This is the story of a trip to the famed “ TSBA Striper Bowl 2001” at Cherokee Lake.My dear friend Mark Godfrey and myself set out to the much-anticipated trip to Tennessee for the Striper Tournament of the year!
   Well, as we all know, things don’t always go as planned when it comes to fishing trips!  First of all, who knew that there would only be seven…yes, SEVEN Bass tournaments going on that same weekend, one of them being a Red Man Qualifier!
    Well, needless to say, every motel room within ten miles of the lake must have been booked up!  After deciding to go on fishing and worry about that later, Mark and I hit the lake!  I proceeded to hook up the old marine~ban radio and dial in Channel 68, which I knew my striper club friends would probably be on.
    My first call was to StriperGuy and StriperGal. They answered right away. We caught bait and met up with them on the water a little later. This is the only part of the trip that DID go right!  They offered to let us stay with them at their camper. Folks… these are “A NUMBER ONE PEOPLE!” What a lifesaver!
    Mark and I start dragging shad that evening, and after only 3 hours of fishing… My trolling batteries are DEAD!  That BRAND NEW onboard charger that I had purchased a month earlier had gone out!  I tried everything… It wouldn’t work! Then, as if that weren’t enough, both batteries have dead cells and won’t take a charge! All of this two days before the big tourney!
    Well, David and Lisa (StriperGuy & Gal) tell us that we are welcome to fish with them on Saturday evening, the day before the tournament. This would give the batteries time to charge. As we were pulling shad, a rod went off!  Then another rod about leaves the boat as one takes off with it! You should have seen Lisa dive to save that rod! Anyway, my partner Mark reels in the first of the two fish, and it happens to be a nice 15lb 10oz. Striper that as it turns out, would have been “Big Fish” had it been caught the next day!
    After going in that evening, Mark and I decide to go out for a little while that night, and see if there were any fish feeding at night, since that is one of the ways we really love to fish. So we head down to the boat ramp and I back the boat up to the water to launch. I get out and take the straps off and tell Mark to back me in. Then I hear those dreaded words….” Give me the keys, the doors are locked!”  OH NO!!! Sure enough, there they hung in the ignition. One of us must have hit the power door lock button getting out of the truck, and mind you, the park lights are still on!
    Well, I tell Mark, “I’ll go find a phone.” As I’m walking up the road through this housing area, looking for someone that might still be up at 12:30 am,  I realized everyone in this neighborhood must own a descendent of CUJO! So, I keep walking, and walking past all those barking dogs! Finally I find a pay phone 2 miles up the road!  At this point, I am worn out and very upset.  But, not nearly as upset as I would soon be when I realized I had NO change for the phone! Could this weekend get any worse?  So, I dial 911.  A really nice recording informed me that “911” service is not available in that area. THEN, I find one of those pre-paid phone cards in my wallet!  Thank goodness!!!  But now if I only had a phonebook so I’d know the number of someone to call! FINALLY…. I reach an operator somewhere in the great state of Tennessee. After some pretty stern convincing that this WAS an emergency, she transferred me to the police department in Morristown.  After explaining my dilemma to Officer Bradey, he informed me that they don’t “unlock” cars anymore. Can somebody PLEASE help!!  After being transferred to the dispatcher, they connected me with a locksmith. “Access Unlimited” (little plug for those guys) shows up about a half-hour later. This guy picks me up at the payphone I had walked to. “Man, am I glad to see you!” I said.  He says, “Did you call this in twice?”  “Twice???” I said…"No, only once". He replies “Huh, two calls for the same kind of truck in the same area…that’s funny.” “Your name Godfrey?”. I told him “No, but that’s my buddy! How did he call?” He tells me “It’s a “Triple A” call. We do AAA ya know.”  YES!!!  Mark had a Triple A card!!! There’s $40 bucks saved!  Come to find out, Mark had gotten worried and walked up to the first house he came to and a nice young lady still up watching a movie, let him use the phone!!!  WHY ME? I just walked right by that house. Apparently, Mark has no fear of really big dogs!
   After a whole thirty seconds, the locksmith has my doors open and we’re back in business!!  We get on the water…. But no shad working…and definitely no fish! So, we just tough it out till morning and catch our bait and get ready for STRIPER BOWL!  It was a long day on the water after that night, and a not so shabby 4th place finish ended our weekend of disasters!
    Still, we had a great time and enjoyed all of it! Well, okay…. Most of it! Thanks to some great friends for saving the day and making what could have been a nightmare trip, a lot more enjoyable! Thanks Dave and Lisa!
    Always remember… "If it can go wrong… It probably will"!