I talked with Cordova resident Kent Driscoll just a little bit ago.

He’s the pro-staff manager for B’n'M Poles and a member of the pro staff for War Eagle Boats. He was on his way back from the War Eagle plant in Monticello, Ark., with a brand new camouflage Predator.

He’ll be fishing the Crappie Masters tournament this weekend at Reelfoot Lake, and he’s worried he might need some arctic clothing to keep from freezing to death.

It seems to me that crappie tournaments are starting earlier every year.

This weekend’s event on Reelfoot will be the seventh - yes SEVENTH - Crappie Masters event of 2008.

Last week, they were on Logan Martin Lake near Birmingham, Ala., where local angler Harold Rich won with seven crappie that weighed 14.14 pounds. That’s better than 2 pounds per fish, and most crappie fishermen know that’s pretty strong.

Rich, who fished by himself, says he won the event by jigging brush piles with red and yellow homemade jigs. But he’s been known to play loosely with the truth when it comes to crappie fishing (doesn’t everybody?). So I wouldn’t be shocked if he used another method.

This Saturday, Crappie Masters moves to Reelfoot where Kent and most of the B’n'M crew will battle it out for a bigtime payday.

Meanwhile, I’ll be on Logan Martin, fishing the Crappie USA tournament - and hoping Harold Rich doesn’t show up.

I may get smacked on Logan Martin. But I’ll take my chances there instead of Reelfoot because I grew up near Logan Martin and I know the lake pretty well. I know for a fact I would get smacked on Reelfoot because I don’t know that lake well enough to compete with people like Kent Driscoll, Billy Blakely and Jackie VanCleave.

I’ll be practicing most of the day Friday on Logan Martin and fishing the tournament on Saturday, so hopefully I’ll have something to blog about.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.