Gary Klein’s tournament diary: Pickwick Day One

In this article, Gary Klein describes Day One on Pickwick Lake. He is looking forward to Day two with an open mind and maximizing his opportunities.

April 7, 2011
Pickwick Day One

Day One on Pickwick went about as planned for me. I had good execution on the water, caught the bass that bit and basically did exactly what I wanted to do.

I had a decent stringer on the first day, weighed in 17-5, and I'm currently in 22nd place.

I'm starting to get dialed in better and better on what the fish are doing and what I have to do to catch them. I'm finding bass staging in the center of troughs that hold baitfish.

I caught between 15 and 20 keepers today, including one fish that weighed about 5 pounds and another that weighed about six. There are definitely some quality fish in my areas, and I'm going to keep pecking away at them.

It's possible that I need to add another technique to my game plan. I'm still trying to get a handle on that. Naturally, the key is making the most of the opportunities that are out there. If I try to add another technique at this point in the tournament, it could take me away from what's working pretty well and cost me several places in the standings. But if another technique is what's needed to improve my catch, I'd be leaving something on the table by not trying it.

That sort of strategy and balancing act is what tournament fishing is all about — at least once the event is underway. If you make good decisions, you succeed. If not … well, you know what happens then.

All in all, I'm satisfied with the way things went on the first day. I had a good day on the water, and I'm looking forward to Thursday. Now it's time to focus on Day Two.

I'll need to keep an open mind and try to maximize my opportunities out there.