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A few years ago I was practicing for a local end of year championship “buddy” tournament. It was a two day event starting on Saturday and ending on Sunday. I was practicing on a Friday with no luck. The water on the south end of the lake was dirty and something just didn’t feel right.
It was chain of lakes and I decided to completely change my approach and travel to a different lake altogether. My decision was also based upon talking to other anglers the previous day. No one was catching any fish. Instead of traveling by boat I decide to load up and launch at a much closer ramp to where I wanted to go. As I arrived at the boat ramp, it was about 12:00 pm, I was amazed at the number of competitors already loaded up and having a beer at the marina. After all the day had barely started. I loaded up, moved, relaunched and fished to my usual time, when it is too dark to see.
As my tournament fishing progressed to a higher level I noticed something about the more successful tournament angler. The top fisherman, the ones consistently coming “in the money” spend a great deal of time on the water. They are on the water at first light, or before, and they stay on the water late. I remember coming in late on a practice day at one of my first B.A.S.S. events, it was almost dark. I arrived at the ramp, tied my boat up to the dock and noticed several empty trailers. Two of the fisherman pulling up at the same time were two of the top tournament professional on Tour. I’m not going to mention any names but they were both Bassmaster classic winners and BASS anglers of the year.
I remember talking to Roland Martin and he was asked by a reporter “what approach he takes to find fish when fishing a difficult tournament”, his answer was “Start early and stay late”. It was simple but great advise and something I will never forget.
Consider your time on the water. Is it really enough to consistently find fish. Nothing is easy.
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