Pee Paw and the Squirrel revisited

Just a brief follow-up on our story about bass fishing's odd couple, Jeff Kriet and Mike McClelland. (The Squirrel and Pee Paw respectively)

In a sport where most competitors would rather give up their daughter to a polygamous sect in Texas than reveal even the slightest bit of truth, these two are an anomaly.

Case in point: Day 2 of the Toyota Texas Bass Classic, both of them should have been pretty upset. Kriet's team finished in 6th place (out of 26 teams), which normally wouldn't be too bad, except that it meant that they wouldn't get to fish a third day and compete for the really big bucks. McClelland and teammate Dave Wolak absolutely crushed the fish in the first day's morning session, and then they and their teammates stumbled and limped along the rest of the way. They finished a disappointing 10th.

Apparently they didn't know that the derby was over for them, because they were still talking strategy.

Furthermore, they appeared to be unaware that they'd been on separate teams, because they were sharing very precise information with complete candor.

"It wouldn't matter if we were in 1st and 2nd place going into the last day of the Bassmaster Classic, we'd still be this open," McClelland said. "He knows that I wouldn't hit his stuff. We'd totally honor each other's stuff. We fish so similar, it helps us out more than it hurts us."

At the Amistad tournament, they even gave each other the GPS waypoints they were fishing.

Apparently they listened a little too well in kindergarten when the lesson about sharing was given.

In fact, if you listen to McClelland, who has won three Elite Series tournaments (tied with some nobody from Kalamazoo), it sounds like he'd rather his friend win the next one.

"It's going to happen, it's gotta happen," he said. "Jeff is going to close one out and it's going to be soon."

"Mike has me taking risks," Kriet added. "I used to fish just to make a check. I'd try to find the fish to finish in the top fifty. Now I feel like I can win any one of them. You win when you don't think you're going to win. Look at Todd Faircloth, who's a great fisherman, but you wouldn't expect him to win at Table Rock with a spinning rod."

"I think he's going to be pleasantly surprised in the near future," McClelland opined.

The other competitors in the weigh-in line looked at the twosome like they had two heads apiece. Once again, it has been confirmed that they truly are an Odd Couple.