First State Tournament, but no Beginner's Luck
Making Harold's victory all the more impressive was the fact that this was his first state championship tournament. Where others might have been jittery, nervous, or "just happy to be there," he took strong fishing skills and his knowledge of the lake and never looked back.

As a four year member of the Federation, Harold has qualified for the Chapter Teams tournament every year, and has made the Mr. BASS several times as well. Each time, however, something has prevented him from competing. The first year, he had conflicts with work. The next year, it was Red Man (now BFL) tournaments that got in the way.

Although he was a "rookie" with respect to state championship tournaments, by no means was he a stranger to competition, nor to the effort required to do well. Nor was he a stranger to Smith Mountain Lake; in fact, that was the site of the first tournament he ever fished, out of the boat of his friend Rusty Johnson, and they came in 3rd in Region 2 in that event.

Practice Methods
Although he started out his Federation career as a rider, Brian Harold now uses his own boat in most Federation events, and he prepares in a thorough manner that explains his success.

Harold, a mechanical technician, works 13 days a month in 12 hour shifts. This gives him a lot of free time to practice midweek, and as he says "the fish bite better on Wednesday anyway." Additionally, he credits the "incredible support" of his wife Cathy for enabling him to go to the lake with a clear mind. On top of midweek trips to the lake, Harold and partner Jeff Lugar fish the Friday before the tournament out of separate boats, and then compare notes. If either of them gets "on a strong pattern during the week, then we look for a backup pattern on Friday."

Although he doesn't have a "home lake," Brian credits some of his success to the fact that he has easy access to Virginia's varied waters, being only two hours, or a little more, from Smith Mountain, lake Anna, Buggs Island and the Potomac River.

Fall Classic Practice
For his first state tournament, Harold spent part of the weekend before the event on Smith Mountain, and then came back on Wednesday for the duration. During his practice period, he managed to get on a "real strong pattern," throwing a spinnerbait under docks. Typically, the productive docks were in the back of coves and major cuts off of the main lake, and they invariably had baitfish activity. While baitfish in the back of the cove were a necessity, Brian claims that there was no rhyme or reason as to which docks with those properties would produce, stating that "nothing in particular made a difference." The area that he concentrated on was from Waterwheel Marina down to the mouth of the Blackwater arm of the lake.

Although Brian managed a few fish on a buzzbait, he couldn't get them to hit any other topwater lure (a staple presentation for him this time of year), and could manage only a few small fish on jigs. The lure that consistently produced was a white and chartreuse, double willowleaf spinnerbait, in particular a "great spinnerbait made by my friend Mike Simonton in Ohio."

Another factor contributing to his confidence was the advice of his good friend Bo Grosvenor, who has lived on the lake for several decades. The pair met through the BFL, and they now exchange information. "It's hard to do well on all of these lakes if you don't have any help," Brian says, but all the two discuss are "generalities, not specific spots." The friendship is very much a two way street; this year, Brian put Bo on fish for the BFL Super Tournament on the Potomac River, and Bo Finished 6th.

The Meeting
Going into the pre-tournament meeting, Brian felt confident that he could catch "8 to 10 pounds. I'd been doing that all week." Still he was concerned that he might draw a partner wanting to fish another pattern, or a different part of the lake.

Those concerns were assuaged when he drew a partner from Region 6, who "wasn't familiar with the lake." His partner had fished Friday, but didn't catch any fish. Brian says "despite my offers, my partner stayed in the back of the boat the whole time and fished small plastic baits, and caught one keeper each day."

The Tournament
Taking off on Day 1 of the tournament brimming with confidence, Brian was ready to sling a spinnerbait on key docks. Although he got bites throughout the day, he only landed four fish over the 14" minimum length. "The sun came out and really hurt me," he says.

Ray Armes, who won the Chapter Teams tournament earlier this year, was leading after Day 1, with three fish for over eleven pounds. Harold suspected that Armes had caught the fish on a jig, and figured "I was fishing for second place. I knew that I needed him to do poorly to have a chance."

When the second day was overcast and windier, Harold was given that chance. The jig bite shut off for Armes, and Harold, once again fishing a spinnerbait "all day," was able to catch six fish over the minimum length. Still, heading into the weigh-in, he did not feel good about his chances of winning, mostly because all of his fish were "about the same size, I just couldn't catch any great big fish." At weigh-in, though, Brian's consistent limits of quality keepers proved to be enough, and he emerged the clear winner, and the first boating member of our 2003 state team.

Champlain and Other Destinations
Although Brian Harold has never been to Lake Champlain, site of the 2003 Eastern Divisional tournament, and claims to know "nothing at all" about that big body of water, he has already begun his preparation. "I've got about $50 worth of maps," he says, and he plans to study them vigorously in then 9 months prior to the tournament.

Brian will continue his practice of extensively pre-fishing tournaments by making two or three trips to Champlain before the cut-off, and then spending the whole week immediately preceding the tournament on the lake. Based on his study of prior September events on Champlain, he expects that "it will take 15 pounds a day to win the overall title, and 12 pounds a day to be the winner for Virginia."

In addition to his goal of being Virginia's representative at the April 2004 Federation National Championship, Brian is also looking to expand his efforts on other tournament circuits. He has fished the BFL events as a rider in the past, and this year won the Co-Angler points title in the Shenandoah division, winning a plaque, $500, and his picture in the Operation Bass magazine. He had top 10 finishes on Smith Mountain and the Potomac, a 16th place finish on Kerr, and finishes in the 40s (out of 200 competitors) on the James and in the Potomac Super Tournament.

Fishing the BFL as a Co-Angler, Brian typically took his own boat to the tournaments to pre-fish. "I knew that if I could just catch 5 fish a day, I'd probably get a check, even if they weren't the kind of fish that would get my boater partner a check." On several occasions, his partners had no good concentrations of fish located, and agreed to go to Harold's spots. His success on those spots led him to want to try his hand on the boater's side of that circuit at some point, schedule permitting.

Even if he experiences success as a member of the state team or in the events of another circuit, it's doubtful that Brian Harold will ever forget his first Fall Classic tournament. His victory can't be attributed to beginner's luck, or any luck at all for that matter, but rather to skill and a method of preparation that should pay dividends for years to come. A limit a day may not sound like much, but for Brian Harold, his two limits were hopefully just a harbinger of bigger and better things to come.

If you'd like to contact Brian Harold, he can be reached at Harold804@cs.com