TEAM TOPWATER would like to welcome another new team member- Melinda Mize, Pro Angler from Arkansas to our lineup of pros: Darrell West, JP Prouty, Meta Burrell, Miles "Sonar" Burghoff- Angler/ Journalist; Josh Guess- Florida Angler, Brannon Long- Texas Angler, Ben Dziwulski- North Carolina State University Basspack, Kevin Beverley- North Carolina State University Basspack. Stay tuned for more to come!

Thank you to all of our customers who purchased items during our SPRING SALE!!! The Weather is warming up so fish on and- WEAR IT!!!!

Team TOPWATER'S J.P. PROUTY opens his tournament season:

This weekend I fished my first Bassmaster Weekend Series tournament of 2010. I missed the first event on my home lake, Lake Kissimee because of a blown motor from the BASS Southern Open on Lake Okeechobee. So needing a good tournament to be able to make the regional championship AND the National Championship I dedcided to do my homework on what I considered the toughest lakes to fish in: The Harris Chain of Lakes!!

I started practice 2 weeks ago and because of difficult weather conditions, I only found a few areas that were holding better fish. I decided to only fish 2 days of pre-practice in hopes that the weather would change and the fishing would get better...It did!!!

In practice I was able to find one KEY area that was holding some GIANT bass...only problem was that it was a LONG way away and would have only allowed for 2 hours of fishing after running there and having to get back for weigh-in.

At the pre-tournament meeting the directors of the event threw us all a curve ball and told us that they had not received our size limit exemptions. These exemptions allow us to keep more fish over the state allowed 22" maximum and keep fish under the 14" minimum. With that thrown into the mix I scrubbed the long run and decided to fish closer to the weigh- in where I had found spawning bass in a canal...

To make a long story short, I was only able to catch 3 keeper bass, weighing a meager 9.4lbs. I was also assessed a 2lb penalty for being late, netting me a total of 7.41lbs. This landed me in 28th place, not great but still in the top 1/3...I'm telling you, that lake is TOUGH!!!

Next stop, ST. JOHN'S RIVER. I won this tournament last year and I'm hoping to repeat. I LOVE fishing up there!

On a side note, JP HAS DECIDED TO ONCE AGAIN FISH THE BASS NORTHERN OPENS! 2011 ELITE SERIES, HERE HE COMES!! GO GET 'EM JP, WE ARE BEHIND YOU, 100%!