There are two general schools of thought when it comes to conserving fish during a tournament: save fish to hopefully catch in later days, or catch every fish you can each day. The former method is what anglers like Drew Benton are referring to when they say they’re saving fish. Benton is intentionally not fishing for bedding fish that he has already located because he doesn’t believe they’re big enough to cull anything he currently has in his livewell, or he doesn’t believe the cull is significant enough to remove the fish from its bed.
If Benton catches a 4- pounder today to cull a 3- pounder, he’s gained a pound but lost the possible opportunity to add 4- pounds to his bag tomorrow, or on a later day. This is the chess match going on in the anglers’ minds this week. In a sport where ounces amount to thousands of dollars on your paycheck, living a pound cull laying in the water to possibly swim off or be caught by another angler is hard to do.
But knowing that 4- pounder could be worth so many more thousands if caught later in the competition, means maybe leaving it alone is the thing to do. For context, whichever way these maybes go equates to car payments, groceries and braces for the kids. These are tough decisions to make on the fly. But for bed fishermen in particular, this must be done.
The opposite end of the spectrum is often seen on specific spots or in areas where anglers are targeting fish that are transitioning to and from the bed. Mike Iaconelli landed on one such spot this morning, quickly caught somewhere close to 22- pounds and has made the decision to camp out there all day. The thought of leaving this spot and hoping the fish are still there tomorrow is a mere fantasy for Ike, with several other anglers nearby having seen him load the boat. These anglers, understandably, will move in and catch whatever they can if Ike moves. So he has decided to “burn it to the ground”, meaning he has zero intention to leave today and will set the hook on whatever bites.