The fight of his life

With the start of my 2010 tournament season only 2 days away I would like to share something with all of you.  This isn't the usual fishing story, or report.  But rather a story about a young man that has fished for only a short time here on earth and now is in for the fight of his life.  He is in a battle and struggle to over come cancer for the second time in less than 18 months.  All while being less than 10 years old.  

 
This is a recent picture of a very close friend of mine son in Childrens Hospital, Brett. Brettly was diagnosed with cancer about 14 months ago. After 6+ months of Brett fighting the cancer, it was in remissi......on. And we all hoped and prayed it would stay there. A short 6+ months later it is back and Brett is in for... the fight of his life. He has started another round of aggresive chemo and will soon be going into the U of M for a stem cell transplant. His chances are not promising. But there is a chance! I want to help make a difference for this young man and for this family.  I want to see him fight again, but it to be a fish tugging at the other end of his line....not life! 

I have taken it upon myself to reach out and to help this great family to fight through a tough time. I am going to dedicate my 2010 fishing season to Brett Stulc!! I am going to donate $2 dollars to the Stulc family for every pound of bass I catch and weigh-in during my 2010 tournament campaign. My wrap boat will also display a decal in his name and 2010 fight for life. It might be small but this is a way for me to give back to the Stulc Family. I know this won't fix everything but it will hopefully give them a small piece of mind, I am pulling for you guys. It will also give them some much needed groceries and support. Brett, I want you to know I am fighting for you, casting for you, and setting the hook for you. When I put a tournament keeper in the livewell it will remind me of you. It will give me something to shoot for beyond winning, or catching the biggest bag. It will make every keeper count. I would like to extend to any one else that would like to get behind this project and to help support this cause to please contact me directly, anything would be greatly appreciated. If I can get a bit of help and support I would love to host a tournament to benefit Brettly! Please keep the Stulc family in your prayers and thoughts. Also remember to always enjoy your children and life, each and every day. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Update on Friday, February 26, 2010 at 9:51AM by Matt Peters

It is something bigger than the fishing, for Brett! I would like to thank those that have committed whether it financial or prayers to help Brett and the Stulc family, it is all appreciated.  A few people have agreed to match a dollar for every pound of fish I weigh in, great idea and I thank you.  Some have asked where they can make donations in Bretts name to the Stulc Family?!  I am working on that and plan to have a link up shortly.  I will also be posting a running total of my weight (total donations) from each and every event of 2010 on here and facebook.  Now I have to sack up some nice fish we will be well on our way!  I am going to be contacting all my sponsors to get some of the suport we need to host the 1st anunual Brettly "Fight of his life" fishing tournament.  Big thanks to Travis Frank of www.trophyencounters.com for his support, he is going to be helping orgainze the fishing event. 

I get to be a fisherman

I will be playing and singing this all the way to Table Rock in less then 48 hours. Casey Ashley is one of the nicest guys on the elite tour. This kid can fish and sing like no other. I get to be a fisherman! God bless.

Table Rock FLW

I am packing for the FLW tour event at Table Rock lake in Branson, MO and can not wait to get started.  I will be arriving at the end of this week to start the official practice period.  They have endured a cold winter and has made for water temps hovering around 40 degrees.  If we can get some sun and nice weather in the next 10 days it should really help water temps and the bite.  Regardless I am confident there will be plenty of bites and fish to be caught.  Should make for a fun start to the season.  

There is one particular bait I am super excited to throw this coming season.  It is the new "Glitter Shad" and "Sexy Shad" color swim jigs from Outkast Tackle. 

The features(design, barb keeper, weed guard, hook) on the Outkast swim jig are second to none.  These new colors are going to play a critical role in my upcoming spring events.

History Is In the books

The 40th Bassmaster Classic is in the books and KVD has done it again.  Kevin came back from a small deficit to Jeff Kriet (Big Bite Baits teammate) to walk away from the competition on the final day of 3.  His margin of victory was 5 pounds.  Words do not describe how good Kevin Van Dam is.  He now has 3 Classic titles and 5 AOY titels,  and surpassed the 4.5 million dollar mark in career winnings! 

And he was quick to discard the common analogy that he's the Tiger Woods of bass fishing.

"There's a bunch of dang good people in our sport. We don't have all these issues and controversies. That's why I definitely don't like the Tiger Woods analogy. (Problems like that) are surely never going to happen to me. But you don't hear about that (in our sport). Outdoorsmen and fishermen are good people and we're passionate about what we do."

VanDam threw a Strike King RedEye Shad rattlebait in gold and gold sexy shad all 3 days of competition. As he previously described when he won the Toho Elite Series, the RedEye Shad shimmies when it falls – something he feels no other rattlebait does. He got most of his strikes by bumping or ticking cover, jerking the bait away from it, then letting it flutter to bottom.  Congrats to Kevin and all the anglers that competed in the 40th annual Bassmaster Classic.