The past couple of days when I haven’t been spending time visiting with friends and family I’ve been spending time working on my tackle for next year. I’m seeing what reels need to be replaced or fixed and if any of my rods need new guides. I’m going through all my tackle while looking at my upcoming tournament schedule trying to figure out what kind of baits I’m probably going to need.  The more you fish the better you get at figuring out what kind of tackle your going to need for every lake and what baits you go through a lot of during the course of the season. Along with working on my tackle I’ve been doing some research on some of the lakes I’m going to fish next year that I haven’t been to yet. Just looking through the past tournament results and seasonal patterns. While my tournaments are a little ways off time flys and it won’t be long before its time to rock and roll.   I spent a lot of  time preparing for my tournaments last year but this year I am hoping to take it to the next level so that I am as prepared as possible come tournament day.  Anyways I can’t believe it’s already Thanksgiving. The year went by so fast. I’ll be spending time with my family over the break. I don’t get to see them as much as I would like between fishing and school but I’m happy to get to see everyone this weekend. Hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving. Until next time keep it reel.

One thing to keep in mind the next time your in the boat is to try and keep your rods on the deck organized. One problem that I discovered in my fishing was that I would reel up a bait and just lay the rod down on the deck without putting the hook through the guides. When I would go to pick up another rod my line would sometimes get tangled and it would cost me a couple of seconds to get everything back to working order.  While it seems like basic information a lot of anglers do this and it costs them valuable time on the water. Co-anglers have to be especially conscientous about keeping their rods in order to stay as efficient as possible because often they don’t have as much room for their tackle.

         Keeping your rods in order isn’t the only way that you can  become more efficient while on the water. It starts when you take your life jacket off. When I get to a spot I take my jacket off and place it under the console out of the way. I then get the net out so it is ready. It just takes a second to do this and often times it is the little things that will pay off when you get one of those 5lbers hooked up. You won’t accidently slip on a life jacket that was not stored away properly or have to go and dig for the net. Over the course of a season you might catch one or two more fish just because your more efficient and organized. While it doesn’t seem like that big of a difference anyone who has ever fished a series for points knows that every fish is important. Tournament fishing is a numbers game. You’ve got to try and put the odds in your favor as much as possible.

Today I hit up Hazel Creek Lake for some bank fishing.  Hazel Creek is a 700 acre lake just north of Kirksville, Missouri. It’s only about a 15 minute drive  from campus.  The lake runs north and south.  Since we had  a good south wind and cloudy skies I decided to fish along the northern dam. This time of the year bass can really key in on the rock. When the water gets cooler a lot of baitfish will relate to it and there’s always a good amount of crawlfish for the bass to eat too.  I started out fishing a chrome and blue trap without any luck.  I then decided to put on a chart and white double willowleaf spinnerbait and that is when I started crushing them. I ended up catching a 17 inch keeper and then about  10 yards down the bank I caught a 4 and a half pounder and a 3 pounder in a matter of minutes.  The action was pretty fast and furious. The fish were sitting off  the side of the dam where it curves back down the lake.  While the fishing was good it only lasted so long because I had to leave to get back to class.

When it comes to tournament fishing it can indeed be like riding a roller coster.  When I  make a check or win a tournament I feel like I’m on cloud nine but the sport of bass fishing can be very humbling as well. Fishing can teach you a lot about life.  Sometimes no matter how much your prepare or how hard you try things don’t go your way and  you just can’t catch them.  You can feel the lowest of lows.  If your competative as  I am you always want to be at the top and you can feel down in the dumps if you don’t  perform to the best of your ability. Regardless of how I finish in my tournaments one of the things that I try to remind myself of and that fellow tournament anglers should not forget is the real reason they are attracted to the sport of fishing.  I got into fishing because I loved being in the outdoors.  I always liked being around water. Just the experience of watching the waves break was enough to get me hooked on being out on the lake.  I have always been facinated by the many ways that you can catch bass. Trying out different tackle and baits and learning how to use them to fool bass has always been a whole lot of fun. When I go fishing I like to experiment around a lot and keep things interesting.  When I am fishing a tournament I don’t get to fish my favorite baits or the way I want to fish all the time. When I get the chance to go fun fishing though sometimes I just tie on what I feel like throwing and if I catch fish I catch fish but if I don’t then no worries. When I get out to fun fish I like to get creative and just have fun out there. It can be all too easy to try and target just the bigger fish when you are out there just fishing for fun.  Sometimes though I like to just go fishing to catch whatever I can and just catch a lot of fish without worrying about the size.  Anglers should remember to take a step back and just go fishing for fun. You don’t always have to be thinking about pre fishing for the next big tournament on your lake.  Just go out on the lake and have a ball.  Lose yourself on the lake.  No matter how your day on the lake goes remember to keep your head up and have fun.

Just got back from competing in the FLW National Guard College Fishing Central Regional on Kentucky Lake this past weekend. Our first practice day was greeted with cloudy skies and rain. We started in a creek arm down south and found plenty of fish but they were mainly short fish. We found schools of bass busting on windy points and we could catch them on a variety of baits but they were mostly small. Working our way back in the creek we found that the fish were really relating to the channel swing points. Whenever we would pull up on a set of docks or a point with the channel hitting it we would start getting bit.  During practice it seemed like the keeper fish were liking a spinnerbait over anything else. We had what appeared to be a couple of nice fish come off of docks and swirl on our spinnerbaits.  As our practice day was coming to a close it started to rain and it would continue to rain the entire night.

Weighing in our fish on day 1.

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