. After all was said and done, I sat on top of the leader board. The 5,000.00-dollar prize was all mine! The following year, during the same event at Clarks Hill, Tommy and his partner were in the hot seat looking to win it, they got bumped to second by one of the last teams to weigh in, but still pocketed a cool two grand As our ladies grew tired of the grueling travel, and adverse weather conditions experienced while fishing tournaments, both decided to give it up. The next year Crappie Masters started up, they offered huge prizes for the winners. One of the events was being held at Santee during the fall. Just a couple of days prior to the event, I asked Tommy if he would be interested in fishing it, he accepted. We practiced just one day, and decided to one pole jig, brush and grass. Tournament day was windy, the open water brush held plenty of quality fish, but proved to be quite the challenge trying to maneuver the boat in the 3-foot swales. After a half-day of being beat to death, we headed for some shallow water grass. We found the fishing to be outstanding, and culled everything we had in the box before heading to the weigh in. While in route, a trailer tire blew out. We pulled into someone’s yard, unhooked the boat, grabbed the fish and off we went. We made it to the weigh in just in time. Again, after all was said and done, we came out on top with second big fish to boot. The prize, our biggest to date was worth around 12,000 and a fishing team was born. We do not claim to be the best; we just have a desire to catch fish, not just any fish, but crappie! We have been successful in many tournaments since joining forces, but winning isn’t everything. We continue to grow as fishermen, and two of our fondest memories together was being successful using a technique we’ve never used before. During a lake Oconee Ga. tournament a few years ago, we decided to attempt to shoot docks. We’ve never done it before, never been with anyone that’s fished like that before, we were just going to wing it. It took numerous docks, (100’s) numerous errant cast, hang-ups, broken lines, before ever catching a fish. We plugged along and finally caught multiple fish from two docks. We decided to start there the next day during the tournament. We ended up catching a couple of hundred fish from under those two docks during the day. Mind you, many were small but we had a blast, ended up finishing third in the event. Another occasion was on Florida’s lake Monroe. I just started tight lining a few weeks prior on lake Wateree SC, I’ve been on Tommy to attempt tight lining, but he kept refusing. On the second practice day he finally gave in. We were in the St. Johns River as a big thunderstorm was rolling in. We had our make shift tight lining poles out, with double minnow rigs attached when it happened. The fish turned it on; we were catching them as fast as we could put minnows on the hooks. The wind started blowing, but it didn’t matter, we kept on snatching. We looked like a couple of kids in a candy store, grinning ear to ear. After getting soaked, we headed in feeling confident about our chances the next day. That evening, while attempting to sleep I became ill. The pain was unbearable, along with the constant vomiting. I asked Tommy to take me to the hospital, and he did. While being admitted I told Tommy to go ahead and fish the next day alone. I knew we was on some good fish, and believed he could win it. He would have none of it; we would fish together, or not at all he stated. I never knew what a true friend was until that day. I had to stay in that hospital for 5 days, that man I call my partner sat right beside me the entire time. He had to miss additional workdays, but he refused to leave me behind. I am forever grateful for the good fortune and timely coincidences that led us to become a team. Tommy is an only child, me, I am the next to youngest out of six siblings. As much as I love my family, I feel much closer to my brother from another mother. We understand each other, we enjoy each other’s company, and our passion for the sport of crappie fishing runs deep. I can think of no one I would rather share a boat with. Thanks Tommy for all the knowledge and stories you have shared with me, and for all the good times and memories we have made together.

Your partner, Tim

Great read Tim. I have only spoken the both of you briefly but found out quickly how great of people you are. Congratulations on the many successes y'all have seen along the way

Good reading, thanks for sharing you story nothing like good friendship

Great story Ink.

Well said, Tim. Fishing partners that share equal passion for the sport are rare finds. I know your partnership goes way deeper than just the sport, though. I hope ya'll are able to fish together many more years....

No better partner than a true friend. Enjoyed reading your story and hearing about how you became a crappie fisherman and how it progressed as the years passed. It is amazing how friendships come to be. I have grown use to seeing your reports with you and Tommy being in your boat smiling holding those Santee crappie. What a life blessing to have a friendship like the one y'all have. I do hope y'all have many more years fishing together as a team.

Sounds like both of you have been Blessed with a great friendship, and some great fishing. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the read Ink. Have only met you and Tommy a couple of times but know for sure ya'll are best friends for life.

Friendships like that come far and few in-between. You guys have a special one and I hope it lasts many many more years. Thanks for sharing your story.:)

You guys are truly Blessed.......good read....great story.....happy ending.....

Yes Timmy you are my brother from another mother and a great friend and fishing partner. You are one great fisherman, and together we make a great team. You are one the most dedicated crappie fisherman, besides my dad and me I have ever had the pleasure of fishing with, I also hope you can put up with me for a few more years. One of the best thing about us fishing together is we work hard and play hard too. What most people don't know is when we are just fishing for fun we fish like we are fighting fire, to see who can catch 20 fish first. When one pole fishing we look like well oil machines, well one of us does. We do well fishing most of the time because we are always looking for better colors of jigs and new ways to catch fish. AND AS I ALWAYS SAY WHEN YOU ARE LEAVING MY HOUSE, THANKS FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY OLD ASS. Your Partner!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It takes a special bond to spend days on end in a boat and enjoy each others company. I am fortunate to have two friends like that, only problem is one lives in Florida now and the other in Oregon. We used to all be here in SC.
Thanks for sharing Tim.