Quote: I wouldn't expect anything less from Ted. He's a real stand up kind of guy!
Agreed!
That stretch can get quite nasty with Sand Bars. I used to fish that stretch quite often byt McClean Bottoms and have seen a few of my buddies up on top of those Bars.
Hats off to the guys that helped out those in trouble. I would take exception though to those that are not giving very good press to the FLW. Sonny and the rest of the team from FLW can't stop people from driving their boats up on a sandbar. It takes some common sense, forsight, and slowing down to keep you off of the shallow parts.
There were 54 boats out there and very few had trouble with the sandbars. Keep your eyes open and your head up and watch for changes. Drive defensively. Try driving the back channel on the Mississippi. Same thing. Take ownership of the situation.
Everyone knows that cell coverage is going to be iffy in certain tournies. As well as marine band radio. When your running 27 miles or longer away from the take off point, you will never be able to get the takeoff point on the radio.
Thanks for the nice words guys - I helped out a competitor who I consider a friend and I know would stop for me if I ever had trouble.
Both Ron and I were in the last flight and I was pretty sure that I would be the last boat in as we were driving about 40 and had my partner watching for stumps while I was glued to my GPS screen following my plot trail. Ron was on a sandbar that wasn't there in the morning and right where my trail ran through also. I swung wide and stopped as he was flagging me down, grabbed his partner and their fish and started my front livewell and took off. This took about 6-7 minutes to accomplish - maybe 10. Ron also mentioned 4 other boats drove by without stopping - very disappointing! When we jumped back on plane, i noticed the time and being ~ 8 miles from check in with just over 11 minutes to go I had no choice but to run wide open through one of the more dicey sections of the river. As we rounded the final bend I knew we would be close to checking in on time. We dropped off plane about 50 yards from the check-in boat with 1 second to spare - as close as I have ever been and I had a limit of fish for my co and I to weigh in.
Here's my $.02 on the situation - The FLW moved the launch the evening of the rules meeting to a different launch ~ 6 miles downstream, they could have just as well gone another 15 miles or so to cover for the 1 hour each morning I sat in line with my truck idling burning up fuel probably would have been an even up swap. They also could have told all 54 competitors via voice mail or some form of communication they were moving the launch location in advance of the rules meeting so we could have planned for fuel consumption and pre fishing accordingly...
However, it's their circuit that i paid to fish this year and accepted the invitation to fish at their championship so I agreed to play by their rules. Is Biz a great location for a tournament and championship? Absolutely! Was pre-fishing a blast when I wasn't navigating the river - no quesiton about it. Would I go back there and fun fish - definitely if my schedule would permit in the spring or fall from what I have heard!
Still disappointed in fellow competitors driving by a boat in distress, they must have left their moral compasses at home that day...
Quote: I would take exception though to those that are not giving very good press to the FLW. Sonny and the rest of the team from FLW can't stop people from driving their boats up on a sandbar. It takes some common sense, forsight, and slowing down to keep you off of the shallow parts.
It doesn't take much common sense for any organization to ensure it's participants arrive home safely.
It doesn't matter what, when, how or who...if someone is in trouble whether it's 100 yards up stream or 100 miles the end result is it's the organizations final responsibility to ensure EVERYONE is back.
Thanks for helping him Ted. Another thing that bothers me, is it the move that caused everyone to have to drive through stump fields? ALOT of boats could of ended up with alot of damage and some bad injuries going through there. FLW always does a great job of putting on a tournament but the saftey issue there doesn't sound good. Thanks, Bill
Ted Merdan pitches in to help a fellow competitor
and fellow anglers 
