Last year I raced my first Baja 1000 with my fellow teammates on Big Magic Racing and we finished 6th in the Sportsmans Class.  We planned on taking the year off and getting back together in 2009 for another try.  After a few months the desire to go back and compete again overwhelmed me so I set out to try and solo the event by myself this year.  My main goal would be just to simply finish the race by myself.  I started training again early this summer and things were coming along pretty good.  Unfortunately last month during a training ride I had a little mishap and went down hard on the bike tearing my right rotator cuff in my shoulder.  Finally after a few doctors visits I came to the grim realization that this year it would not be smart to attempt the Baja again in 2008.  This week is the last FLW event at Clarks Hill and I will take the month of November off and visit some more doctors to get my shoulder repaired in time for January and the start of a new fishing season.  It kills me not to be back in Baja but sometimes you just have to make the right decision and I am looking forward to a good season on Tour in 2009 and my body needs to be 100%.  I'll be back on the starting line for 2009 race! 

It was a great tournament overall for the PAA.  It was an exciting week of fishing and it was a good time for me personally because I had a chance to visit with many of my friends who fish the Bassmaster Elite Series that I do not get to see very often.  I teamed up with my good friend Lance Vick and Specialty Services Inc. president Steve McGhee and Octagon rep.  Lenny Francoeur.  We had a great time making the final cut and ending the tournament in 11th place.  Since this was a stand alone event we fished this event to win.  I spent my entire practice fishing offshore with a football jig and spoon.  We milked two offshore ledges with a football jig ending the tournament with 69lbs.  We caught almost all of our fish on a Hoern Toad Tackle Football Jig in PB&J color with a Paca Craw trailer in green pumpkin.  We never really had the fish to win the event but maximized what we had for a good finish.  It was a nice feeling for me to finally figure out those Tennessee River ledge fish.  I have been struggling with that for a while now and to finally have some success it really makes me feel good with improvements that I have been working on.  Off to the final FLW Series event at Clarks Hill this week.