Ehrler: A rookie mistake

After my performance at Guntersville, I have to admit, I just might deserve the title, “rookie.”

On the Bassmaster Elite Series I am considered a “rookie.” Fair enough. Since this is my first season on the Elites, I can see being called a rookie. I have won a few sizeable derbies on other circuits, so sometimes I get razzed about being categorized as a rookie by my competitors.

But after my performance at Guntersville, I have to admit, I just might deserve the title, “rookie.”

Don’t get me wrong, I am happy with my ninth place finish at Guntersville. And it was certainly better than that 87th showing at the Sabine.

Ironically, though, at the Sabine I didn’t feel like I did anything terribly wrong in my preparation and execution. At Guntersville, though, I made a boneheaded move I still can’t forgive myself for.

I found one spot at Guntersville that was pretty magical. It was essentially a shallow point near the river channel that had a load of fish on it. On the first day, the fish were positioned on the point, and I caught about 21 pounds on a swimbait and a ChatterBait.

On the second day I rolled in there, and much to my surprise, there was a complete feeding frenzy going on. In my 10 years of pro fishing, I’ve never seen anything like what I witnessed. Instead of being positioned on the point, the entire school of big bass was now chasing huge gizzard shad up in the adjacent flat. It looked like something you’d see while saltwater fishing. I’m talking 4- to 6-pounders were thrashing big gizzards on the surface. At times the bass would run the gizzards on the surface so hard, the school of gizzards would push a sizeable wake trying to escape. Occasionally one of the big bass would rocket up through the middle of the shad, blow them out of the water and leave several of the gizzards stunned on the surface. After that, four or five of the bass would suck the twitching shad right off the surface.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I chucked my big swimbait into the melee and held on…but nothing happened. I could believe it. I tried again…nothing. They wouldn’t touch my swimbait. I realized the big bass were all about pinning the gizzards to the surface and engulfing them only after they had forced them out of the water. What I needed was a topwater! A Gunfish 115 MS American Shad was the exact replica of those big stunned gizzards flouncing on the surface; however, there was one small problem…I didn’t have a Gunfish in the boat. Let me clarify that even further – I did not have a single topwater lure anywhere in my boat.

Can you say rookie mistake?

Why did I not have a single topwater lure in my boat?

Great question.

I thought it was too early for topwaters on Guntersville so I did not put my topwater box in the boat. Instead, my topwaters were tucked neatly in my truck while a 100 pounds of Guntersville giants were playing volleyball with gizzard shad on the surface.

Did I mention the word rookie?

It wouldn’t have bothered me near as bad if the bass had come up just once and blasted shad for 15 seconds – like they do when you actually have a topwater in the boat. But to add insult to injury, the schooling melee lasted for 45 minutes. I’ve never seen a school of big bass feed that long on the surface and all I could do was stand in agony and watch.

All I could catch on my giant swimbait was smaller 2-pounders under the bigger ones. I had a limit in the livewell that weighed a whopping 15 pounds while I watched 25-pound limits froth the surface.

Am I saying I would have beat Skeet if I had a topwater that day? Absolutely not. Skeet was dialed in and there was no stopping him.

My point is not that at all. My point is simply that was a true bonus opportunity during the tournament and I was not prepared to take advantage of it. I ended up catching 20 pounds that day, but it took me all day and I had to lean heavily on my best spots to get it done. If I catch 20 to 24 pounds on a topwater early that day, it gives me time to practice the rest of the afternoon and not deplete my other key areas. That could lead to a better day three when I only had 17 pounds and then maybe a better Day 4. That could mean finishing a couple of places higher in the tournament, which might be the difference to making the Bassmaster Classic at the end of the season.

Instead I’m babbling about what could have been in this blog – kind of like, well, a rookie.