2008 Tournament
Season Lessons
March 3, 2009
When looking at the forest, don’t overlook the trees.
I sincerely hope that your 2008 tournament season was a whole lot better than mine. I had the kind of year that has made me step back and seriously question my abilities, but this isn’t really the first time. We all experiences times when we feel “off”, where things just don’t work out, but that doesn’t make it feel any better when it happens to you.
Throughout my years as a tournament angler I’ve enjoyed my share of success, and definitely more than my share of failure. The feeling that comes with success is what keeps me coming back year after year. I want that feeling again!
With all of the new lures, tackle and techniques made available to us each year it’s only natural to want to spend time on the water trying to gain confidence in the latest and greatest thing that’s recently come along. Often times that also means that we overlook the proven successes we’ve had in the past. We’ve all heard a buddy say he “went back to the basics” and there’s a lot to be said about that.
If you’ve been fishing any decent amount of time I’m sure you’ve noticed you probably don’t use that soft plastic or crankbait that you had such success with as often as you used to. In the ever evolving world of fishing I’m all for keeping up with the changes, but I’ve noticed that more options don’t necessarily equal success. In my efforts to be a more versatile angler I find I have a tendency to embrace recently acquired reasoning, and sometimes that tends to overcomplicate things. I need to recall my recent strengths and confidences as well.
New Is Not Always Better
At the FLW Stren Series event on Sam Rayburn in February 2008, I recalled (re-learned) a lesson that I had discovered in “Fishing 101” years ago. I had a good practice and felt pretty good about everything (except those East Texas boys), but on the first day I brought in only two keepers, and I wasn’t slackin’! 
During practice I caught them pretty good around grass edges on spinnerbaits and over the grass on lipless crankbaits, but I just couldn’t make it happen when it counted. Rather than staying with the original plan I went to my alternate (a totally different game plan) on Day Two and came in with only one nice fish. It was an upgrade but it still didn’t make a difference. Finally on Day Three, I went back to the grass and worked the cranks like crazy to bring in a small limit.
If I’d stuck with my tried and true method from the beginning I would have finished much better. Instead I felt like I’d sold all my stuff for a nickel on the dollar. This was really a case of trying something new but having it hurt instead of help me.
Sometimes New Is the Ticket
At the B.A.S.S. Central Open on the Red River in April 2008, I had some success using some fairly new techniques (particularly to me) for that part of the country. Finesse baits and techniques have been in use for years out West and in the deep, clear lakes of the Midwest and Northern lakes, but down here in the South(West) these baits are just beginning to become what you might consider mainstream.
For example the football head finesse jig is an innovative design that works well and is designed to allow the bait to come over and through rocks without snagging as often as a regular jig. Team this with an almost unlimited selection of colors, sizes and shapes of soft plastic and you’ve got an extremely versatile bait. I found new ways to use these baits in 2008 by topping them with unconventional plastics.
I have found the shaky head worm (most often associated with clear water) to be a great bait even in dingy to stained water when fished up shallow. Like the football head jig previously mentioned, the variety of soft plastics available for these jig heads make them another viable choice for me when the fish are not biting so well.
Although fishing for suspended fish has been considered by many (okay, definitely me!) to be tough, the drop shot has proven that these fish can be targeted and successfully tricked into biting a variety of lures that can be presented simply by dangling them in front of these lazy floating fish. The normal drop shot rig is shown in the picture above, but the technique of putting the bait in front of suspended fish can be done with nearly any weight tied below a horizontally rigged soft plastic bait, and then dropped down to the depth that the fish are holding.
A Little or a Lot, It’s Still Just Fishing
The main thin I realized during the 2008 season is that the amount of practice, including research and time on the water, doesn’t matter nearly as much as being in the moment when you are actually on the water. There simply isn’t any replacement for being able to get in touch with what is happening at the very moment that you make your next cast.
Some of the best days I’ve spent on the water have been when I’ve “just gone fishing” without much preparation, and then fished the way I wanted to (my strengths) when the time came. To be able to do this more often is a goal that I have for 2009.
I want to say thanks to my sponsors Costa Del Mar, Dobyns Rods, Laser Lure, Lock-n-Haul, Power Pole, SavePhace, and a special thanks to Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits for making the great products that I choose to include in the tools that I use in my pursuit of the prize.