With the 2015 Bassmaster Elite Series right around the corner, I’ve been thinking about some of the lessons I learned during last year’s season. One of the most important lessons I learned was how to mentally manage my practice days.
That’ll be an important element of my Elite Series performance, but it’s also going to be a critical element of the upcoming Bassmaster Classic on Lake Hartwell. I’ll arrive in Greenville, S.C., on Thursday, and we start practice on Friday.
Looking back to my 2014 Elite season, I learned the lesson that if I have a bad practice, I can’t get down – I just have to go fishing. On the flipside, I learned an even deeper lesson about how a productive practice can also become a liability.
At the Cayuga Lake event and the Angler of the Year Championship, I had two of the best practices I’ve ever had, but I ended up having a tough time in the tournaments. Looking back, I can see that I struggled because I got locked into one plan based on what was working in practice.
When that plan fell apart, I didn’t adjust. I got tunnel vision and that hurt my performance.
This season, one of my main goals is just to be consistent and not have any low finishes. To stay on track in each event, I’m going to keep an open mind and go just go fishing.
Consistency, of course, is just as important at the Classic, but I’ll have a more aggressive strategy for the tournament and the practice. That’s because there’s no points involved – it’s a winner-take-all deal.
How does that affect my practice? Well, in an Elite Series event, I’ll be looking for primary and backup patterns. In the Classic, I’ll be looking for patterns that I believe can win the event.
They don’t give trophies to guys that win practices. In my view, Classic practice only serves to build your confidence in particular areas and baits.
Hartwell’s a big lake, so I’ll definitely pick a section of the lake on the first day of practice and focus there. I’m going to fish and try to dissect an area to develop a couple of patterns.
If I get something going, I’ll try to expand the second and third days. If not, I’ll try other areas. I’ve fished Hartwell before, but I’m treating it like a new lake and hopefully, the fish will tell me what’s going on.
I think the chances are that it’s going to be won deep, but I’m going to try everything. Hartwell is a good enough lake that I think it can be won at any depth, but if I had to guess, I think it will be won the way that Alton Jones won in the 2008 Classic on Hartwell.
I think the bait selection is wide open, but you can’t go wrong with the old-school winter stuff like a jig, a shaky head and a jigging spoon. It will depend on conditions and what depth the fish set up in.
I haven’t seen the actual forecast for the Classic days yet, but it looks like it’s going to be stable. That’s when fishing can be best this time of year because it lets guys really pick ‘em apart.
But I’m not going to get too comfortable with a favorable outlook. I say that because this time of year, when you have so many stable days, you’re likely to have some drastic change at some point. I certainly won’t complain if the weather remains stable, but I won’t be surprised to see some type of drastic change.
As we get closer, I’ll start paying close attention to the Greenville weather and making contingency plans for any possible changes. If we do get some type of front, it’ll rattle a lot of the field and those who remain flexible and adapt to new conditions will stand a better chance of doing well.
One thing that I’ve found really helps my practice is to have a comfortable and convenient place to stay. When I first arrive in Greenville, I’ll start out with similar lodging arrangements as I do for Elite events. I’m staying at a rental house by Hartwell during practice because it’s better for me to be right there on the lake. But once the pre-event activities like media day and sponsor commitments begin, I will move to the host hotel.
Being close to all these Classic-related activities makes more sense because I don’t have to spend so much time driving from the lake to the hotel each day. This way, I have more time to work on tackle and other preparations each night.
Good tournament performance starts with good practice. As good as these guys are, you’d better bring your “A” game, because they’re going to catch them.