David Clubb
By Rick Wilson
I was one of the fortunate ones to be able to call David Clubb one of the best friends I ever had in my life. This is my story about some of the experiences with David.
I started Striper fishing in 2001 and began going to Lake Norman tournament weigh-ins every Sunday. I saw Clubb and Parlee place in the money nearly every week. After one of the tournaments they held a learning seminar on how to catch Striped Bass. I was fortunate to be paired up with David. We got in his boat and he showed me not only how to catch fish, but the big fish. After a while I got my boat setup for Striper fishing and entered my first tournament. I won using Clubb’s technique. Looking back, I think he may have regretted showing me everything for a while as I started to win. On Fridays we caught bait together and used my 500 gallon tank. It worked out real well and then I had a heart attack. He came to see me the day after I came home from the hospital. I told him the doctor told me not to do anything, or pick anything up but not to lay around. His reply was, ” sounds like he was telling you to go catch bait!” So for the next three weeks we caught bait and fished every day. One day we could not find any bait in our usual locations. We started at High Rock, went to Badin then to Hickory and finally filled the tank at Rhodhiss. Since I was unable to throw a net, he did it all. I bet he threw that net 400 times that day. He looked after me closely to make sure I was ok and I was. One day during my recovery time he called me and said Shannon Miller invited us to go tuna fishing on his boat. We drove all night to get to the outer banks. On the ride I thought he was asleep and I changed the station when Ozzies Momma I’m Coming Home came on the radio. I thought he was going to slap me. The two days we fished the water was really rough. We caught two yellow fin tunas and David reeled in both of them. That weekend was one of the most memorable weekends in my life. I thought I was a fisherman until I realized Clubb and Shannon are the real fishermen.
I placed in the money quite often using Clubb’s technique. David Parlee was his tournament and business partner and were always loyal to each other. I always considered Clubb and Parlee fishing partners. They always knew where I was and I always knew where they were during the tournaments. We had a great bunch of guys that fished together, and Clubb was a leader to all of us. Once my marriage ended my fishing did also and we lost touch for awhile.
He saw me getting in my work truck one day a couple months ago and we had lunch. We laughed and caught up on a few things like grand kids. Boy did he light up when he started talking about them! He has always been a good dad for his boys and loved Tess. Last week I decided to sell my boat and the first person I thought of was Clubb because he would know who may be looking for a boat. I should have called him. He will be missed by many!