Yesterdays tournament

[Embrey]

Originally Posted by carolina-rig-01

Keep in mind that I fully understand that I haven't seen how you are fishing, and I am just taking a guess here based on what problems I deal with and I think they are pretty common.

I have seen you post a lot of fishing reports on here and it's obvious that you are capable of catching fish. I know that 90% of the time that I struggle in a tournament it's because I fish too fast. I don't only mean that I am retrieving my baits too fast, but also other things like moving down a bank too fast, or maybe not fishing out a certain area as hard as I would if I was fun fishing. It seems like most of the times that I recover from a rough start in a tournament it's because at some point in the day I stop and take a deep breath and make myself calm down, after that things usually go better. I have no idea if you feel the pressure of being on the clock in a tournament like I do but if so maybe this is part of what is hurting your performances. Like I said I know you can catch fish so it's most likely something simple, you probably have that feeling that there is just one part of the puzzle that you haven't put into place yet but once you do you will have it figured out right? I have that feeling a lot, and most of the time that missing piece is something mental not mechanical.

yeah, i dont know. sometimes i can get on something,but this year is kicking my butt. maybe its the fronts coming through. i just cant figure those out. i fished fast friday and just spot fished and caught more than i figured i would. saturday,couldnt hardly catch a fish. only reason i stayed doing what i was doing is we were getting short strikes,just like friday, but not as aggressive. tried various things and never could get bit fishing slow. not sure what size or even what they were,but couldnt figure out where the fish had moved to. of course other people just killed em apparently,but nobody ever talks about that...lol

[Embrey]

Originally Posted by cassidyta

Embrey,

This is not meant to rub salt in a wound, but how are the other competitors doing? Are most struggling to catch fish too? I have seen several tourneys where those numbers could still be considered productive.

For me, the biggest issue when I am not catching fish is that too often I fish from memory rather than real time. I go to a spot and throw a bait because it worked last time. I usually don't pay attention to the fact that last time had way too many difference from the now.
The second problem that I have is pretty much what Kory said. I get in a hurry and rush too much.

there are other people that suck as bad as we do this year too...lol. but there are enough nice limits brought in to make a guy sick...lol. i have those days where i can stickone or two, then im good and can go from there and usually do really well. but if i cant get bit anywhere,then i start trying different areas,depths,baits. and when i never can find them,i dont have a clue what to do,and start thinking maybe i was on fish,just couldnt do something right to get them to bite. then i go on second guessing all day and catch nothing...lol

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Embrey

there are other people that suck as bad as we do this year too...lol. but there are enough nice limits brought in to make a guy sick...lol. i have those days where i can stickone or two, then im good and can go from there and usually do really well. but if i cant get bit anywhere,then i start trying different areas,depths,baits. and when i never can find them,i dont have a clue what to do,and start thinking maybe i was on fish,just couldnt do something right to get them to bite. then i go on second guessing all day and catch nothing...lol

I battle the same demons man, your not alone I promise. Second guessing myself is a huge problem I deal with on the water. One thing I did figure out in the last tournament was that we were getting some short strikes or fish hitting a jig and laying it down. I tried slowing it down and our bites stopped, so I fished the same baits faster and the fish were forced to either eat the bait or not and I think that made a huge difference because our short strikes stopped. However next time out slowing down might be the ticket, that's all part of figuring out the puzzle that day.

[Embrey]

well im about 3 months into figuring out a puzzle...lol. i have to keep trying to adjust from a pattern i havent even clued in on yet. i literally had 10 times better luck over the winter fishing smallmouth,which i have never fished for until this year.lol

[cassidyta]

While it probably sounds very counter-intuitive, one of the best things that I did to at least limit my second guessing was to bring less gear to a tournament. When I first started fishing tourneys from my own boat, I brought every bait known to man. Often, I would spend more time tying on a bait than I would casting. While I do still bring a lot more than I need, I was able to minimize it by not bringing the just in case stuff along. Of course, I opened myself up to second guesses on what I should have brought, but in the end it meant that I had bait in the water for longer each day and it helped my numbers.

[Embrey]

yeah, i know how that goes. i got a lot of stuff, but i try to keep it simple until i can figure something out. then i might fine tune from there. this time of year,ive usually got a jig,spinnerbait,shaky head,crank,etc tied on all my rods already.

[carolina-rig-01]

Another thing that might help is cut down the amount of water that you fish. I have done this before and it can be productive. Just pick a small part of the lake that you know will have fish in it somewhere, maybe a fairly big cove for example. Now just cover every bit of this cove until you figure out where the resident fish in this cove are at. Basically just cover half as much water but cover it twice as well. There are coves that will have fish in them 365 days a year, the fish just never need to leave these places because they have everything the fish need throughout the year and they end up fishing like a different lake all together. You will know that you are around fish which will take some of the second guessing out of the equation.

[Embrey]

i kinda broke down and did just that sat. fished a big cove on the main lake that had shallow flats on both sides with brush. fish were there on friday. outside of that, the main channel runs by and has a steep bank. i figured i could find somewhere in there and get on something. we did catch our only 2 fish out on the points of the cove. never could buy any more though...lol. tried different retrieves on different stuff,and had to settle for fairly fast retrieve and have them smack it and not hook up.

[WatterBoy]

Hey Kory, congrats to you and Britney on the win and moving into 1st place! Hopefully you can use all of what you learned in this tourney in the upcoming ones.