By Robert "Dutch" Linthout

To say that this tournament has grown over the past years is the understatement of the century. I can recall the very first Lay Lake Tournament. I think we had slightly over 200 boats, and at that time, this was already the most unusual tournament in Alabama’s bass-fishing tournament history. Just the idea of paying the first ten places $1000.00 each was unheard of. Not to mention, the crazy idea of buying fingerling bass with the proceeds of the tournament, and releasing them into the lake in order to replenish the resource. And look where we are now! Over 2.000.000 fingerlings released so far... !

Over the years, The Lay Lake Open Tournament has evolved into an event that draws participating fishermen from Alabama’s surrounding states and even further. This tournament has expanded beyond just being a tournament into a major event spanning several days.

Bass Fishing Pros at the Store
The idea of inviting bass fishing pros to participate in this tournament, and drawing a partner from Mark’s customer base, was unique and overall extremely successful. So much so, that this particular event has been repeated this year. All the participating pros arrived at the store the Friday morning before the tournament. They talked with fans and made hundreds of photographs with their fans. This was the photo opportunity of a lifetime.

Fans had come, from as far as Kentucky, to rub elbows with the pros and to fish “the” tournament on Saturday. Jimmy Houston, Gerald Swindle, Skeet Reese, Mike Iaconelli, Jason Quinn, Randy Howell, Jeff Reynolds, Mark Minendez, and Greg Hackney all came to the store to enjoy their hundreds of fans. Cars were parked on hills, across the street, and anywhere a place could be found. Kota Kiriyama was at the lake during the test ride.

Pros and fans all had a blast! I was there that day to make photographs for them. It really was great to see the pro’s sponsor wrapped boats sitting on the grass field in front of the store, so that Montgomery Highway traffic had a good view of the event. I made hundreds of high-resolution photographs that you will be able to find at: www.marksoutdoors.com/album01a.html . Check it out! If you weren’t there, please make an effort to come to the store in 2007. It is one thing to see these hardcore pros fish their hardcore tournaments, but it is a lot of fun to be with these pros when they are relaxed, totally approachable, and as friendly (and professional) as can be.

Test Ride
By now, everyone knows the rules. In order to qualify for a 2006 fully rigged Skeeter and Yamaha, you had to participate in the test ride in a Skeeter/Yamaha rig driven by Airport Marine’s Pro Staff. Not many people get a chance to ride in high performance bass boats. I overheard several people saying that they were impressed by how well these boats ride on the water, in spite of the fact, that due to many boats on the lake, waves were sometimes as high as three feet.

I tried to make photographs of people riding in these boats and had to hang on for dear life several times. The test ride is beneficial to the sponsors, as well as the participating bass fishermen. As usual, there was a large line of people waiting to go for their test ride; and, according to the pro staff, the line had not let up for three days in a row. Friday afternoon late, the best way to describe the pro staff was “worn out”, and most of them were fishing in the tournament the day after, so go figure. Sometimes, people really underestimate the amount of work pro staff do. A heart-felt thanks goes to the pro staff of Airport Marine.

Replenishing the Resource When the plan to buy fingerlings with the proceeds was brought up, I don’t think anyone quite understood the results of this “small” stocking program. Most lakes are in one way or another, in decline, but not Lay Lake. I am absolutely convinced that Mark’s “replenishment of resources” was one of the best things that possibly could have happened to Lay Lake. Rated as one of the top fishing lakes in the nation, combined with the title “Fishing Capital of the Nation– Birmingham, AL”, this lake has huge stringers of tournament bass brought to the scales. Generally, it takes from fifteen to twenty pounds per tournament event, and there are as many as two to three per week during the season, to either win or place in “the money”.

By now, there are hundreds of thousands of Mark’s “fingerlings” swimming all over the lake. Have you noticed that the strikes are harder, the fight is better, and their teeth seem to be longer. Even after a few fish, you begin to develop “bass thumbs”, red, raw and swollen. GREAT! The best part in this program is the fact that these fingerlings are being carried by the fishermen to their favorite honey holes, this is resulting in as widespread stocking program as you can get. I think it was last year that Mark decided to add some T1’s to the standard mix by adding six inch T1’s to two inch fingerlings. Southeastern Pond Management has always done a great job in providing sacks of fingerlings to the fishermen in the best possible condition that they can be in. Several hundred thousand fingerlings will come back to us in a few years. Hopefully, they will grow BIG!

Blast Off, and it was!
In case you all wondered why Mark, the guys from Airport Marine, and I did the blast off from a small off-shore boat, when boats begin taking off left and right with some at the same time, and many others following, this results in wave after wave along with several rogue waves. Man, we got wet! I have also learned that it is very hard to make good quality photographs from a rollercoaster of bass boats taking off for a tournament. I got several good shots at www.marksoutdoors.com/album04a.html. If the photos are not sharp, you were probably going too fast anyway. I tell you though, it is very, very impressive to be out on the river looking towards Paradise Point Marina and seeing a sea of bobbing lights from the bass boats waiting to take off. All went without a hitch, and it is amazing to see how quickly that many boats can take off at those speeds without accidents or swamped boats.

Weigh-in, and the most fun ever! Crowds already began arriving an hour before the actual weigh-in. Several clusters of chairs were sitting not ten feet from the stage. I knew that those would be disappearing soon to make room for the hundreds of people that would be viewing the weigh-in. The famous Bill Dance, himself, was the MC, weigh master, joke teller, and provider of constant entertainment for the next couple of hours. It was really funny how there seemed to be a division of labor among all the self appointed weigh masters, with Mark, then Jimmy Houston, and Gerald Swindle. There were plenty of jokes getting better and better, but it got to the point where Mark had to demand the microphone.

I have always viewed Bill Dance's videos as a source of information and an insight into the lighter side of fishing. If you have not seen Bill Dance's Bloopers, you are absolutely missing out on some of the best bloopers in the world. I don't think that Mark has any of them left, but you can ask. They are absolutely great, I promise. But, I had never met Bill in person, and I was really surprised at how genuine he truly is. To be at the weigh-in with Bill Dance was no less than perfect.
The weigh-in proceeded very smoothly and fast. Consider the fact that five hundred boats were running all over the place, and it was really tough to fish that day. Randy Vetrano and Skeet Watts caught the winning stringer of 17.30 lbs.. Tenth place took a little over fourteen pounds; so, yes, this was a tough day.

Door Prizes-Worth Thousands!
By now, everyone almost takes for granted the huge number and value of door prizes given away at this tournament. Here is a short list of company representatives to company presidents. Two representatives, Akio Sekimoto and Wataru Tsutsumi from Daiwa flew expressly from Japan to participate in this tournament’s giveaway of hundreds of Daiwa rods. Gary Loomis, himself, gave away several very high quality G. Loomis rods, including, three priceless prototypes specifically designed for the “shaky head/weeny worm” combination. Travis Owens (Costa Del Mar) was there, as well as, John Kushnerick of Quantum, Alan McGuckin from Terminator, and Ty Ono (Jackal Lures) who flew in from Japan, as well.

Drawing for the Skeeter/Yamaha Rig. After all was said and done, there was the drawing for the Skeeter/Yamaha. Everyone understood the rule specifying that you needed to have completed a test ride in the previous three days in order to be eligible for this boat drawing. When the name was drawn, a hush fell over the crowd, because you had to be present to win. I know matter how well meaning the fisherman, they all wished that the man with that boat number had already gone home. After a full minute of repeating the boat number, someone in a boat in front of the marina was waving his arms up and down. I’ve never seen anyone run so fast to the stage. Totally out of breath, arriving at the same time as his daughter, who was his partner for the day, George Hulsey and Leslie Brosz were the winners. It took Leslie a full thirty minutes to settle down and start breathing normal again. That was one of the most emotional boat winners I’ve seen in a while. And you know what, I think every one of us would have felt the same way. I wish them all the luck and tons of fish from their new boat!

Final Comments
I'm proud to be able to participate in a tournament of this magnitude. Only one word can describe it: “HUGE”. You can not miss this next year! There are only five hundred slots, and they are filling up fast! You can go on-line at www.marksoutdoors.com/treg.html

Sign up for “The 2007 Mark's Lay Lake Open Tournament” NOW!