MBC Seniors - Nov. 14th - Bartlett Lake

Well with a new outlook on fishing it was time for my first tournament of the year. My stepdad and I decided to run the Seniors circuit again this year after he has missed the last two seasons due to health issues. The water was falling and already extremely low as they would be closing the ramp after the weekend. I was able to pre-fish the week prior but those spots were 6-8 feet shallower than they were so it was a whole new game. We decided to stick to our strengths and with the high winds early we were going to throw reaction to start and plastics as the wind laid down.
We made a short run to start and caught a few shorts on a crankbait and knew we needed some size so we made a run into the river. The river didn;t last long as the water was stained, extremely cold and shallow. We hit some mid-lake areas near the islands and picked up a few keepers on Carolina-rigs. We made a few more runs to fight the wind and ended up in an area I prefished and have done well in the past. It produced a few hits but nothing worth keeping. As we kept moving we located a feeding area and proceeded to fill our limit and cull rather quickly. We needed some size and the spot kept reloading and we were culling ounces. As it slowed down we moved out a little deeper which produced our biggest fish. We finished the day in the area but never got the bigger bites we needed.
We weighed a small limit for 7.99lbs and ended up 35th out of 55. We made a few mistakes but it was a confidence building tournament and we will take what we learned and go from there.

Remembering Why I Love Fishing

With all the stresses, costs, and other things that goes along with tournament fishing you can lose sight of why you got into it in the first place. This last year I got to that same point, I lost the focus of enjoying my time out on the water. I took the summer off and decided to take trips to the lake and just FISH. I took some friends with me at times, while others I went by myself and learned new techniques and studied my graphs and went out and enjoyed the outdoors. I needed a complete reset and I think it really helped. I went out fishing more and learned some things in the process.
This year I cut out of the tournament series I was running that have done for years. It was so I could focus on another with my step-dad who got me into the tournament fishing in the first place. He is coming back from a few surgeries so just getting him back onto the water and catching fish was a main concern and focus this year before the series championship in May. I will still do other tournaments in other circuits but not because I am forced to, but  instead because I want to. I am planning on getting back into it heavy again but I am working myself back into it. I don't want to lose sight of what is important again, the enjoyment of fishing.

River2Sea USA - New Sponsor

I am proud to announce my new partnership with River2Sea USA. I have been throwing their swimbaits for the last few years along with some of their topwater baits and have had a great amount of success. They make great products and I am looking forward to what the year will bring with them.