I’m really hard on myself. I expect to execute and take advantage of every opportunity on the water, and I didn’t do that. I talked about Dave Mercer’s “Little Ball of Hate” nickname in a previous column, and how my perspective and my tendencies to be hard on myself come about. If you’d like to read that, click here.
When I started out the year a little behind the curve — I finished outside the money at Toledo Bend Reservoir and Lake Fork. To be honest, I was frustrated with my performance, and I even vented a little on stage about how things were going. I started examining everything I could think of for those finishes.
I know I drove Riley nuts with it. I looked at my mechanics as an angler, I looked at my equipment setups, I looked at everything under the sun that I felt could be a factor. Like so many in our league and our sport, I even started looking at how the technology of fishing could be affecting my results.
Once I got back home to Springville and took time to decompress, I realized spending time on all that stuff was possibly keeping me from the right frame of mind to go out there and do my job. With so much going through my brain, I couldn’t focus on decision making and certainly couldn’t focus on the fish — the most important thing to focus on in my job.
I also realized that I was looking for excuses as to why I wasn’t finishing better. Once I got my head clear, I realized what I had to do — get to work.
I took the time before the off-limits period to go prepractice for the Florida Swing and get myself in the right frame of mind to compete. I also got a clearer perspective of what makes an individual season successful.
There are only a few things competitively that define a “successful season” in professional fishing. Obviously, winning a tournament would be one, winning a Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year title is a big one and winning a Bassmaster Classic is another biggie. But, to accomplish the goal of winning a Classic, you have to be in the field. In order to win an AOY title, you have to be consistent.
What I decided was I needed to focus on my strengths as an angler and fish as consistently as I can. I’m still learning to use all of the technology, so I’m not going to be as good with it as some of the guys in our field. In order to be successful this season while I’m learning to incorporate the technology, I need to work to be consistent and do what I do. If opportunities present themselves to use the technology, then I’ll take it. Until then, chasing something I may not be able to fully capitalize on does me no good.
So, I’ve fished my strengths the past three events at the St. Johns River, the Harris Chain and Lake Murray, and I’ve cashed three checks and moved up in the AOY standings. I’ve got a way to go and anything can happen, but I’m really trying to work on what I do best and trying to be consistent and have a solid professional season. Let the rest come as it does.
