Walmart BFL - Mississippi River, LaCrosse, WI 5/7/11
by Kurt
Well, tournament number one for the 2011 season is in the books. I just wanted to post a quick blog and share some of the highlights and a few lessons learned.
Let's start with the highlights. After the ridiculously long winter we've had in Wisconsin, I was dying to fish this tournament. It was great to be out on the Mighty Miss at LaCrosse, WI. I've been here many times before and just love this water. The pool level was a little on the high side, but completely navigable and fishable. I only got about 9 hours of practice time in, but I was satisfied with how it went. I tried a part of this pool I had never fished before, and found it to be loaded with fish. In a little over an hour, without beating up any particular stretch of this area, I could have weighed in a 12 lb. limit. I knew from past experience that it would probably take more like 18lbs to have a shot at a win here, but I also knew that an area with that many solid 2.5lb'ers, was likely to give up a few big girls if I really picked it apart. In addition to that, any of the other areas I checked seemed to be tough to find bites in at all.
Another highlight, was a great partner draw. I had the pleasure of sharing my boat with LaCrosse local, John Hamilton. Great guy and a solid stick! A good co-angler can make a huge difference in how a tournament day goes. I definitely can't blame my non-winning performance on him. Thanks John!
Now, let's look at the lesson parts of my story. It became really clear that no-cull tournaments (by Wisconsin state law) are not my favorite. I threw back several fish that were nearly a pound larger than the last one I ended up keeping as I ran out of time. Frustrating! While I caught lots of good solid keepers, I never got that big bite I needed. As we headed to weigh-in, I was fairly sure that my estimated 12lb. limit would not be the winning weight, but I wouldn't have guessed that there would be 74 bags ahead of me! Wow! Congrats to all of them! Bags in the high teens, to almost 20lbs., are not easy to reach when you're not allowed to upgrade. Nice job! I guess the lesson I learned is to never assume you have enough weight. I don't think I slacked off all day, but maybe I should have fished with more urgency.
Actually, let's go back to another highlight. As I mentioned, I was carefully selecting which keepers to keep. As time wore on, I would decide that I should probably put this 2.5lb'er in the box. My partner John's plan was to keep every keeper. Coming into the last hour, I had kept 4 so far, and my partner had 3. Then, of course, the bite really slowed down. It was tough to stop the negative self-talk in my head. "I knew I should have kept that last 16" fish!" But I caught myself, and remembered to "keep fishing forward". Finally, when I knew the clock was running out, I swung a keeper aboard. 14-1/2". "What time is it, John?", I asked.
"Six minutes left", he answered.
Reluctantly, I threw the runt in the box, admittedly relieved that I would be bringing in a limit. "Alright partner", I said, "my confidence is so high, that I'm gonna just stand here with the net in my hand."
John chuckled and almost instantly said "There's one!" I scooped it for him and encouraged him to get that lure back in the water. Two casts later I heard, "And there's another one!"
In the last six minutes of our day, we went from 4 fish and 3 fish, to two 5 bass limits! Now that's a pretty sweet way to end a tournament day! Like I said, I knew we hadn't won, but it felt pretty good anyway. So, I guess the final lesson is (stop me if you've heard this one before) never give up.
-Kurt Mazurek
Keep Fishing Forward.
Well, tournament number one for the 2011 season is in the books. I just wanted to post a quick blog and share some of the highlights and a few lessons learned.
Let's start with the highlights. After the ridiculously long winter we've had in Wisconsin, I was dying to fish this tournament. It was great to be out on the Mighty Miss at LaCrosse, WI. I've been here many times before and just love this water. The pool level was a little on the high side, but completely navigable and fishable. I only got about 9 hours of practice time in, but I was satisfied with how it went. I tried a part of this pool I had never fished before, and found it to be loaded with fish. In a little over an hour, without beating up any particular stretch of this area, I could have weighed in a 12 lb. limit. I knew from past experience that it would probably take more like 18lbs to have a shot at a win here, but I also knew that an area with that many solid 2.5lb'ers, was likely to give up a few big girls if I really picked it apart. In addition to that, any of the other areas I checked seemed to be tough to find bites in at all.
Another highlight, was a great partner draw. I had the pleasure of sharing my boat with LaCrosse local, John Hamilton. Great guy and a solid stick! A good co-angler can make a huge difference in how a tournament day goes. I definitely can't blame my non-winning performance on him. Thanks John!
Now, let's look at the lesson parts of my story. It became really clear that no-cull tournaments (by Wisconsin state law) are not my favorite. I threw back several fish that were nearly a pound larger than the last one I ended up keeping as I ran out of time. Frustrating! While I caught lots of good solid keepers, I never got that big bite I needed. As we headed to weigh-in, I was fairly sure that my estimated 12lb. limit would not be the winning weight, but I wouldn't have guessed that there would be 74 bags ahead of me! Wow! Congrats to all of them! Bags in the high teens, to almost 20lbs., are not easy to reach when you're not allowed to upgrade. Nice job! I guess the lesson I learned is to never assume you have enough weight. I don't think I slacked off all day, but maybe I should have fished with more urgency.
Actually, let's go back to another highlight. As I mentioned, I was carefully selecting which keepers to keep. As time wore on, I would decide that I should probably put this 2.5lb'er in the box. My partner John's plan was to keep every keeper. Coming into the last hour, I had kept 4 so far, and my partner had 3. Then, of course, the bite really slowed down. It was tough to stop the negative self-talk in my head. "I knew I should have kept that last 16" fish!" But I caught myself, and remembered to "keep fishing forward". Finally, when I knew the clock was running out, I swung a keeper aboard. 14-1/2". "What time is it, John?", I asked.
"Six minutes left", he answered.
Reluctantly, I threw the runt in the box, admittedly relieved that I would be bringing in a limit. "Alright partner", I said, "my confidence is so high, that I'm gonna just stand here with the net in my hand."
John chuckled and almost instantly said "There's one!" I scooped it for him and encouraged him to get that lure back in the water. Two casts later I heard, "And there's another one!"
In the last six minutes of our day, we went from 4 fish and 3 fish, to two 5 bass limits! Now that's a pretty sweet way to end a tournament day! Like I said, I knew we hadn't won, but it felt pretty good anyway. So, I guess the final lesson is (stop me if you've heard this one before) never give up.
-Kurt Mazurek
Keep Fishing Forward.
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