I took an opportunity to do a taped interview with CBAF Director Dave Tencati who is a very well-known bass fisherman in Northern California, particularly on the Delta. He and his partners have been twice named Anglers of the Year, winning several tournaments and consistently finishing in the top 10. Dave has produced two bass fishing videos with Bobby Barrack, Just One More Cast and Hot Summer Days. Dave is the founder and Director of the HonorBound Tournament which has been held for the last eight years and draws an ever growing number of anglers. Dave is also the Vice President and Tournament Director for the Christian Bass Anglers Fellowship.
CBAF: Tell me your earliest recollection of having an interest in fishing?
Dave: My family used to go to Anderson Lake to water ski. I was probably 4-5 years old and I recall that my attention was always on a small pond that was adjacent to the lake. I would look at that pond and I would wonder what was going on in that pond and I dreamed of what it would be like to catch a fish out of it.
CBAF: Can you give us a little insight into your early childhood?
Dave: It wasn’t great. I recall it with a lot of pain. My mother was an alcoholic and my dad was doing his own thing. I just never felt loved or affirmed by him.
It would be several years before Dave would find the love, acceptance and affirmation he so wanted from his dad, however, it would not come from his earthly father.
Dave excelled in sports, basketball, football and especially baseball, things most fathers would relish in. But despite all these accomplishments there was no recognition, affirmation or approval from the one who counted most to Dave at that time, his dad..
Dave: I missed having a dad that would come to a game to watch me play and say “great game son!” I made all star teams, star pitcher – lots of stuff like that but those words would never come for me.”
CBAF: Your mom and dad eventually divorced, how old were you then and how did that affect you?
Dave: I was around 14 or 15. I just remember feeling very alone. I didn’t know what it was like to have a real father, even when he was there. Ted, my brother, and I were real close. It was like we were all each other had and we just did everything together.
Both Dave and Ted’s lives would take a significant turn when a neighbor asked them if they wanted to go to church with them. They went and, at first, it was just sort of a social thing hanging out with kids their own age. They weren’t used to a church like this.
Dave: At first I thought they were the weirdest people. I made fun of them but at the same time I knew that something just felt right. It seemed like these people really cared. I had never considered a relationship with God. At that point, I just wanted to be accepted.
Dave had lots of questions, doubts and personal insecurities that made him hesitate to really make this “decision for Christ” that everyone talked about.
Dave: I was so unsure of myself. I had such distrust about people in general and had been hurt so many times by broken promises that I had a hard time with trust and commitment. I was afraid. I remember thinking, ‘I don’t want to be hurt again. I’m done with being hurt’.
Eventually Dave came to a place where he felt that he really needed God in his life if it was going to have any meaning at all. Through the sermons he heard and the influence of Christians around him, Dave made the decision to commit his life to Christ. But even then, there was still a lingering skepticism that was hard for him to shake off.
Dave: I kept asking myself when all this was going to be over, it seemed like the real deal, but somehow I kept expecting some other reality to set in where I would be let down. Let down like my dad promising to make it to one of my games and me being excited about him being there to see me play and looking into the stands hoping to see him, but it never happened. Dad didn’t show.
Dave is the first to admit that he is not perfect and that being a Christian doesn’t solve all your problems. There are still struggles and sometimes life is hard, but he has found that in his commitment to really follow Christ that he has found the love, acceptance and approval he had longed for.
Dave: This feeling doesn’t come from how many strikeouts you get or how many fish you catch or how many checks you draw. The approval simply comes from knowing Christ and that he loves you and accepts you for who you are not your performance. He never let’s you down.
CBAF: How has your relationship with God affected your family?
Dave: It would have been very different if it were not for Christ in my life, I know that. I would have been just another negative statistic because of my background. But because of Christ in my life my family doesn’t know fear. They don’t know what it’s like to be let down or disappointed by a parent who never keeps their promise.
CBAF: How about your professional life? Does it make a difference there?
Dave: Sure, you bet! Otherwise it would just be dog eat dog, get what you can, and step on whoever to get what you want. Sometimes it’s tough. There are still ups and downs and we work hard but I just can’t imagine facing life without Christ. So my professional life counts for much more than just how much I can accumulate?
CBAF: Let’s talk more about fishing. How did you begin fishing in tournaments?
Dave: Well, I started with my Brother Ted and a couple other guys from church. I remember that, at first, no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t catch a fish. I kept trying but still no fish. But there was a passion building in me. I remember the first boat I bought for $1500.00. When I would take it out I spent more time trying to keep it running than I did fishing.
CBAF: Do you remember your first tournament?
Dave: Yes, I fished it with my cousin. We fished hard all day and did not catch a single fish. But there was something about it that drew me to the sport. All the boats out there, the excitement, I just knew I wanted to do this.
I remember fishing a tournament with Ted. It was a NewBass event. Again, we worked hard and it was tough but I caught one fish, just barely 13″ long, I recall looking at Ted and saying ‘I’m going to weigh this fish at the weigh-in.’ It may have seemed like failure to a lot of people but to me it was huge. It was my first tournament fish and I was going to weigh it. I had a burning desire to get better and this was a start.
CBAF: I’m sure a lot of readers would like some advice about fishing. Share something you have learned that might be helpful.
Dave: Well, I guess I would say that if you’re not catching fish you have to adapt – change it up – experiment. You really have to think about what’s going on. When you catch a fish you need to take a mental snapshot. Think about what, where, when, and how. You must be attentive to exactly what you are doing and where you are – rocky bank, drop off, sandy bay, cove, weeds and so on. As you concentrate on these you will begin to put the pieces together at least for these conditions and file them away in your head. That’s the most important thing. I try to keep it pretty simple. Not too complicated. Not the latest fad or what the manufacturers necessarily want you to buy.
CBAF: You began to gain success as a tournament angler in the early 90′s. Tell us a little about that experience.
Dave: Well, I was learning from a lot of others guys, asking questions and fishing a lot. I would fish an area and then another guy would come in behind me and catch fish and I’d I see that he was throwing a rattletrap on the outside of the weed line. I would take note of that. During that time I teamed up with a partner who was a more experienced angler. We had different styles. He fished slower than I did. We learned from each other. I learned to fish a little slower and he learned to fish faster. We complimented each other. We did pretty well. We took Anglers of the Year a couple of times and won several tournaments together. We became a force to be reckoned with on the Delta.
CBAF: You are well known for the fishing videos you produced. What’s the story behind that?
Dave: It was a dream of mine. Bobby Barrack was the King of the Delta and I knew that if I was going to do a video on the Delta, I want it to be with him. At first, I had dreams of making a lot of money. We made two videos. The first, Just One More Cast, was intended to cover basic instruction on fishing the Delta. The second, Hot Summer Days, features Bobby and I fishing for the big boys on the Delta with frogs. I have to say I was amazed and very impressed as I saw how Bobby tapped into the frog bite. It was an honor to fish with him. He’s the master at this technique. The video represented many, many hours of work. While we stayed in the black on the project we did not get rich, but I came to understand that there was a bigger purpose that God had in mind that made the project and all the hours worthwhile. As a result of all the time that Bobby and I spent together, I was able to share the Gospel with him and ultimately lead him to Christ.
CBAF: Something else you are well known for is the HonorBound Tournament. What was the inspiration behind that?
Dave: I had fished a lot of tournaments by then, and had seen guys at the Pro-Am events standing alone with theirs head hanging down in the back of the room. They were just hoping that someone would come up and make them feel like they were a part of what was going on, make them feel important and accepted. I knew what that felt like from my childhood. It hurt me to see it.
I wanted to hold a tournament where every single person who fished that tournament felt special, like a winner. A tournament where every angler felt like people cared about them and that they were “somebody”. That was my dream for the Honorbound tournament. We first started with some of the guys from our church, just a few boats. Originally it was called “The God Tournament”. We later hooked up with the Assemblies of God organization and Bethel Church in Oroville. Jerry Whitten is the Pastor and that church has hosted the tournament for 8 years. We are forever grateful to them.
CBAF: Last year there were about 65 fishermen at this event. There are so many now that the tournament has outgrown the facilities at Bethel.
Dave: Yes, we will hold the HonorBound tournament at Lake Folsom this year and Sunset Christian will be the host church since they have much more room. But no matter how large a crowd we draw our goal remains exactly the same.
Dave serves as the Vice President and Tournament Director for The Christian Bass Anglers Fellowship. Over the last couple of years we have seen CBAF grow from dream to reality with development of a website, the quarterly newsletter, a growing membership and plans for a children’s outreach. I asked Dave to comment on his dreams and aspirations regarding this ministry.
Dave: It is my dream that many other people will come to share the passion and vision of reaching bass fisherman for Christ. We are already getting reports regularly from or about men whose lives have been touched by this ministry. That’s what it’s all about. Sure we fish and we do a lot of publicity and all that, but it’s really about the one-on-one – one angler talking to another. It is still my dream – my goal – that our tournaments will be a means by which people will be lifted up and made to feel loved and know that they are special and that we care about them. There is no turning back. I recall a scene from the movie The Untouchables. It is set in the 1920′s during prohibition and an honest street cop played by Sean Connery and Elliot Ness played by Kevin Costner are about bust in the door of the first warehouse where they suspected Al Capone was making illegal booze. They sensed that they were about to embark on something historic and important. And Sean Connery said something like, “If we go through this door, there is no turning back.” I thought about those lines as we held our early organization meetings last year. Sure that was just a movie but it reminds me that we are setting something in motion here, something important. We came to that door and we have gone through it. We cannot turn back. We have set in motion something that will require dedication, devotion, commitment, and thus we owe a responsibility to God and the people we serve. We cannot turn back.
CBAF: If there is one thing you could say to your fellow anglers who have not yet come to know Christ, what is it?
Dave: To wake up! I don’t mean that in a judgmental way. I mean that they need to wake up to what’s really important in life. Some only have their accomplishments to define them. So if they do well, they feel well. But if they do poorly they feel poorly. If they win, they feel like a winner. If they loose they feel like a looser. But with Christ in your life, you can live every day with approval and acceptance, without having to earn it.
