Well, I’m gonna call this one a hard lesson. The recent Bassmaster Elite Series tournament on the St. Lawrence River didn’t go so well for me, but I can’t blame anyone but myself.
I tell people all the time that you have to go into a tournament with an open mind. What worked before never works twice on the same lake, but this time I didn’t’ listen to my own advice.
In bass fishing, we throw around the phrase “preconceived notions” a lot. People think it’s not a big deal, but that’s what killed me this time.
The last time the Elites were on the St. Lawrence, I finished 13th. I really liked the way the place lays out and the amount of fishable water. But I think the problem was the difference in how I approached things last time.
I showed up not knowing anything about the place, but I figured out how to catch them. This time, I started trying to catch them out deep, the same way that I did two years ago.
I can usually get away from that mindset, but on the first day of practice, on the first spot I fish I catch a 5-pounder and a 4-pounder. I was thinking it was going to be the same, but fishing was definitely tougher out deeper than it was two years ago.
The problem was that just about the time I’d start to give up on it in practice, I’d catch one. So I started telling myself it’s just a matter of finding the right area.
With the Elite Series, we only have two and a half days of practice. That sounds like a lot, but when you get on a body of water as big as the St. Lawrence River, you kinda stick with what I call your crutch.
The crutch I had was the areas where I caught them the previous time I was there. But the fish kept tricking me, because every time I about give up on it and go to something else, I’d catch one. Sometimes there would be two or three hours between bites, but it would be a big one – a 4- or 5-pounder.
Before I knew it, practice was over and I was committed to the way I was fishing.
I ended up catching my fish on a dropshot with the YUM Warning Shot over humps and high spots in 20-30 feet – anything that allowed those smallmouth to get out of the current. The first day of the tournament was really a struggle, even though I was in the middle of the pack with 15 pounds that included a 5-pound fish.
I definitely didn’t feel like I was on the right deal, but at that point, I had spend two and a half days of practice and one day of the tournament doing it, so I was committed to what I was doing. Not that I wanted to be committed, but I felt that the best chances for me to get a decent finish was to go ahead and grind out what I was doing, rather than totally change.
Obviously, that was the wrong decision. If I hadn’t gotten any bites out there in practice, then absolutely, I would have changed to something different. But those fish would just tease me enough to make me stay out there.
The frustrating part – the part that has me literally about to bite a nail in two – is seeing photos of guys up there in 2-3 feet of water catching largemouth and smallmouth and I never even tried that. I committed to what I was doing and that was a huge mistake.
In this game, you’re going to lose sometimes; you’re not going to have good days all the time. But for me to not have a good tournament when those guys caught them the way I like to catch them – flipping, frogging, throwing swimbaits – that’s what aggravates me.
It’s not that I couldn’t catch them shallow. I never even tried it. I thought I was on the right deal, and I just wasn’t.
The last time we went to the St. Lawrence, the fish were on more of a summertime pattern. This year, I think it was a combination of factors: They were a little bit behind and we were there on a full moon. I think that had them spread out.
There were fish in 2 feet, 10 feet, 20 feet, 30 feet. Guys were catching them deep, but I think the consistent bite was shallow.
Looking at the overall points picture, this tournament put me really close to the bubble for Bassmaster Classic qualification. I’m going to have to catch them pretty good in the remaining two Elite events and the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship.
I’m still in position to make the Classic, but I’ll have to buckle down and get busy if I want to fish on Grand next year. I’m going to have to catch some fish and make some good decisions.