The Elites are about midway into a pretty long break since the Fort Gibson event was rescheduled from May 16-19 to Sept. 19-22. Obviously, this break was unexpected, so I didn’t really have many things scheduled, but I’m trying to use this time productively.
For one thing, I’m putting in a lot of time on the water. I flew back out to Texas, where I had left my boat and truck after the last Elite on Lake Fork, and drove my rig home, so I could spend several days on my home lake.
I definitely think it’s important to stay sharp on your fishing skills between tournaments, but I’m also working with my electronics. Lowrance has so many impressive new features that are better than we’ve ever seen before and I’m glad I have this time to really dig into it all.
I’m spending a lot of time looking at fish and doing things that I plan on doing at our next Elite even on Lake Guntersville in late June. In addition to studying the C-Map for Guntersville, but mostly, I’m putting in a lot of hours just looking at fish offshore.
I want to be as educated as possible for this next event and you can gain so much perspective by watching how bass are positioned and noting what different species look like. Hopefully, this knowledge I’m gaining during our break will serve me well when I arrive at Guntersville.
The thing that motivates me is that we have such great tools for looking at fish from so many different views now and the younger guys are really sharp with the new technologies. I want to make sure I don’t allow them an advantage that I can be more in-step with.
As far as family time, we weren’t expecting to have this break, so we didn’t have any vacation plans. But I have put a few hours on my Suzuki engine towing my daughters around Lake Roosevelt on a wakeboard in recent weeks.
We’ve had kind of a colder spring, but it’s getting warmer and since they recently got out of school soon, so I’m pretty sure we’ll be doing some swimming and tubing. A lot of years, I’m gone so much during that summer break that we don’t get to do it that often. But we’ll spend a good amount of time together on the water this year.
As far as the business side of fishing, I’m trying to take advantage of the time I have to help some of my sponsors with their marketing content, as schedules allows. This is an engaging part of a professional fisherman’s job and I always enjoy the opportunity to contribute to those efforts.
Lastly, this break is allowing me to get my tackle organized for the next event, as well as the two northern events after Guntersville. What’s nice is that I’m able to order items that may not be as readily available during the times when I’d be using them. For example, I’ve stocked up on my No. 2 Hyabusa NRB treble hooks.
Most years, once ledge season arrives, good luck finding No. 2 treble hooks in any brand. Fortunately, I’m all set with most of the tackle I’ll need, so once this break is over, I’ll be ready to get back to work.
