Practice IS important!

With all the talk about how surprising the Day 1 weigh-in was in comparison to what the anglers expected after three days of practice, let’s not dismiss the importance of practice. It’s about finding clues to the answer, not the answer. Sometimes the clues don’t seem as significant during practice as they end up being in the tournament.

If you don’t think practice is important, look at the Day 1 results by last Sunday’s final 12 at Bull Shoals/Norfork. These guys were still fishing Sunday while the other 96 anglers were working on their tackle in Decatur, Ala. Most of last week’s top 12 were just arriving at Wheeler Lake while the other anglers were already practicing.

Here’s how they finished at Bull Shoals/Norfork followed by their finish on Day 1 at Wheeler Lake:

  1. Randall Tharp – 63rd
  2. Skeet Reese – 66th
  3. Chris Zaldain – 18th
  4. Matt Herren – 26th
  5. Bill Lowen – 81st
  6. Jacob Powroznik – 67th
  7. Steve Kennedy – 30th
  8. Adrian Avena – 68th
  9. Mike McClelland – 93rd
  10. Brian Snowden – 77th
  11. Brandon Palaniuk – 46th
  12. Koby Kreiger – 87th

Day 1 leader John Crews loves the idea of back-to-back tournaments, mainly because he finished 83rd at Bull Shoals/Norfork. He was on his way to Alabama on Saturday, which was Day 3 at Bull Shoals/Norfork.

“I got my teeth kicked in last week, so I was definitely ready to go back to work,” Crews said yesterday. “I didn’t want to sit and fester. I would have been miserable at home if I had to sit on an 83rd-place finish for a couple of weeks.”

As you might imagine, Jacob Powroznik isn’t such a big fan of this schedule, saying, “In my opinion, it sucks. I didn’t get to start practicing until 11 o’clock Monday. You never really have a break. I’m not making excuses, but it my opinion it should not be like this.”