Federation Nation...

Well,   my first B.A.S.S. Federation Nation tournament is in the annals of history (sarcastic) and Ive noticed a trend about my game. It seems as if I am getting more consistency but other, newer problems have emerged and I think there is a relationship between the two.

First off,  I finshed 9th out of like 50 or 60 guys which isnt bad but isnt great either. I had slightly more then 8lbs, which again, isnt terrible but isnt great either. Buckeye Lake is pretty much fishing heavy lately, it took 15lbs to win there on saturday in a team tournament and as much of a sewage hole that place is in the summer, the bass are usually extremely healthy, easy to catch, and usually slightly obese, especially the smaller fish (they binge eat like a bulimic teenager).  But here we are again,  I had my chances. I hooked up with 3 really quality fish that I just couldnt muscle out of where they were, which was behind/underneath a dock. If each of those would have been 2lbs, I would have upgraded to around 11 lbs and that would have put me in contention as it took 12 to win.  Bad luck?  I have been a strong proponent against using "luck" as an excuse because in my eyes there is little, if any luck involved but christ, Ive had alot of trouble landing fish lately.

Heres where I think there is a connection between the loss of fish and the improvement in consistency.

A- Ive been hooking alot more fish, so just that alone gives you more opportunity to lose fish. The sheer numbers involved by themself simply gives a guy more chances to screw up.

B - I think this is the most significant factor. The more and more time I spend on the water, the more efficient I get at putting a bait where it needs to be. Where does it need to be? Usually in the gnarliest spots in the area but that comes with a price. If now, you are able to skip a jig 10 feet up under a dock, past 3 or 4 posts, and you know a bass is in there, guess what? You hook up and suddenly that fish becomes much more difficult to extract. Where as before, you get that jig 4 feet up under the dock, you dont get bit, you dont lose (or catch) a fish and its on to the next dock.

Yall see what Im getting at?  Im getting worse because Im getting better. That makes stupid sense but its true. Im getting more opportunities to get it done, Im just not capitalizing. And in the end, I would rather have hooked that fish and lost it then to never have hooked her at all. At least you get to dance for a few seconds.  You cant be great unless you put yourself in a position to have an opportunity.

I have to think its like anything else,  If you keep working to improve, it will get better. Everyone loses fish, Everyone has a sob story about blah blah blah, you just have to fight through it. I lost those fish yesterday before I boated my second fish of the day so I had all day to rebound and really, if I just could have got one more bite for a good bookend fish I would have been set. I had a nice kicker in the bag (3.5) one more of those and that tournament would have went better.


A few notes about fishing boat docks in shallow water on crappy weather days. The weather was terrible, if your counting thats 2 days in a row with NNE heavy winds and a cold front during tournaments. Those are pretty much the worst conditions and if you dont slow down you wont catch a damn thing. The problem is that the wind usually does its best to keep you from fishing slow. Thats where Power Poles excell. Yesterday, I would nose in between two docks, put the power poles down and disect both the docks, then move to the next set of two.  The wind become a non factor and fishing slowly become far easier. If you got a bassboat and you dont have Power Poles, you are missing out.


On a personal note, I dont really know any of those guys in the federation aside from maybe two guys, Todd Thompson, Eddie Levin but I met some nice people despite keeping to myself for the most part. One dude introduced himself to me, said he followed me, here, on this blog.  Thanks alot bro, people like you are why I havent quit writing this thing.

On to the next one...

Warrior Baits held a free tournament in which you could use Warrior Baits only last season at Mosquito Lake. It was a big hit so this year, the idea has expanded to Rocky Fork and its next month (May 5th). I will be fishing with my brother, Jarrod, and we will try to keep all this consistency going.  Rocky Fork is another one of those lakes that is considered by alot of people to be one of the best lakes in Ohio. A couple of weeks ago, it took 18lbs to win the Weekend Series tournament so we will have our work cut out for us.  The good thing is, I grew up about 20 minutes from there, the bad news, I havent fished it for years. If nothing else, it should be alot of fun.

S.T.P.