As this year comes to an end, I’m doing what a lot of people do at this time — I’m thinking about my New Year’s resolutions. I’ve made my list by looking back over 2024 and considering what I want for 2025.
One thing I want to do next year is spend more time on the water. It’s hard at this stage of life because I have two daughters, ages 3 and 5. I don’t want to miss this important time in their lives, but I’ll have to work on making time to spend one to two days a week on the water between tournaments.
Just like any other sport, you have to practice. Fortunately, Lake Dardanelle, Bull Shoals, Table Rock and the Arkansas River are fairly close to my house, so I can fish a lot of different scenarios without traveling far.
We even have some oxbows off the Arkansas River that are similar to the Sabine River. That’s always a challenging event, so practicing in habitat similar to what we’ll fish in Texas next year should be helpful to me.
Here are some other resolutions I’m making.
Don’t be stubborn: When it comes to decision making, instead of being focused on just one thing, I need to keep an open mind. I need to be less hardheaded on the water. I need to avoid getting dialed in on one thing.
For example, during the first Elite tournament this year at Toledo Bend Reservoir, I knew where I needed to fish, but I knew it was gonna be crowded. I don’t like fishing around a lot of people, so I went off and tried to make something happen.
By the time I realized my mistake, it was too late. I’ll try not to make that mistake in 2025.
Be more patient: We talk about this all the time, but it’s so big. All of us can improve on our patience because a lot of times, you just need to allow time for something big to develop.
Get outside my comfort zone: Several times during the 2024 season, I was around the right fish, but I just failed to get them to bite. This all goes back to keeping an open mind. So I’ll keep more options tied on and try different baits to see what the fish want.
Learn new fisheries: I’ve never been to North Carolina’s Pasquotank River, so before the Elite Series goes there in April, I will have done a lot of research and map study to familiarize myself.
Back to basics: I have a list of goals written down in my shop and a lot of them I crossed out during the 2023 season. It was my first year on the Elite Series, and I was checking them off as the year went on.
During the 2024 season, I kind of got away from all of those simple ones, like “Make sure I’m making the Day 3 cut.” Before you can win, you have to get yourself in position to win.
This past season, the only goal I had on my list was, “Win the Bassmaster Classic.” Well, you’re not going to get there if you’re not making the cut, so let’s get back to basics.
I think this past season I was more hardheaded. I was trying to fish to win because I had won two tournaments in my rookie season, so my mentality changed.
I still have the drive to win, but I’m going to focus first on the steps it takes to get there. If you don’t do the basics, you can’t expect to achieve the bigger objectives.
