Obviously I’m disappointed with my performance at Lake Murray, especially with the practice I had. It completely fell apart the morning of the first day. I missed the morning bite on Day One, and that was absolutely critical. It forced me to play defense on Day Two.
That means that it’s really important for me to forget that and realize that I did not destroy my Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Angler of the Year hopes. I didn’t help them any, but I didn’t destroy them, either.
I’ve got to refocus, regroup and get ready for the Arkansas River, which is going to be another tough event compared to what we’re used to on the Elite Series.
One thing I like about the river is that it’s going to be hard to guess the condition of the fishery before we get there. With the water flowing hard and high, it’s tough to judge what’s going on. I think that takes some of the local advantage away to some degree.
If it’s stable and regular, the locals have a big advantage. But with the floods and falling water and possibly another flood, it’s going to be difficult, and that’s a good thing. I love having to figure out changing conditions.
We got back home to Texas on Sunday night and spent two hours cleaning out the motor home, and I’ve decided that I like fishing better than cleaning the motor home. But, it needed to be done, along with a host of other chores.
Back-to-back events mean the mundane things stack up, like getting the mail, doing laundry and other things. I can’t rest until those are done. But, we got them all done, and I’ve spent some time watching two movies: The Matrix and Tora! Tora! Tora! That was kind of a nice break to sit down and watch those.
This week, I’m taking some folks fishing at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, Texas. We’re going on one of their highly-managed lakes that's full of big fish.
The other thing that I’m doing right now is planning a trip to Falcon. It’s a good way to get your arms in shape. After a week like I had last week, I need to remind myself that I can catch big fish. It’ll be good to chill out there. Actually, “chill” isn’t the right word. This time of year it’s always over 100 degrees down there.
The fishing should be fantastic since the water level is dropping. For the past few months, the fish have been protected in the shoreline brush, but now they’re being forced out to play. Falcon’s the only lake I’ve been to where the fishing is better when the lake is falling rather than rising.