This week I’m going to start out by talking a little bit about my preparation for the Sabine River. I don’t want to beat that subject to death, but I think there’s some good stuff in there that’ll help a lot of anglers.
Preparation is a package deal. That’s true regardless of whether you’re fishing tournaments or headed out to your favorite lake for your annual fishing week with the boys.
When I use the words “package deal” I mean map study, prior experience on the lake, time of year, expected weather, unexpected weather and any unique attributes your destination might have. Everything has an effect on your success.
I’m using Fishidy.com to put my package together. It gives me the information I want in one location that’s readily accessible whenever I need it. You can do the same, or just put everything into one file folder if that works better for you.
Those of you who read this column regularly know that I am a fanatic about studying maps and comparing one map with another. That’s the place to start. But don’t get locked into one place or one type of water. It might be spring on the Sabine River but that doesn’t rule out things changing in a heartbeat. I’ll have my options cataloged and available with the click of a mouse. If you do the same, you’ll be better off for it.
When you’re reading this I’ll be on the water trying out what I’ve been working on for the past couple of weeks. We’ll see if that makes a difference this year. Regardless of what happens, however, I know I’ll be in better shape for putting together my package.
Other than that there hasn’t been much happening around here. It’s mostly been a matter of trying to survive the weather while we put the final touches on our 2015 schedule. There’s a lot more to it than just fishing tournaments.
We did have one neat thing happen, though. It was Becky’s birthday — she’s 29 and holding — last week and we were home to celebrate it. That hasn’t happened in several years so we really enjoyed the opportunity to celebrate it in our real home with the kids.
Another thing I did that some of you might find interesting is that I put information about all of my spots that I fished on Lake Hartwell during the Classic up on Fishidy.com. Let’s face it: Anybody who cares knows where I was fishing and they know what I was throwing. With all the spectator boats and cameras around there aren’t any secrets anymore.
So, I thought I might as well share some of the details, things you don’t always get from other sources. The notes I posted have information about the spots I fished, why I fished them, what lure I used, why I used that particular lure, how I fished it and how things worked out.
Come next week we’ll know if I was able to exact my revenge on the Sabine River.
Mike Iaconelli’s column appears weekly on Bassmaster.com. You can also find him on Facebook andTwitter or visit his website, mikeiaconelli.com.
