I along with Mary are firm believers everything happens for a reason. Many feel as we do that road blocks in life are just one way to get you to ask the Lord for his help rather than just thinking all that you do and get done is because of who you are. If you are good at something it's because he has blessed you with that ability to do so, if you start taking credit for yourself being talented in that field it doesn't matter what it is, he will humble you very quickly. I had one of these days at the Jet-A-Marina tournament here on Kentucky and Barkley Lakes. This is the largest team tournament each year and with a $95 entry and $5000 first place prize it's easy to see why. I had been doing guide trips all week and hadn't practice one minute for the event. We had had some rain the lakes were on the rise and I knew the fish would be in the bushes again. With my game plan in mind for most of the week I felt like I was going to go knock there lights out. This was also going to be the first tournament of the year for Mary and I together and wanted it to be fun and laid back. Which for me is very difficult to do when in a tournament as I am always on edge and going 100mph. In my mind I was ready to go but I should have listened  to Him when he sent me a few messages to not fish. The first came on the way to the meeting when I stopped to get cash out to pay the entry fee. The ATM machine at the bank wouldn't let me do a with drawl but that didn't stop me from going to the meeting. When I was there my buddy Jeremey asked it I wanted to sign up yet tonight and I said no I would do it in the morning. After the third time of him asking I took is money and signed up at boat 217. After the meeting I headed back home to get things situated for the morning. As most of the spring has gone we had severe thunderstorms during the night which is no big deal and would be a help in putting more water in the bushes. The second sign came when we woke up at 4am got everything and headed out but only made it about half way out the drive when we ran into 2 large trees laying across the road. Well I told Mary guess we aren't suppose to fish today and got turned around, which on a one lane road is not easy to do with a suburban and 21' boat, and headed back to the house. I called the tournament director and explained the situation, he understood and said to call him later in the week and get our refund. We then changed clothes and grabbed the chainsaw and Mary's truck and drove back down to cut the trees out of the way. 


It didn't take as long as I thought it would as all I did was cut them into chunks big enough to roll out of the way. We had a path cut but 6am and to Mary we could still be on the water by 7ish. So back to the house changed clothes again and off we went. After putting gas in the boat we made it to the ramp and Kerry Jet A's owner was still there and checked us in and we were idling out of the Marina at 10min after 7. The third sign and not so much we shouldn't have fished cause we were already on the water but not to burn a $100+ in gas and make that 1hr and 15min run south and still didn't go were I wanted. On the way down the lake Mary looks at me and says are you sure we should run all the way down there, the tournament was won with in 15mins of the dam! Instead I ran us down to a couple areas and we cranked and flipped bushes for 5 fish weighing a total of 9lbs-13oz good for a 150 something finish or maybe it was in the 170s out of 312 boats. Sometimes he puts road block in front us to ask for his help other times he puts them there so we make the right decisions and this time I didn't do either and have the results to show for it.