| 5:30 am: | I meet Robert Mansor at the check in of HBC 4 and he directs me to his boat. |
| 6:00 am: | I arrive at the location of Robert Mansor's boat. A white with gold trim and black pins Champion equipped with a 250 EFI Mercury Outboard, Lowrance Electronics and MinnKota Trolling motor. |
| 6:30 am: | Robert and I launch the Champion and prepare for blast off. We are boat 28 and the 3rd boat of the second flight with a weigh in time of 3:15 pm. |
| 6:50 am: | The tournament officials bring an American Flag to the end of the dock and the entire field of 50 anglers and VTOs stand for the National Anthem. |
| 7:00 am: | I ask Robert "How far are we going to run first thing". He replied "Not far, just right around the corner." |
| 7:12 am: | We get the ok to blast off and make our way out of the off limits buoyed area. |
| 7:14 am: | After a 2 minute run we arrive at a secondary point. "There is somebody camped on my first spot so we will start here" a bank with some scattered trees sticking out of the water. |
| 7:15 am: | Robert starts throwing a Japanese-made Timber Tiger topwater lure. It makes a wide wobble on the surface. |
| 7:17 am: | Robert continues to throw the Timber Tiger at the stick ups, casting past the tree and bringing it back through the trees. |
| 7:27 am: | Robert takes a rod out of the rod locker rigged with a 6" Senko and throws it to the middle of the tree to no avail. |
| 7:30 am: | Robert returns to throwing the Timber Tiger. |
| 7:33 am: | Robert states "The water temp is 55 1/2 degrees." |
| 7:35 am: | Robert, still throwing the Timber Tiger, snags fishing line in a tree and goes to retrieve it. Robert then mentions that in practice he found that somebody had tied string across the limbs of some of the trees he had fished. "They probably came yesterday and cut them all out. The tricks that some people use," he says while retrieving his lure. |
| 7:36 am: | While retrieving his lure from the left over line in the tree, he realizes that he cut his own line instead of the snagged line. Robert chuckles and quickly asks me "You aren't going to put that in there are you," while retying the Timber Tiger. |
| 7:38 am: | Robert returns to throwing the Senko in open water. |
| 7:46 am: | Robert grabs a rod off of his deck equipped with an 8" Huddleston trout and throws out on a secondary point. |
| 7:48 am: | Robert notices that the boat on his first spot leaves and we make a 30 second run to that point. |
| 7:49 am: | Robert grabs a rod equipped with a 6" Lunker Punker and works it back to the boat with a semi-fast retrieve. |
| 7:52 am: | Robert retrieves a rod rigged with a 6-7" bottom bouncing trout bait and chucks it out from the bank. |
| 7:55 am: | An HBC camera boat pulls up and approaches us from the outside of the point. |
| 7:57 am: | I ask Robert "Is this your #1 spot?" Robert says yes and tells me he has caught a few giants off that point; one was an 11lber caught on a Gitzit with 6 lb test. |
| 8:05 am: | Camera boat leaves and Robert continues to throw the bottom bouncer out on a ridge and out to an underwater island just off the point. |
| 8:14 am: | Robert changes back to the Huddleston and chucks it out on the point. |
| 8:15 am: | Robert says: "We may have to break the ice with a Gitzit" |
| 8:26 am: | Robert retrieves a spinning rod from the rod locker and throws a pumpkin seed colored Gitzit on the ridge of the point. "This is my cigarette break tactic," and laughs. |
| 8:55 am: | Robert gets bit and rears back and sets the hook on a 1.5lb bass with the Gitzit. He then holds it up and looks at it shaking his head and says "10 grand," then releases it. |
| 8:56 am: | Robert chucks the bottom bouncer out on the point again. |
| 9:12 am: | Robert picks up the Lunker Punker, moves the boat up close to the shore, and starts fan casting out around the point. |
| 9:21 am: | Robert moves around the point and fires the bottom bouncer out from the point. He then hops up on the bow of the Champion, shields his eyes from the sun and searches for cruising or potentially bedding bass while letting the lure fall to the bottom. |
| 9:50 am: | Robert loads up and makes a short run to an adjacent main lake point and throws the bottom bouncer out onto the point. |
| 10:08 am: | Robert switches back to the 8" Huddleston and then kneels down on the bow while reeling with a really, really slow retrieve. |
| 10:22 am: | I ask Robert while he is kneeling while retrieving the Huddleston "Is this your version of Paul Elias' Kneeling and Reeling?" He laughs and says "Yeah." |
| 10:50 am: | We load up and make another short run up lake to a bank that has several trees 40 yards from shore. |
| 10:52 am: | Robert takes another rod from the rod locker rigged with a custom 12-14" SPRO swimbait and throws it to the outside and through the middle of the stickups. |
| 11:15 am: | Robert puts the trolling motor on high and moves over to a southern facing point and throws the Rainbow trout bottom bouncer type bait. |
| 11:25 am: | Robert switches between the bottom bouncer, the custom SPRO, and the Huddleston with no results. |
| 11:38 am: | Robert continues to throw the same baits but is now back to the "Kneel and Reel". |
| 11:47 am: | Robert switches back to the Gitzit that caught the fish earlier this morning. |
| 11:54 am: | Robert says "All these big rocks and I can't even get bit on this little tubey." |
| 11:56 am: | Robert pulls up the trolling motor and says: "Let's go and see if we can catch my girlfriend, the 13lber." |
| 11:58 am: | After another short run, we arrive to a cove that has buoys and a floating bathroom and slows to 5MPH. Robert offers me a half a sandwich and eats his on the way back into the cove. |
| 12:01 pm: | We pull up onto a secondary point and Robert Kneels and Reels the 8" Huddleston. |
| 12:06 pm: | The Huddleston gets hung up and Robert goes to retrieve it. |
| 12:07 pm: | Robert retrieves the Huddleston, checks his line, and then back to the "Kneel and Reel". |
| 12:09 pm: | I ask Robert "Do you kneel to be more stealth when retrieving this bait?" Robert replies "Yes, and it also helps me to be more in touch with my bait." |
| 12:17 pm: | Robert again hangs up the Huddleston in some rocks and opens up a compartment to retrieve a lure knocker. |
| 12:18 pm: | While maneuvering the boat to retrieve the Hudd, the boat backs into the rocks on the bank..." Oops! Too much on the reverse," Robert chuckles. |
| 12:20 pm: | Still trying to free the Huddleston, Robert brings in the lure knocker with no bait attached. |
| 12:21 pm: | Again, Robert connects the lure knocker to the line and sends it back down. He then pops the lure knocker up and down to retrieve the 30 dollar bait. |
| 12:22 pm: | Robert pulls up on the line either to get his bait back or break it off. The Huddleston comes free and brings up a piece of a branch from a submerged tree. |
| 12:25 pm: | Robert picks up the Senko rod and flings it to the point of the cove. |
| 12:27 pm: | Robert swings and misses on a fish, reels it in, checks the bait and quickly sends it back to the same spot. |
| 12:30 pm: | The wind picks up a little and Robert throws the Lunker Punker to the point to no avail. |
| 12:47 pm: | "There is nobody home in there either. At least I'm staying consistent" Robert admits. |
| 12:48 pm: | Robert picks up the trolling motor and runs west to a cove with two points fairly close to each other. |
| 1:03 pm: | Robert starts throwing a Lunker Punker to the outside of the point. |
| 1:05 pm: | Robert switches to the Gitzit rod and chucks it to the center of the trough between the points. |
| 1:06 pm: | Robert swings on a fish but it comes unbuttoned at the boat. |
| 1:08 pm: | Robert slings the tube bait out again to the same spot and waits for the bait to hit bottom. Immediately another bass picks it up. Robert swings again but comes up empty. |
| 1:22 pm: | Robert picks up the trolling motor and makes a run to the dam. He quickly jumps on the trolling motor and turns it to a high setting to see if there is anything here. |
| 1:34 pm: | Robert says "No beds, we are a few days early," as he pulls up the trolling motor. |
| 1:35 pm: | Robert cranks up the Merc. 250 and makes a real short run to an Island top that is marked with a hazard buoy. As he deploys the trolling motor he sheds some of the many layers of clothes he has on. |
| 1:36 pm: | Robert chucks the Lunker Punker to the hazard buoy hoping for a blow up. |
| 1:39 pm: | Robert tries the tube with no luck. |
| 1:58 pm: | As Robert pulls up the trolling motor he says: "Let's try another spot." |
| 2:00 pm: | We arrive at a point just outside the off limits area by the boat ramp. |
| 2:02 pm: | Robert grabs the Huddleston rod and "Kneels and Reels" around the point, fan casting around the point |
| 2:14 pm: | "Ok last cast here, C'mon, C'mon" he mumbles under his breath. |
| 2:18 pm: | Robert pulls up the trolling motor and says "We'll go right around the corner". |
| 2:22 pm: | "It is do or die baby right now" Robert says as he changes up Huddleston swimbaits. |
| 2:24 pm: | After tying on a new swimbait Robert checks out the action in the water and realizes he had tied on the wrong swimbait. "A 16, wrong one" and quickly ties the right one on. I am not sure what one he wanted. |
| 2:26 pm: | "It is 58 degrees back here and they should be here." He then concentrates on his bait and sees a follower, but it doesn't bite. "That one was about 3 pounds," he says. |
| 2:37 pm: | "It is time to go to my first spot", Robert says to me. |
| 2:40 pm: | We arrive at the point where Robert had caught his only fish of the day. Robert starts off with the Gitzit tube. |
| 2:45 pm: | Robert swings and misses on a possible bite with no joy. |
| 3:00 pm: | With 15 minutes left, Robert grabs the bottom bouncer bait and on the first cast gets hung up in the rocks. He tries to pop it off and breaks the line. "I'm lucky that was a cheap swimbait". |
| 3:05 pm: | Robert grabs the Senko rod and pitches it towards a tree on the point. |
| 3:09 pm: | Robert pulls up the trolling motor and starts stowing rods away in the rod locker. |
| 3:11 pm: | We arrive at the check in boat. |
| 3:17 pm: | As we approach the ramp, I ask Robert "Would have you changed anything on the day?" He replied "I did everything I had planned to do and I would not have changed anything if I were to fish tomorrow". |