HBC 6...Short Story and Thank you!

[jwick22]

Hey Guys

I just want to give a brief story and say "Thanks" to all the people who have helped me get to where I am today.

First. Thank you to the HBC, staff, and sponsors for giving us an event like this to fish. Thank you to Ron Cervanka, John Barron, and Ken Huddleston!

2nd. Thank you to my friends and family. You guys all know who you are and without you I would not be where I am in the fishing world today. Which is not very far, but maybe someday it will be.

3rd. Thank you to all my sponsors. Dobyns Rods, Toray(Blackwater), Blackdog Baits! Thank you to Gary Dobyns, Jeremy, and the family of Blackwater.

4th. Thank you to Tony Lain for puttin me up at the lain Hotel..Thanks to Team Bling!!!Rod Wynn and Tony Lain! Great Guys. Thanks for the footage Rod!

5th. Thank you to George Kramer and his support...Check his website out.... Kramergonefishing.com

6th...Thank you to my VTO!

Brief Story

Started the day out on a spot I found in the Top Stick Pro/Am.

Unfortunatley, I went through about 23 lbs on that spot all on the "Big" worm. I felt it the next day at the ABA tournament with Mike Phua.

I did catch a "good" fish off the spot. I am not sure of the weight but my guess would be a high 5. I caught it early I think in the first half hour. I am not sure if it would have given me a chance. If I had to make a guess...I would say...5.75 lbs.

I ran around all day and caught a couple more fish and at around 1:45 I new I had to hit one last spot in which I had already hit that day once. I setup on the spot as usual. There was one really good fisherman on the spot already"Manas"...Another really good fisherman showed up a little later"Pat Keniry". They both left. Then I saw 2 other great fisherman and friends around the spot....Rod Wynn and Roland Andrade. I saw Roland break off a 5 plus lber...Karma for runnin my spot over.......

THEN....I decided to cast a little deeper...2:34 pm.....Well, a couple shakes and I was bit. You can watch the video by Rod Wynn posted on westernbass.com I knew it was a solid fish and it made one jump and I got it close to the boat...Had a little bit of a tuff time gettin it in the net....I beamed both fish and the one was a little bigger!

Started the motor went to the "actuator"...Made a couple of casts with my "CUSTOM" Lunker Punker....No takers! Checked in and dropped off my VTO.

I had to weigh in at 2:45.

Mr. Barron asked me how big my fish was....I thought it was right around 6.....I told him between 5 and a half and 6...I only let one guy see it and he thought it was smaller then 6. It was a short but fat fish. Mr. Barron told me to weight as they wanted to give Manas a little bit of suspense.

You guys can read the rest at Heavyweightbassclassic.com

I really wanna say thanks to my friends....THE BEST thing about all of this was seeing the support from "ALL" of my friends at the weigh in! I really saw the excitement in their faces as I am sure they saw mine!

One last thing. It is crazy how all the Haters come out when you start doing a little better then them. YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

JOHN WICK aka "JDUB" Given by MIke Phua but first by my wife...

[Rod Wynn]

Good read and Congrats once again ma dude..

[basshunter4u]

Congrats again J-Dub it was nice to meet you, although it was short but sweet

Don O

[N.A.R]

John maybe your problem with the Open and FLW last year, was you were in the back of the boat?????? LoL

Congrats John

Tony

[Jim V.]

Congrats! Good to meet you & good to be in the boat with Mike Phua all day. I think you got him off his game a little bit when you guys told him you got 20+ off one of your tournament spots.

But, hey - it worked out well!

Good job.

[andrade417]

Johnny "Black 22" Wick, I just wanted publicly tell you congratulations! You are definately a product of dedication and old fashion hard work.

I remember having a conversation with John at the 2009 US Open about DVL. John was on a mission to learn the lake and become a "Competitor" out there. He has definately made a name for himself and is a contender at any tournament he enters.

AND fellas, Johnny winning the HBC is no fluke. He put in his time, hard work and dedication into DVL. Obviously it paid off for him. He had been running around for last month trying to find "big fish" spots and obviously he found one.

BTW - Johnny don't let the haters get you down. Kyle, Mike P and several other DVL guys have dealt with that drama. Just ignore it.

Good job bro!!!

Roland

[lunker punker]

You know your doin good when the haterade is flowin!!!!!! Congrats dude!!!!!!!!

[Mike Phua]

JDub great job brother. Haters are part of the territory when you start making a name for yourself. Just smile and win em over with kindness and ask em "Who's got the belt?"

The best part of the whole day watching JDub's face when he was officially crowned the HBC Champ. He went absolutely nuts with chest bumps and hugs and roars of victory, it was..............PRICELESS!

We all went out and celebrated that night with TLain and Rod Wynn compliments of the HBC Champ himself. They'll agree JDub never quit smiling that night. We made him wear the belt all night. Good times for sure.

That's what it's all about. MP

[leachman90]

Well done buddy.

[lowerider]

Thanks for the story. Congrats on the WIN. Dont let jealous chumps get you down.

[Guy Williams]

Great read JDUB!! Let the haters hate, then take their money!!!! Way to close the deal late in the day.
Guy Williams

[Mike]

Congrats John!!

[crazychuy]

Congrats to you, John.

CHUY

[LimitedOut]

Way to represent J-Dub (or maybe it should be J-Money?)...

[drew]

Congratulations. I knew you could do it.

[Guyle]

Congrats!!!

[Soulman]

John- one last congratulations from me (sorry Manas, old buddy)! I enjoyed being along for the boat ride on Friday. Admirable how you stuck with the big bait all day, even when things slowed. Not that they ever slowed much, you had a bunch of quality fish.

Getting that big fish so late really says a thing or two about perseverance. Even though the fish you had in the well all afternoon was a good one, I’m guessing it upgraded you from also ran to winner!

Great job by the Tournament Staff all around too. Really built the suspense right to the end. Knew your fish was close to the 5.96 that Manas was sitting on, but wasn’t sure which way it would go. Just a great finish. I am sure you guys partied like Vikings that night!
Bob

[Soulman]

*NM*

[mike goodwin]

John great job, looks like there is a new sheriff in town. Congrats
bro. Say hey to MP

Just remember it's lonely at the top

MG

[hippie]

John you suck you should of been DQ'ed. I can't believe they didn't give the win to Manas thats BS. Dude do you remeber where San Diego is? Well stay there I don't like your types in the IE. It just brings our cities down.
Your hot right now keep it up. Do you use mouse or gel in your hair?

[Robert F]

Do you use mouse or gel in your hair?

I don't care who you are Jason is funny as hell. Congrats John but try not to let it go to your head. As Jason said, you still suck. .....BTW My guess is Mousse. Phua told me when he runs his fingers through John's hair it is soft.

[Tony Lain]

Like heavy weight boxer Buster Douglas said when he knocked out Mike Tyson, "Just put the belt onnn'meee!!". JDub, pleasure hanging with you the past weekend and sharing your moment. You know I called it Thursday night... Great win, and welcome to "Team Bling!". You and Mike are tuff to beat right now on DVL. Thanks to both of you for passing on the info, helped me and my two team partners cash checks too Sat and Sun. See at the next one. TL

[jwick22]

I appreciate all the calls and posts!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

[KMAC]

Having talked to you after last Monday pre-fish...I was really impressed with your fishing abilities and your friendly down to earth attitude. Congratulations ! I hope you have a great career and go nationwide !

[Nunyo Bizness]

John,
Congrats on a well earned victory, you have been on for the past month or so and you deserved the win. WTG bro, forget the haters...you got the belt Bro. Im happy for you!

Yoz