®
A conversation
meaningful to you, and you
with Kevin VanDam
don’t get to fish as much as
a few years back put
you’d like, stepping away
it into perspective for
may seem like stepping
me. I asked him how
back. So, if you have to be
he stayed fresh after
doing something productive,
so many years on tour,
take this time to get all of
so many thousands
your stuff in order.
of hours on the road,
Reorganize all of your
visiting the same places
tackle, replace every subpar
again and again. He
treble hook, respool all of
replied that he was
your reels, wax your boat.
on the road 270 days
That’s time-consuming
a year, the majority of
and productive, yet it’s also
them for appearances,
kind of mindless. It’ll allow
photo shoots and the
you to press the refresh
like, rather than actual
button.
fishing.
“By the time I get to
What about the
go fishing,” he said, “I can’t
burnout cases who don’t
wait to get out on the water.”
Photo: Steve Kennedy
realize they’re burnout cases?
Therein lies the
They’re typically
key. All of us fish better
the anglers who fish
when we’re really amped
the same waters every day off from work, often the
to be out there, rather than when we’re going through
same sections of those waters, using the same seasonal
the motions or on the water out of obligation. Look at
techniques.
Steve Kennedy, for example – the conventional wisdom is
that sun-up to sun-down practice is non-negotiable, yet
Take a good look at yourself. Is that you?
Kennedy often doesn’t launch the boat until mid-morning.
If so, if you’re still enjoying every moment of it and
His rationale is that practicing smart is often better than
your results are improving, then you may not have an issue,
practicing long. Not only does it keep him fresh and excited
but if you’re dissatisfied with how things are going, you’re
for tournament day, and focused on the ultimate goal of
a victim of stealth burnout. Take action before you get so
winning, but it also plays a monumental mind trick on
frustrated that you break something or get tired of the
the other anglers. Imagine getting beaten consistently by
sport altogether.
someone whose cover is still on the unlaunched boat every
My solution was to spend more time fishing for species
time you pass by the campground.
other than bass. Fishing for trout and salmon in Alaska
The first step of curing burnout is recognizing burnout.
helped me better understand the importance of current.
If you’re going through the motions again and again, with
Fishing for tuna in Panama gave me new appreciation
no meaningful change in results, and that’s pissing you off,
for high-end spinning gear. Fishing for redfish in Venice,
then you, my friend, are a
victim. Louisiana helped me understand what regular bass tackle
It’s time to fix it.
is capable of doing. I believe that
One solution, which
I’m now a better bass
may seem counterintuitive,
fisherman despite
is to spend some time
spending fewer
away from the water. As
days chasing them,
noted above, when you’re
expressly because
jumping out of your seat
of my multi-species
to get back out, that’s
efforts.
when you’ll likely fish your
Perhaps you don’t
best.
have the budgetary or
It’s counterintuitive
geographical flexibility
because if your results
to try to catch other
are stagnant most of us
species (I doubt that
assume that the only
– there are catfish
way to get through that
and crappie just about
brick wall is to attack in
everywhere – but let’s
head on. If performing better in your future tournaments is
Photo: Pete Robbins/Yamamoto Inside Line
assume it’s true). How do you fish through your
Spring 2022
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