MAY 6th-Tournament wise this early spring
has been fairly decent. In the past month and a half, I have fished 3 tournaments, the Lake Sammamish Open with about 30 boats, the NWBASS Banks Lake with 125, and the famed “Potholes Open” with 125 boats. I learned some important lessons in my first tournament of the year, the Lake Sammamish Open, as pre-fishing went great, but the fish moved as they always do in late winter. Me and my partner finished 22nd in that tournament.

NWBASS Banks Lake was a fun one as usual
as it is the season opener for the large circuit here in the Pacific Northwest. My partner and I got on the fish quick. In the process though I was taking naps throughout the day as I was battling a nasty sinus infection that almost kept me from fishing. We finished 84th with some lessons learned and me still feeling like junk, plus I hit my lower unit on a big rock and had to get that fixed. The weekend after though was a different story. Still feeling under the weather a bit, my partner, Mark Chevrier, and I fished the 30th Annual Potholes Open.

The first day we only had 3 fish for about 7 lbs. sitting in 60th place, we knew we needed to change up a little bit. On Sunday we hit largemouth in the morning as I caught a 5 lb. Largemouth on a Yamamoto Kut-Tail and my partner caught another 5 lb. Largemouth on a Senko. We soon moved to Smallmouth and hit 3 fish off the bat dropshotting a KGM Slinky with a ¼ oz. Quickdrops sinker. With the trolling motor pulled up and ready to go, we caught the last fish to fill out our limit. We ended up weighing 21 ½ lbs. for Sunday and finishing the tournament with 28.5 lbs. This moved us from 60th to 16th, in which we took home a little money and I got my first Potholes Open hat. So overall this early spring was good and kept me on my toes. Upcoming tournaments are NWBASS Lake Washington May 16th, WA Federation Jamboree, Banks Lake, May 21^st-23^rd; NWBASS Tri-Cities June 6^th, Federation Qualifier June 20^th, and last but not least the FLW Series Columbia River event in late June.

 
Nick Barr is awarded 2008 "Member of the Year" for his service as the WBC's Entertainment Director.