By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

Kevin Ledoux made a "rookie mistake" on day 1 of last month's Okeechobee Bassmaster Elite Series in Florida, resulting in the disqualification of his day-1 weight. The good-natured Oklahoman has decided to simply own it and learn from it – he says that unless you were there, there's no way to fully comprehend how he got his boat stuck in a shallow canal between two towering walls of reeds and eventually had to enlist the help of his marshal to get it out.

He's already been made sport of – some folks on airboat tours of the Big O that day got a huge kick out of his predicament and several of his fellow Elite rookies have taken to calling him "Kevin LeDQ." He's pretty much over all of that, though, and will tell his story to anyone who's interested, believing that's the quickest route to getting the whole thing over and done with.



If he's ever again faced with a similar situation, he'll make sure the chain of events unfolds much differently.

Nowhere to Turn

Ledoux was on his maiden trip to Florida and had claimed the last paycheck (50th place) at the previous week's event at the St. Johns River. He found massive Okeechobee to be a bit intimidating from the get-go, but had managed to catch some decent fish during practice from some extremely narrow channels that were cut through the reeds.

On the final practice day he stuck a 6-pounder in the canal that would make him a virtual prisoner for several hours just a day later. In hindsight he wishes he'd attempted to navigate all the way through it in practice, but that maneuver would've been a double-edged sword because his trolling motor would've muddied it up and made it unfishable on day 1.

He assumed the canal would be at least 2 feet deep all the way through and that it couldn't go on for too far before it terminated in some much bigger water (he said his Navionics chip was of no help because it showed that area as dry land). He was dead-wrong on both counts

Things were going along okay until about 9:30 that first day of competition – he'd caught a couple of fish that combined to weigh about 5 pounds. But as the bottom and the sides of the canal continued to encroach upon his Bass Cat, he knew he was in trouble.

"It was too late to turn around, and when I tried to push backward, it wasn't happening," he said.

Realizing he was in a passageway navigable only by an airboat, he called B.A.S.S. tournament director Trip Weldon to apprise him of the situation and said he was told he could get out of his boat and push it with no penalty as long as he was merely attempting to get it out of the canal and was not trying to maneuver it into a place to fish. He slogged ahead on his own for at least 2 hours before his marshal couldn't take it anymore.

"He finally said, 'Dude, I can't just sit here, I've got to get out and help you,''' he said. "I told him I was pretty sure that if he did, that would DQ me."

Another call to Weldon ensued, and he eventually learned that receiving such aid from his marshal would result in a zero for the day. It would be a violation of Elite Series rule C12, which states, “Marshals are not allowed to help pros in any way.”

There was no way to salvage the day at that point, though, and he'd already emptied his livewells to reduce the boat's weight. So he and the marshal began to push from behind. They finally hit open water at about 1:30 – 4 hours after he'd recognized that he was in a bad predicament.

"We ended up pushing for like 3 miles. The water was about 8 inches deep most of the way – 12 inches at the deepest. One husband and wife in an airboat came by three times and the lady was just laughing her head off.

"I thought about calling BoatUS, but the only thing that could've gotten to me was an airboat. I was clueless as to how shallow it was and how defined the reed walls were. Once I had to get out of the boat, there was no turning around or going back."

Will Know Better Next Time

Ledoux returned to the water on day 2 and caught a miniscule limit (5-15) that moved him up one spot from the bottom of the standings.

"My whole goal that day was to stay out of everybody's way," he said. "If I even saw a boat in the general area, I got out of there. It was time to cut my losses and get ready to go on to the next one.

"It was a helpless feeling, being stuck out there and knowing what was happening. I've been fishing for a long time, but I'd never been stuck like that. It was a freak deal and a lesson learned."