I know some of you are going to think I’m playing a head game with the other anglers when I say this but I’ll tell you I had a tough practice. It’s colder than I expected and the fish aren’t where I thought they’d be at this time of the year. It was a real surprise.
At this point I’m clueless. I wish they’d (the fish) talked to me before they moved, or shutdown, or whatever else they’ve done. That would have been nice. It was really weird out there — one of those practices where you come off the water realizing that you don’t know much more than when you started.
I suppose I could say that at least I know where they aren’t and what they’re not biting. That’s a positive, right? I read that somewhere. I laughed then, and I’m laughing now. A positive would have been finding an area with the winning fish and figuring out how to make them bite.
For official practice, (Wednesday) I’m going to just go fishing. My hope was to spend the day fine-tuning my presentations and patterns for the competition on Friday. That’s out the window, for sure. I’m looking for fish. But there’s something that just might help me do that — the weather.
It’s supposed to turn warm, more like a normal late February down here. That should put the bass into more predictable patterns. I know some things about this fishery so all may not be lost. It’s possible that I’ll have enough time to put something solid together, or at least get me off on the right foot.
Regardless of how things turn out, however, it’s not the end of the world. Becky says I still get to go to Thanksgiving dinner with the family next November even if I don’t catch a lot of weight. And she assures me the family will still love me and that nobody will change the locks on the doors to the house if things go bad.
That’s some consolation. Actually it’s a lot of consolation when you stop to think about it. A loving family’s no small thing.
I’ll let you know more after tomorrow…
