Tim Horton of Muscle Shoals, Alabama is a veteran tournament angler and a first time ProTourJournal correspondent.  His is one of the most recognizable names on the Pro Tours today.  In BassFan's "World Rankings" Tim is listed as number 16.

Horton, in the top 25 of the "BassFan World Rankings," has notched his spot by fishing the BASS Tour primarily over the last three years.  During that time he has earned numerous top 25 finishes, qualified for 6 straight, (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,) BassMaster Classics, (World Rankings only cover the last three years, and since Horton is also qualified for the 2006 Classic, our math says that is 7.)

A Look At Tim's Top 25's over the last 3 years.

August 10-"I spent a lot of time looking today, the lake is surrounded by docks and some shoreline cover."

"1st day of practice, went fairly well today.  I caught a four pounder and a couple of others that were decent fish.  The Lake is very small, but for 25 boats, it shouldn't be a problem."

"I don't think we can expect too much from an offshore bite, the water color is kind of off color, and I expect most fish to be caught fairly shallow.  I did find one little spot off shore, but I haven't seen much."

"I'm very impressed by what I have seen so far.  They have treated us very well, and as you know, this is a format that professional anglers have been asking for, for quite a while.  I am very excited to be here."

"There are still a few things that I want to look at in terms of the format, for example, the weigh in is going to be different, I will wait to comment on that.  As for so far, this is a great venue, it looks like it will be a lot of fun."

August 11-"I spent more time fishing today then yesterday, I did a lot of looking around the lake yesterday."

"I am still not able to establish anything off shore.  I spent some time looking today, trying to find one of those secret, magic spots, but I didn't get anything going.  I am sure that someone will catch some Carolina Rig fish or get some deep cranking fish, but I sure didn't find anything to excited about."

"I am not catching the numbers that I am hearing other guys are catching, but I have caught a couple of nice fish in the four pound class each day.  This might be because I spent more time fishing off shore and only casually fished docks.  Maybe if I just fished docks, my numbers would be higher."

"It is feeling like it will be about the docks during the competition.  As always, you have to eliminate the poor ones and target all of your time and energy on the productive kinds.  I am going to fish stationary docks, meaning they are on pillars, and not floating.  I am also going to fish, those stationary docks that produce the most shade, this, I feel will be a factor that will hold fish during the mid day sun.  It has been sunny, and should continue to be sunny.  Shade will be a factor."

"I am going to hit the docks harder tomorrow on day one.  My good bites came  from docks, if I concentrate all day, hopefully I can catch five good ones."

August 12-2 Fish / 4.82 / 20th place "I had two real quality bites get off today, and you can't let that happen.  Each fish that got off was about a three and half, so, realistically, I lost seven pounds of fish that I had hooked today, plus a smaller one, so I had my limit of bites, I just couldn't get them in the boat."

"I don't feel out of contention, today I could have easily weighed 12 or 13 pounds, I am around those kinds of fish."

"The grass on this lake is only in about two inches of water, so it its not a factor.  Basically, you get on a bank move along it and fish every lay down or dock that you come across."

"The weigh in was cool, I wasn't sure how that was going to work out, but it was very good.  We weighed our fish at the lake, the weigh master would weigh our fish, and point to the digital read out so that the angler would know his weight.  We were asked not to tell anyone else how we did."

"Later, after we drove back, each pro was called on stage at Cabella's, and our weight was revealed to the crowd and other pros.  It was cool, as we came onto the stage, they had a big jumbo-tron and they played television footage of us catching our fish.  Each of us was given a lot of time to interact with the crowd at Cabella's.  It was a neat experience."

"The actual weighing of the fish was very fast, something like 30 or 40 minutes.  The deal at Cabella's took much longer as each of us was given some time to talk."

"Claude Fishburne, (Fish,) was the emcee and he was hilarious, at the top of his game.  The weigh in show was impressive."

"As each guy came to the stage, if his weight took over the lead, he sat on a chair on the stage, kind of like BASS' Hot Seat."

"I'm not going to change much tomorrow, other than I hope to catch all the fish that bite.  I am throwing some top water in morning, then moving to docks and lay downs."

August 13-2 Fish / 2.94 / 4 Fish / 7.76 / 22nd place "I haven't been able to get on them yet.  Everyone is doing the same basic thing, hitting the docks.  It seems like the fish are bunched up and on certain docks.  I can't tell which docks they are going to be on, but some of the guys who have caught them pretty well may have an idea of which docks to fish."

"It really seems like you just need to get on a stretch of docks and then suddenly, you hit the right dock that has a school living under it and you can load the boat.  That is what happened today to some of the guys who caught them good yesterday, today, the fish just weren't there." 

"Today I caught two on a pop r, early in the morning and then nothing else after that.  I couldn't get a keeper off of a dock today."

"Tomorrow, I am going down to the dam end of the lake.  The water is a little clearer, and I am going to fish out deeper.  I will through a deep diving crank bait, and then fish a Carolina Rig once I have determined that fish are there and hungry.  I will target fish in the 8-12 foot depth range."

August 14-4 Fish / 9.43 / 8 Fish / 17.19 / 16th place 

"Best day yet for me, and it should have been better.  Today, I had a five pounder on a pop-r take me around the boat three times before it jumped off.  A five pounder would have helped me a lot."

"Kind of overcast today, the guys caught them much better."

"I started in place that I found in practice, but was unable to fish the first days because of the wind.  I caught 3 keepers on the pop-r right away, then lost the big fish and pretty much stayed in the area the rest of the day."

"I caught my other fish on a Bomber 2 A."

"It turns out that I finished the tournament in the same position that I am ranked on BassFan's rankings."

"This was a great event, the format was very good.  They pulled off the weigh show.  Fish Fishburne as the emcee was perfect, he kept the show going strong the whole way.  A weigh in show without the bass?  It worked.  It worked well."