It's all about the Classic....

No, I did not make the Bassmaster Classic, but I hope to one day. I am talking about the USA Bassin Classic. This year my partner Josh Jackson and I fished the Kaskaskia River Division and qualified to fish the regional on Rend Lake. There was only one problem. He was going to be gone up to Canada so that meant I would have to fish by myself. I don’t blame him. He got to go catch tons of smallmouth and walleye while I got to fish Rend. I would have done the same thing. So my practice begun and I caught a few fish on a crankbait but only had a few keepers. I did shake one fish off on a jig on a brushpile I had found but that was the extent of it. Tournament day rolls around and the water looked like glass. There wasn’t going to be much of a crankbait bite on the rocks without any wind. I decided to start on the brushpile in hopes of catching the fish I shook off a couple of days before. After about twenty five flips without any takers I grabbed a spinnerbait and burned it across the top of it. A fish rolled on it but never got the bait. What a way to start the day. I ran to the back of another pocket and got a gift by catching a small keeper on a spinnerbait on a nothing but clay bank. Now what? I had really nowhere to go but back to the rocks. I pulled out two spinning rods with shakey heads tied to them. With no wind this was going to be the only way to catch them. For the next six hours it was going to be a grind. Within fifteen minutes I boated a three pound fish. Netting him by myself was a chore but I managed. I hooked keeper number three and struggled with him for a while. Once I got him to the boat I put the net in the water but I had too much line out. I dropped the net and reeled in a bit. By then it was too late. The fish pulled off. I didn’t get shaken up because there was nothing I could have done about it. Twenty Strike King Shakey heads later I put another three pound fish in the box. Only two more to go. I fished the rest of the day and only caught a couple of short fish before time was up. I weighed in 7.79 pounds which put me in 16th place. They took the top twenty four to go to the calssic. Out of eighty or so boats I managed to get in. I was pleased with my performance except for the one fish that I let get off that cost me a check but the goal was getting to the classic. By being persistent and staying focused throughout the day I was able to get it done. I lost over thirty shakey heads and probably retied fifty times but I remained calm even though it could have gotten the best of me. The two main factors for my success were my attitude and my line. I was using ten pound Vicious Fluorocarbon and I never broke a fish off. It is extremely tough and very sensitive. The other was my attitude. Many fishermen want to give up too soon and let their emotions get the best of them. It is easy to do but if you want to be successful at this sport you have to have a positive attitude. I am looking forward to the USA Bassin Classic on Kentucky Lake. It was our goal from the beginning and it was accomplished.