Winter 2024
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COUNTERING ADVERSE FISHING CONDITIONS
Both Crews and Reehm, career pros in their mid- 40s, claim that they haven’t made many changes to their approach over the years. The technology has changed, the competition has stiffened, the stakes are higher than ever, and their knowledge base is broader, but what’s between the ears has mostly remained the same. It’s what enabled them to qualify in the first place and to deal with the ups and downs of a career on the water and on the road.
Still, Reehm acknowledges that conditions outside of the playing field can have an outsized footprint on anglers’ mindsets. “When you consider what bills are due, and what’s happening on the home front, it can be a situation where a lot is riding on every fish.”
Of course, the first truism that comes to mind here is to control the variables that are controllable. That means replacing used line with fresh, quality product, tightening bolts before and after a day on rough water, and so on. Of course, there’s more to it than that. Removing certain variables and concerns just gives the remaining one’s room to fester. It comes down to placing mental energy where it can best serve your tournament efforts.
Crews, borrowing the oft-cited line from close friend Mike Iaconelli, says part of the strategy is that “no matter what, I never quit. I don’t care if I have one fish with five minutes left to weigh in or a good limit with 15 minutes left to fish, another bass can mean another five points, or another two places. It can be the difference of making a Classic. It’s just the way I’m wired.”
Even if the results don’t seem to make a huge difference, Crews said that
cumulatively they often do. During the 2023 Elite season his top finish was 18th at the Sabine. That almost didn’t happen. “On the first day, the weather didn’t cooperate, and a lot of stuff didn’t work out,” he recalled. “I had two fish at 1:30 and had to weigh in at 3.” As he headed to his next spot, eh saw a fish blow up, swung the boat around and didn’t drop the trolling motor before making his first cast. A bass blew up on his topwater as it hit the water and in 30 minutes, he caught 15 more bass. His limit weighed a paltry 5-02 and landed him in 85th place, but he put a few pieces together, brought 10-14 to the scales on Day Two, and jumped up to 27th place. He was less than 3 pounds ahead of the first man out of the cut. His ability not to lose focus, and to adjust on the fly, bought him another day – actually, two – in the competition.
Another aspect of his aptitude for competition that Crews takes seriously is his physical fitness. He’s a workout fiend during the offseason and tries to keep up with it during the year despite a grueling business travel schedule. Simply put, if he’s less fatigued at each stage of an event – whether it’s practice after a long drive or the final minutes of Championship Sunday, he’s less likely to make a costly physical or mental mistake. Crews believes that’s why so many pros in their early thirties have dominated the standings in recent years – not only are they adept with technology, but “most of them are in pretty good shape, with additional stamina from fishing a lot.”
While Reehm also believes strongly in controlling the things that are controllable, he also is willing to leave some things to the vagaries of the universe. Fishing is one sport where even after experiencing great levels
PhColatrok: BR.eAe.Sh.mS.
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