Last week was a wild one. We (Becky and I) went to Las Vegas and to ICAST for my sponsors and so we could enjoy a short vacation. This week was all about work, though. By the time you read this, the first Bassmaster Northern Open will be underway. Hopefully I’ll be out on Lake Champlain catching big, heavyweight bass.
For those of you who don’t know, ICAST is a big tackle show where all the companies show off their new stuff for the upcoming year. I spent a lot of time with Molix and LaserLure, as well as with several of my other sponsors. I like ICAST because it gives me an opportunity to network with other industry professionals and draw a bead on what’s going on.
We all display and demonstrate our new stuff and have the opportunity to watch our competition do the same. It gives us an overview of what’s going on in the fishing business. We don’t have the space here to cover everything in detail but I can tell you that there’s a lot of new and exciting stuff coming your way. Watch future blogs for info on everything.
New tackle and innovations are more important than many anglers realize. If you expect to catch fish, you need to pay attention to what’s new. Sometimes just seeing what’s out there will give you fresh ideas about how to catch fish under certain circumstances. Not all your thinking or planning should be on the water, when you’re actually fishing. In fact, if you only do it on the water you’ll have a tough time getting to the top.
I can’t emphasize that enough. It’s really important. If you aren’t trying new things what you’re really doing is sitting still, and sitting still is an illusion. There’s no such thing. If you’re not moving forward, you’re going backwards. Moving forward is better.
That was the work part of our trip. On Thursday evening, we did the fun part. Becky and I redid our wedding vows at a theme wedding chapel out there. We did the pirate thing. It was a ball. I can’t remember having that much fun. (OK, winning the Classic was pretty awesome but even that wasn’t the same as being lucky enough to meet and marry Becky.)
You can read all about it on Bassmaster.com. They published an article called “Shiver Me Timbers” — complete with a couple of photos — that tells all about it. You can read the whole thing here. I still laugh when I think about it.
After that, we left because I had to start getting ready for Lake Champlain. When that’s over, I’ll have less than a month off before I fish the second Northern Open on the Detroit River. It’s a busy schedule but I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is what I’ve wanted to do all of my life.
