Fall 2022
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Mic Drop – Kent Brown
In the old days, West Coast Bass had two divisions –and at the end of the season, they would both come together to fish the TOC. There was a lot of great fishermen in West Coast Bass and always a rivalry between the two divisions.
Dee loved to get into guy’s heads and throw gas on that fire as much as he could. It was part of his competition.
One day, Dee called a bunch of us and told us that West Coast Bass was having a draw tournament at Pedro. Four of us went – me and Dee, David Witt, and Gliebe. We all did well, all got a check, probably all in the top 15; but Dee finished 2nd. He was the highest of us all and as always, he was ready to throw gas on the fire.
When he walked up on stage, he took the mic from the director and said, “this is a nice little tournament circuit you got here and if you boys ever want to fish against some real fishermen just come on up north – I think we proved that to you today.”
He walked off the stage but not before saying, “thanks for your money boys.” Gliebe leaned over my shoulder and said, “run to the truck, he’s going to get all killed.”
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Flippin’ Master – Kent Brown
We were at old Konocti Resort, and someone was having a flipping contest. There were different glasses setup – a highball glass and some others; but the hardest was the shot glass.
There were four or five us with Dee that walked out to the patio where the contest was going on and they wanted him to get in on it. They handed him a flippin’ stick.
Dee grabbed the line with one hand, made one flip - probably a 30- foot flip - dropped the jig into the shot glass and handed the guy back the rod. As we walked away, he said, “can you believe that sh**.” We all just laughed.
Riled Up – Kent Brown
We were at a Bassmaster Western Open at Russo’s.
The top-10 were tied up at the docks in the morning, taking pictures and doing interviews. I was in 10th – the last boat in line. Dee was probably in 5th or 6th.
I had my co-angler hold my boat and jumped out, ran down the dock and up to Dee’s boat. I threw my arms around him and whispered in his ear, “don’t ease up old man, I’m right behind you”
As I ran back to my boat, I could hear him yelling, “bring it on boy, bring it on”. We started idling out and when we got to the pole, my co-angler said, “Dee Thomas just flipped you the bird and gave you a thumbs up”.
We started laughing, put it on pad and went fishing.
That’s how it was back then – rivalries and riling each other up; and Thomas was probably the best at it.