Two footers and the new rig

99% of basketball games are won on lay ups.  The two footer is symbolic of doing the little things right.  Without being able to make that shot, not much else matters.  I was missing a lot of lay ups and had to figure it out.

     I had to rethink some of my goals after two sub par performances in my first two outings.  I just wanted to get 5 fish in a tournament at this point, a limit when the pressure was on.   I had way more to learn than I thought and it was not in the areas you might think.  Being around fish wasn’t the hard part, it was getting them on the hook and getting them in the boat that was difficult.  I spent a lot of time worrying about the right color and the right bait, which does mater, but when ounces make the difference in cashing a check and not- there are so many things you have to do right before even worrying about that.  At this point I wasn’t concerned about my rod actions, hook types, fall rates, knots, line type, drag settings, presentation, placement; the list of controllable things goes on. 

     What I was noticing is that not much separates the really good anglers from the average ones.  Putting a lot of these things together instinctually later in the year would allow me to start cashing some checks.  I was still throwing  what my boater was throwing if he was catching fish, and would not gain confidence in my own abilities for a few more tournaments, but I felt like I was progressing a little bit.  Moving forward meant excepting that I didn’t always know the right answer and that I wasn’t going to just start winning tournament.  It was going to take a lot of hard work.  Fishing had always been the most exciting thing in the world to me, getting better meant doing what others weren’t willing to do.  I had the right idea that I needed to do what my instincts told me to do, but I had not spent enough time on the water in the last 10 years to have good instincts.  It was going to take a lot of time on the water to gain the confidence I needed  to see for myself how all of those variables mattered in real world situations, not just in books .  I set out to find a boat. 

      I settled on a Pro Craft Super Pro 200 with a Mariner 225 horse power outboard.  I added some top of the line electronics and I was ready to rock.  More than anything anyone taught me during tournaments and practice, time on the water was where I really learned and progressed.  Lightbulbs were going off left and right throughout the last year and when I would see someone else have success during a tournament I could see where I had similar experiences and would tweak my approach with every little thing I saw.  I wasn’t putting the pieces together yet, but I could see them clearly.

 

I had to get rid of that little cuda fish finder and put on a Lowrance HDS 7, the seats look brand new in this picture.  I spent so much time in the boat over the last year that they need to be replaced now.