Day Two: Some days are tougher than others

Well, you know the story: I won’t be fishing tomorrow. I missed the cut in a tiebreaker. I’d love to tell you that it’s OK but I have to admit that it hurts.

Well, you know the story: I won’t be fishing tomorrow. I missed the cut in a tiebreaker. I’d love to tell you that it’s OK but I have to admit that it hurts. I really wanted to do well here. I guess it just wasn’t in the cards.

The toughest part of it is that I had a better day today. I’ve said for the past several weeks that you should watch the guy who can adapt and make changes. I was able to do that but it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t make up the weight. The small fish I caught yesterday killed me. There’s no way around that, and there’s no excuses.

I wish I could tell you there’s a lesson in this but there really isn’t. I didn’t need this to happen to me to teach me that a bad day can ruin a tournament. That’s a given. I mean, I said just the other day in this column that you can’t win a tournament in one day but you can lose one. And, I said that was never truer than on the Red River in a Bassmaster Classic. Do I need to say anything else? Not!

As I say that, though, I also want to say congratulations to the guys who did make it. The Classic is a tough event, and the Red River is no easy venue. They deserve the credit they’ll get. They earned it. I can only hope the best angler wins tomorrow. It looks like it’ll be an exciting finish. I hope so, anyway. The fans deserve that much, and I’m thankful they’ll (you’ll) be getting that. Enjoy it. It’s for you.

I’m tired, man. I’m going to bed. Tomorrow is another day. I’ll give you more details in a column either tomorrow or Monday and maybe a little analysis about the final day.