During the official practice period Thomas tried the same technique that he had used in the 2003 event, casting a spinner bait to the inside edge of the Kissimmee Grass. "The fish just didn't seem to be in a chasing mood," said Thomas of the spinner bait pattern. With the spinner bait pattern not working Joe went with his back-up plan, casting a crankbait to the outside edge of the grass. Thomas caught several three pound plus fish on a Mat Tiger colored Lucky Craft CB-200 crankbait. "The crankbait was the only way that I was getting good bites," said Thomas.

During the tournament, however, Joe's fish moved. On day one he caught two small keepers. On day two of the tournament he did not catch any keepers and ended up in 156th place overall.

Thomas said that he felt discouraged for not making the proper adjustments during the tournament. "My major downfall in this tournament was not being flexible. I stayed with the crankbait pattern when I should have changed to something else," said Thomas of his finish. "It was hard to handle such a bad finish in the first tournament of the year, now I have to play catch up."

During the three-day practice period Thomas fished a Lucky Craft Pointer Minnow 100 in Chartreuse Shad around bluff banks on the main lake.

The Pointer 100 was fished on ten-pound test fluorocarbon line. "I used fluorocarbon line because it sinks, and it allowed me to get my Pointer a little bit deeper," said Thomas. "I didn't get a lot of bites, but about every third fish was a keeper." One of the keys to Thomas's pattern was to pause the bait for five to six seconds in between jerks. "All the fish I caught hit the bait when it was sitting still," said Thomas.

Day one of the tournament brought with it heavy cloud cover. Thomas caught six bass on the Pointer 100, but all were short of the 16-inch size limit. "I really think that the heavy overcast prevented the fish from seeing the flash of my bait," said Thomas. He ended up being one of 62 anglers that had a hard time dealing with the ever-changing conditions, and now it was starting to rain.

By the beginning of day two, Smith Lake had received four inches of warm rain. Thomas decided to make a major adjustment to his strategy.
Instead of fishing the Pointer, he switched to a 3/8 oz. flipping jig and a pork frog and started fishing in the backs of pockets that had clear runoff water flowing into them. Joe's technique involved making long pitches into the flowing water and swimming the jig back to the boat. "It was really a run and gun technique. You had to fish a bunch of pockets to find a couple that were holding fish," said Thomas.

At the end of the second day Joe ended up catching seven fish, five of which were above the 16-inch minimum size limit. Thomas's fish weighed12 pounds even. This weight moved him form 96th place on day one to 13th place overall, just ten ounces from making the Top 12 cut.

"It felt great to make such a comeback," said Thomas, who credits his success to changing his technique to match the conditions.

When Joe Thomas arrived in Guntersville, Alabama for the Citgo Bass Masters Tour event on Lake Guntersville he was optimistic. "This is one of the best bass fishing lakes in the country. How can you not look forward to fishing here. The only thing that concerned me is the 45 degree water temperatures," said Joe before the tournament. Thomas figured the primary patterns would relate to the lakes prolific grass beds.

During the first day of the practice period Thomas concentrated on fishing the deeper grass beds close to the main river channel. He slow rolled a 3/4 once spinnerbait and fished a 1/2 once jig over the grass in five to seven feet of water. "I really thought that the fish would be relating to this deeper grass since the weather was so cold. I did

get a few good bites, including a six pounder, but not enough to make me stay with this pattern." Thomas then moved shallower to areas where the milfoil and the hydrilla came together. "I started throwing a Mad Craw LVR D-10 around areas where the grass changed. There seemed to usually be about a one-foot change in depth in these areas, and that is where I found my fish. When I was fishing deeper I could only get a fish here and there. Once I moved shallower I got three keepers in one spot and two keepers on another spot. I finally felt like maybe I was on something."

Thomas fished the LVR D-10 on seventeen-pound line to keep it running a little shallower. "You really needed the bait to just tick the tops of the grass, and you had to fish kind of slow," said Thomas of his technique.

On the first day of the tournament Thomas went to his primary area and was able to catch a limit by 8:45 AM, even though it had snowed the night before. By 10 AM Thomas had culled twice and felt good about the day. "About noon I went to my secondary area where I had caught two big fish in practice. I was able to cull one more time, and lost a real big fish." When Joe weighed in on day one he had 17-14, enough weight to put him into a tie for 26th place with veteran angler Jim Bitter. "I was real happy about how I did on day one. The only thing that bothered me was loosing that big fish. That one would have really moved me up in the standings," said Thomas. Kevin VanDam lead day one with 26-03.

On day two Thomas caught a two and a half pound fish on his first cast, but did not get another bite until 1 PM. "With the morning being so slow, I just went fishing in the afternoon. I ended up finding another grass bed where I caught three fish in an hour, including a six and a half. I hooked my fifth fish of the day on the same spot. I never got to see it though, it felt like a sizable fish, but it just got off. I guess I'll never know." At weigh in, Joe's four fish tipped the scales at 16-02. This weight put him in 23rd position. "I ended up missing the cut by only 3-12. Only weighing in four today really hurt. If I could have gotten one of the two big fish that I lost I might have made the cut," said Thomas of day two.

"I feel good about my performance. I wish that I wouldn't have lost those two big fish that I had on, but that's the breaks. Overall I think that I maximized what little I found in practice. With my finish here I am up to 43rd in the Angler of the Year race, and I am that much closer to qualifying for the Classic, which is my main goal this year. I'm also really proud of my friend and teammate, Mike Auten, finishing seventh. This was a tough tournament and he (Auten) fished really well.

Going into the Citgo Bass Master Tour Event on Table Rock Lake in Missouri, Joe Thomas expected fishing to be tough. "I was expecting Table Rock to be as tough as Smith Lake. We were still faced with winter like conditions, and the forecast was changing daily."

Thomas concentrated on fishing jerkbaits along the bluff banks in the James River Arm of the lake. "Table Rock is known as a great jerkbait lake. I fished this pattern hard and was able to find some decent fish. I was happy with practice, until I watched the weather the day before the tournament started. The weather forecast was calling for two to four inches of rain overnight. I knew that the area I had found was very susceptible to rain. By this I mean I knew the water would get dirty fast and probably put the fish I found off the bite," said Thomas.

On day one of the tournament Thomas went to the area that he had found in practice and the water was rolling muddy. He then backed down the river until he found cleaner water and tried to run the same pattern. "I caught eight fish, but none of them were keepers," said Thomas. "I was very upset about my day one performance, but after watching weigh in and seeing how few fish were caught, I knew I had a chance to rebound from my bad start."

"I just didn't adjust well to the changing conditions. I tried to stay on my original pattern to long when I should have changed up. It is hard to do well in any tournament when you only find fish in one area. I really needed to have a backup area here."

"In practice I caught most of my fish around shallow grass pitching a lizard and a tube, which was how I expected to catch them. The bad news was that the water was falling a little each day, and I was catching my fish out of the matted Gator Grass. With the water falling each day I was a little concerned that the fish would move out of the areas that I had found in practice," said Thomas.

Day one of the tournament went well for Thomas. "I should have weighed in about sixteen pounds that day but I broke off one good fish. I hope that doesn't come back to haunt me," Thomas was in 60th place with 12-10 after day one.

"I got nervous on day two and ran around a little too much. I should have stayed put and gritted it out. I'm not happy with how I performed at Eufaula. I didn't fish or execute well. I found two areas in practice about a mile and a half apart. On day two I went to my second area and found Gary Klien and tournament leader Mark Rodgers already in there. Mark had caught thirty-one pounds there on day one. It made me sick. They were fishing the same bank I fished in practice. I guess I picked the wrong spot to start on. This is really a tough one for me to swallow. I hope I do better next week at Santee."

"My practice there was horrible. I never caught more than two fish a day. I fished the lower lake for most of practice because it had produced so well last year. I just never got on anything consistent going in the lower lake though. At 11:30 AM on the last practice day I ran back to the upper lake and caught a five-pound bass, one other good fish and shook a couple more fish off. This was the only area where I felt confident that I could catch fish consistently in," Thomas said of practice.

On day one of the tournament Thomas brought in four fish that weighed 12-15 and put him in 48th place. "I felt good about my weight on day one. The only thing that bothered me was the number of tournament boats in the area where I was fishing. There were a lot of other competitors in there with me. I wasn't sure if the area could handle the pressure."

Day two saw Thomas's weight drop. He weighed in three fish for 3-04 pounds. "My area just didn't hold up. I didn't have anywhere else that I felt confident in going to so I stayed there and gritted it out," said Thomas of day two. Joe's weight on day two dropped him down to 81st in the overall standings.

Day two saw Thomas's weight drop. He weighed in three fish for 3-04 pounds. "My area just didn't hold up. I didn't have anywhere else that I felt confident in going to so I stayed there and gritted it out," said Thomas of day two. Joe's weight on day two dropped him down to 81st in the overall standings.

"I caught all my fish fishing shallow. I pitched a jig and a lizard to the cypress trees in 2-4 feet of water. I'm not into sight fishing so I didn't waste my time looking for fish on beds. I think the fish that I was fishing to were mostly pre-spawn fish."

When asked about his year overall Thomas had this to say, " I'm sick about it. I had a really inconsistent year. I finished last at the Harris Chain then I come back with a thirteenth place finish at Smith, and a 23rd at Guntersville, so I really felt good about that. Then, I turned around and had a mediocre finish at Table Rock. The last two tournaments of the year I started out like gangbusters, I had big stringers the first day and then almost nothing on day two. So it wasn't just inconsistency from tournament-to-tournament but I was inconsistent day to day as well. That bothers me more than anything, because if your performance is inconsistent it's an indication you're not making the right adjustments. If you perform poorly all the way along it just means you might not be in the right areas but when you know you're in good areas and you're still inconsistent that's what hurts the worst. I guess I have plenty to work on in the off-season."