After having been here 4 days through practice and having talked to dozens of the Elite anglers that will be competing on the St. Johns River this week, the word that best embodies the mood of this expansive fishery is… unpredictable.
Through practice, cold, cloudy and wet conditions had almost every angler scrambling to figure out what to do. Interestingly, the anglers who typically hate Florida fishing were the ones most upbeat, finding “unconventional” ways to catch fish here in Florida while the anglers scouring the shallows were left scratching there heads. By the final day of practice on Tuesday, a picture seemed to be coming together and there was a resolve in the eyes of a few anglers who had “figured out what to do”.
Then Wednesday…
Though the wind blew pretty hard all day, the sun popped out for the first time Wednesday and anglers minds began to race again. “These fish have been wanting to go for a month,” one angler said, referring to the natural urge of the bass to spawn here this time of year. Typically, bass move up in waves every time the conditions are conducive, be it a few warm days and nights or a new or full moon. But the weather has held them back for a long time now. Now, the full day of sun on Wednesday had anglers second-guessing every acre of shallow water they had ruled out the previous 3 days. And since it was a mandatory off day, all they could do is sit and stew and wonder. It was honestly a little painful to watch.
There’s a lot riding on the choices of these anglers this week. Mortgage payments, kid’s braces, lives back home funded with a fishing reel. Everyone wants to be an Elite Series angler when they see the blue trophy hoisted overhead, but few rarely consider the nights of watching your kid cry himself to sleep on a FaceTime call. There are thousands of humbling days between victories, if an angler is fortunate enough to ever taste a win at all.
Now I know as you roll out of bed this morning, with a world full of your own problems, it’s hard to feel sorry for a bunch of guys who are getting to go fishing today. And I’m not implying that you should. Most any of these guys you talk to this week will admit, despite the stress and stingy fishing, they still consider themselves bless to be here. But make no mistake, it’s work. And right now, there’s a job to do.
The latest in the unpredictability or the St. Johns, no fog this morning… yet. After a near 4-hour fog delay here last year to start the season off, almost every angler I talked to the last few days expected the same this morning, with air temps in the upper 30s. But as of the writing of this at 6:48 AM eastern time, the conditions are clear. And the second-guessing will have to stop soon as anglers are finally faced with the choice of which way to go.
Some will make huge gambles. Some will play it safe. We’ll see who was best able to predict the unpredictable at the end of the day.