DOUBLE CALL TO BAG BIG BUCKS
 Turning
The Tables at Table Rock
Editor's Note: Thirty-four-year-old Gerald Swindle
of Hayden, Alabama, this year's BASS Angler of the Year,
has lived the American dream in the last 12 years. As
a $12,000-a-year carpenter, Swindle dreamed of earning
a living as a professional bass fisherman. This year,
Swindle already has earned more than $1/2 million in
his chosen sport. If he stays on track, he may earn
$1 million before December 31, 2004.
Leaving Guntersville, Swindle headed for Arkansas'
Table Rock Lake, a lake he'd never even seen before
and had very little idea of how and where to fish. The
night before the first day of the tournament, a huge
rainstorm rolled onto the lake, and the rain came down
in torrents. "During practice, I found a few fish,
but I really didn't have anything fancy," Swindle
says. "I was rooming with Marty Stone, another
competitor, and as we laid in the beds and listened
to the rain, Marty  kept
asking me, 'What are you going to do tomorrow, Gerald,
and how are you going to fish?' I gave Marty my standard
answer, 'Buddy, I don't know. The water and weather
conditions are constantly changing as we speak. So,
I don't have any idea of what I'm going to do tomorrow.
I assume that with this warm water coming into the lake,
the bass will move out of the deep water and up into
some shallow-water runoffs. But I don't know where I'll
find those places to fish. I don't even have a clue
as to where to look for a place to fish.' "
The next morning, as Gerald Swindle walked toward the
boathouse  where
he had his boat, he noticed that the boathouse walkway
had flooded. He saw a big mat of leaves, sticks, brush
and what looked like sawdust inside the boathouse and
realized that much debris in the boathouse meant that
somewhere close to the boathouse runoff water was coming
into the lake. Swindle got into his boat and headed
for the takeoff site before daylight, all the time wondering
the origin of that runoff water. When the tournament
started, instead of racing up and down the lake, Swindle
turned his boat around and headed back to the boathouse
where he kept his boat parked, less than 1/8-mile from
the takeoff site.
"That first morning, I caught a 3-1/2-pound and
a 2-1/2-pound largemouth in the little runoff above
the boathouse," Swindle remembers. "The second
day I followed the same pattern and caught two more
bass in the little runoff above the boathouse. The third
day of the tournament I caught a 7-1/2-pound largemouth
fishing that same runoff. Each day after catching nice
bass behind the boathouse, I'd search for runoffs and
fish them. I caught all my bass using a Wiggle  Wort
crankbait and an Arkie Jig and fishing those runoffs
just as I had at Smith Lake."
At the end of the Table Rock tournament, Swindle picked
up a check for third place and became the leader in
the 2004 Angler-of-the-Year race. "When I learned
I was leading in the points championship, I said to
myself, 'Oh, I can't believe you're leading the points
championship and in first place for Angler of the Year.'
I still couldn't think about winning Angler of the Year."
From Table Rock Swindle returned to his home state
and fished Lake Eufaula where once again his instincts
proved reliable.
TOMORROW: BETTING ON THE ALABAMA BEDS
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