Fish Stories

Handling the tough days

Successful events are easy to enjoy, but how should we handle the tough ones? Most of us have had moment of glory in tournament, whether that be an epic win, save the day moment or maybe just a great day of fishing regardless of how you finish.

Dealing with the “Skunk”

Don’t think for a moment a pro angler hasn’t had a horrible day of fishing, whether its a complete stink up the lake skunk full of utter embarrassment, or maybe just a few dinks that are seemingly embarrassing to post up.

In a recent trip to fish a river event in Virginia with the Virginia Kayak Bass Anglers (VKBA), my performance was less than satisfactory. The main reason for the trip was fun, and I wanted to catch some smallmouth bass, it had been a long time and I always enjoy the fight they give! The only fish I posted was shorter than the trail’s rules allow.

Frustrating days that you can’t seem to get a bite, or worse yet, you can’t seem to get hooked up when you do get a bite, can do a lot of things to you emotionally when you are in a competition. Money on the line, money paid out, travel, etc and not getting a measurable fish on the board can be extremely frustrating and depressing.

Throughout the day I did have a couple bites and missed them, I believe they were smallmouth but they could have been gar, which many were also in the area. I did see a descent fish, and the current threw me into the bank where I had spooked it, and watched it swim away. I later took a chance and running up river through class 1 rapids, a new experience for me, being mainly a pond and lake fisherman.

Eventually I went the dreaded finesse set up that I was hoping to avoid, the Neko / wacky rigged Senko and was able to land a 10” smallmouth finally. At this point I was relieved, at least believing that I wasn’t skunked for a short while, and more importantly, maybe I found something I could get bit on!

At the end of the event, my fish was denied, and the skunk title officially added. This trail’s rules was 12” m minimum for submissions. Turns out the fishing for most was tough, the bite was in the early morning for most of the fish caught that day. A lot of folks had 1 or less on the board, so I wasn’t alone.

I was able to take some positives from the event such as fishing a river for the first time, as well as handling my loaded kayak up and down a class 1 rapid. The scenery was great, the shoreline dancing entertainment at 6 AM by what I assumed was a couple after a night of Meth use. At the event check-in, it was good to meet some of the Virginia guys and hear the stories of how they did poorly, and the watch the winners take their moments in the spotlight.

Handling the Failure

• Enjoy the moments: I was on on a beautiful river all day fishing, enjoying time with friends and fellow anglers.
• Learn something: Skunk aside, I did learn a little on how to use my kayak on a river in the current, and saw how some fish positioned in the current.
• Manage your expectations: This was fishing in new water, a new water type and for a fish I haven’t had the pleasure of targeting in a while. Although I hoped to catch some more fish, I was able to enjoy the few seen, missed and the little guy I did catch.

Handling the “so close, but no cigar”

Going back on some of the close calls, the most recent one that comes to mind is the Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) Trail event on High Rock Lake in the Spring of 2018. I had fished the Carolina Kayak Anglers event and had done OK the week before, giving me some key knowledge for this event.

The morning of the event I was the first to rack up a descent bag, and nobody was close most of the day. Knowing I had some good local sticks in the event to beat, and this being their home turf, I had no delusions that I had this won. That mindset came into play later.

Around 1pm, I get a text saying “Keep grinding! You only down by 1 inch!”. I check the leaderboard and sure enough, Shelly Efird, one of the local sticks, had posted up some nice fish taking my lead away. This was instant pressure, lines out was at 2:30, and I had a 16” bass I needed to cull out. I had been catching fish all day, and a couple came unbuttoned that probably went at least 17”.

Never able to cull that fish, I had to accept the 2nd place finish. Being that close is painful, and at the time I really didn’t know Shelly, other than had heard he was a good fisherman and tough to beat there.

I took this near win as a positive, where I solidified a something I’ve heard over the years, “Never leave fish to find fish”. I almost won because I made the right decisions in the morning, and lost because I made the wrong decision in the afternoon.

I knew there were fish in the area I fished from the week prior, and knew with the seasonal spawn getting going, the bigger fish should be moving in there. I almost went somewhere different in the morning, but I remembered that old phrase above, took an immediate right turn and back to the area I did week in the week prior.

Later in the day when the text came in, I let the pressure get the best of me and went “hunting”. Although the area I was fishing was not very big, there were most likely good fish around there I had yet to catch.

Handling the defeat

• First and foremost, it was a great day of fishing, my pattern was on fire most of the day. That is why I fish in the first place.
• Managing Expectations - a positive attitude is always important, but don’t get into the mindset that you can’t be beat.
• Learn something: Dwelling isn’t going to do you any good, but you can make notes to what you did right, and what mistakes you made that you can use in the future.

In Closing

There is a common theme here, that was unintended but came to light while writing this article.

The first lesson to be learned is even if you have had a great practice, and have a great positive attitude, don’t be fooled into thinking you’re unbeatable. The greats were beaten plenty, even on their “home” lakes. And the same goes in reverse, just because you are new to the body of water or didn’t have a good day of practice, put your skills to use and try to make it happen! I didn’t go into the stories of last minute come backs, but in many tournaments, my day was saved by catches in the last hour. Shelly later confessed that his pattern was a bust, but he was able to grind it out and found another pattern.

Make notes of the good and not so good things that happened because of your decisions throughout the day. These are notes that you can apply in the future to improve your chances to a successful day on the water.

The most important thing that comes to mind is managing your emotions. When you are on the losing side, don’t forget that you are out fishing, whether for a hobby or for a living, and you should be enjoying yourself and the people around you. If you find yourself getting frustrated, it happens to us all, take a step back and be grateful for the day on the water with your friends.