There’s a lot of time to look back on the previous year when we’re in the offseason. I spend a lot of time hunting waterfowl in the winter months, and when I’m hunting, there is plenty of time to reflect on decisions and analyze what I could have done differently.
I don’t look at the past to do anything other than to learn, to see what decisions I made I could make differently in the future. I don’t like to dwell on the past because there is nothing I can do to change the past, but I need to see the lessons that can make me better in the future.
Looking at things in the rearview mirror helps to see things a little more clearly, but it doesn’t always give 100% of the answer I wish I could get. What it does do is point to decisions that I made, and if I am honest with myself, I’ll find some thought process that led me to it — the thought I had in my head that led me to the approach I took.
With all of that in my thought process, I looked at the year, and the best events that I had were those where I fished to my strengths. Lake Seminole and Santee Cooper Lakes were events I fished shallow around cover with swim jigs and flipping and pitching, and those were my two best events. There were other days in individual events that helped me in the standings, and they were the same. I made adjustments and fished my way, and it helped me in end.
My decisions for 2024 are going involve whether I do what I do or if I go all-in on MEGA Live. I feel like I’m getting pretty good with MEGA Live, but I am still not sure I can be as effective as I need to be to remain as competitive as I need to be.
I’m going to have to take each event on a case-by-case basis and take it where it leads me. I feel like I need to look at things after practice and make a better choice on doing what I know or doing what I think I know. Chasing other people’s bites or rumors of bites is not going to help me compete and be the angler I want to be.
I love my life out here, and I want to be able to continue. I get to travel with my wife and kids all over the country. I see Jen becoming one of the community with the Bass Wives, in there working with Candy Herren and LeaAnn Swindle to be helpful and caring, and it makes me proud.
I see Nevaeh getting into her photography working with anglers and others to fill their social media. She’s getting good at it and loves doing it. Then I see Fisher, who is absolutely ate up with fishing and hunting, and he is developing a passion for it that reminds me of myself at his age.
This life is a gift, and there are anglers out there hungry to take our spots. I need to make the changes necessary to stay in the game so that this life continues the way we love it.
It’s going to be an interesting season.
