exPeCt ADJUstmENts
sent another bait into the running water and it happened again. i’m left standing there dumbfounded. i quickly tie on a bait to the heaviest setup i had in the boat, unfortunately it was only 12-lb test. That was the strongest i had with me. as the day progressed i quickly realized i had found a really strong pattern, and hooked some big ones but lost more than i landed. i was disgusted! The fish were not line shy and had i been prepared with a flippin’ stick, which i had in the hotel room, i may have made a run at the leader.
don’t leave the dock unprepared for finesse. in my experience i have missed more adjustments due to not having followed the second rule. There were times early in my tournament career where i was caught out during competition without the necessary tools. each time i would learn a bit more until i arrived at a place of clarity. That was realizing i had to carry all the baits i may need. This also meant having a flippin’ stick even if i was planning on fishing deep and all the tackle associated with it. a great example of breaking the second rule was an event years ago at lake oroville. i was expecting - like everyone else- to be fishing for spotted bass with the usual light line and finesse techniques. i readied my boat with numerous spinning rods and a few light action reaction bait rods. it was early spring and there had been some serious rain the days prior to the event. i knew the bass would be near the running water in the drains and creeks, but i had not expected what happened next. as i began to fish the running water, i encountered a few drains that had accumulated a bunch of floating wood chinks and debris. i cast at the edge of the junk and hooked a better than average bass. Great news, i found the better ones! So after culling, i made a cast behind the junk, where the water ran into the lake. immediately, i hooked up with something big and my 6-lb line was no match for it and i got broke off in a bad way. i re tied and
The second day I hit the water loaded for bear, braided line and big sticks on the deck. of course the big ones were not so eager to bite and i managed only a few quality bites and i ended the event just missing a check. That experience served as my epiphany, don’t leave the dock unprepared for anything. Now i always have at least one flippin’ stick and at least one spinning rod and something to at least cover everything in between in the boat every day. Now this does not mean you have to carry 20 rod and reel combos, but at the least carry filler spools of heavy and light lines for an emergency re-spool. as an example of the first rule, i’d like to explain how i came to win my Bassmaster open title at Clear lake in the fall of 2004. after days of practicing, having found solid groups of shallow bass in the
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