bass organizations, given the strong hunting tradition in that region. “Mike says, ‘Besides, I’ve never seen the lake before and I would have to finish second to make the Western Classic,’” recounted Naslund. That’s when the big lies start to come. Remember, I’ve never been to Clear Lake either. “I say, ‘Well Mike, whatta ya mean, it’s your kind of lake,’ I’m really pouring it on. ‘It’s a total structure lake, you use Matties, hair jigs with trailers, you taught me how to fish that stuff. Up there those guys use top- waters and floater worms, you’ll murder them, they won’t stand a chance,’” recalled Naslund.“He says, ‘Really?’ Mike calls later and says ‘I called my dad and he said no problem. I’ll see you up there.’” Our boat sponsor at the time was MonArk, which had just introduced a brand new tunnel hull bass boat. A Northern California dealer hired two guys up there to fish with the tunnel hulls. “We arrive on the scene at Clear Lake and the weather is atrocious, I mean atro- cious,” Naslund continued. Noel Knight, the local radio station guy, interviewed me and he says, ‘There’s a lot of talk about what
A lifetime of selling everything from water skis to bass boats for Don Lee, right, was cemented by his time with Stan Phillips and Associates.
kind of weight will win the event. Fishing has been pretty good, they’re guessing right around 35 to 36 pounds to win, what do you think?’ “Now what the hell do I know? I say, ‘In this weather? I’ll eat anything raw over 28 pounds.’”
“We get lots of boats the next day and the weather is bad and it got worse during the day. Coming through the narrows two or three boats sunk. I mean the bows were the only thing sticking out of the water and we sent boats to get them.
July 2011 _ SILVER EAGLES 15