MLF just bought FLW

[slothman]

On 10/12/2019 at 8:06 PM, fishinwrench said:

That's a good point.   The stuff you learn while competing would probably never get learned otherwise.   

I have certainly learned a lot since fishing in tournaments. Just a few years ago I never would have considered fishing in a tournament. Now, I fish in a local club of pretty darn good sticks and fish occasional local tournaments when it works out. I still like to go out and fun fish as much as ever. I have just learned to be a bit more deliberate with my fishing and my time management. I have also learned that the way I grew up fishing is not the way I most consistently catch competitive sacks. I most appreciate fishing in my club because it puts fishing on the schedule and is much easier to justify with my wife that I should get to go fishing if I can plan for it months in advance. 

I’m still learning, but I can tell that I have definitely improved in the past few years of competitive fishing (probably in part because I have fished more). Example: I never did any pitching before. Never even considered it. I had to spend some time in the yard learning that skill so that I could more effectively fish docks in a more effective way for tournaments. Before, it didn’t seem like something I needed to be able to do. 

[gabe]

On 10/12/2019 at 9:31 PM, mixermarkb said:

My personal fishing evolution has gone something like-

Phase 1-struggle to get bites or catch one anything in a day

Phase 2-catch a few to a lot of dinks consistently most days I fish, struggle to catch a keeper 

Phase 3-catch a keeper(s) most days I fish, struggle to catch a limit

Phase 4-catch a limit of keepers most days I fish, struggle to catch a big (3 pound smallie/spot, 4 pound LMB) fish

Phase 5-catch a limit of big fish

 

On Bull Shoals and LOZ, I'm generally pretty darn close to a phase 4 fisherman, on weekdays, when I can kind of choose the weather I'm going in.

In a derby, I'm much closer to Phase 3, although I have a definite pattern going lately of having 4 fish with one or two good ones, and missing a limit fish that keeps me out of a check. I think part of it is poor time management on game day, and part of it is fishing pressure, but it's nice to see where I measure up. I think if I guy can be somewhere between phase 4 and phase 5, day in day out, regardless of weather and seasonal pattern, he's gonna do pretty well in the local tournament world.

The TRUE pros that can be Phase 4+, on tour, fishing everything from tidal backwaters to highland impoundments to Great Lakes smallmouth to TVA river lakes to Florida swamps, are the names we all know. Lots of phase 4++ guys in their region drop to phase 2 or 3 on tour. 

 

Idk, may not make any sense to anyone but me, but that's kind of how I look at it 

Makes perfect sense and on point.

[Sore Thumbs]

I’ve been at phase 4 for a while fishing Beaver. It’s taken me a long time to get there. I’m usually in the top half of the field and have cracked top 10 a time or two. Looking back at what it took to get to that point I firmly believe it’s about certain locations I’ve found more so than technique. I’m still not dialed in on seasonal migration yet. Beaver is tough to pattern sometimes. I need to spend more time looking and studying than actually fishing. 

[tjm]

So, how is it that y'all learn these things from tourney fishing that you never could have from fishing every day? They have seminars, give lessons, have an instructor in your boat? ? Maybe I've been missing out .

[Flysmallie]

5 minutes ago, tjm said:

So, how is it that y'all learn these things from tourney fishing that you never could have from fishing every day? They have seminars, give lessons, have an instructor in your boat? ? Maybe I've been missing out .

 “A horse never runs so fast as when he has other horses to catch up and outpace.”  – Ovid

[tjm]

So, you are saying it is stuff that could have been learned by just fishing if the angler had ambition to learn?

[Quillback]

I am fairly intense with my fishing whether it be for bass or bluegills.  I don't see myself fishing any more intensely in a tourney, but I would probably fish differently than I do "fun fishing".  

And If I really wanted to compete in a tourney, I'd spend more time prior to, looking for fish.  Not fishing, but finding fish, noting the location, then moving on.  Of course, that would lead to more burning of the petrol.  

[Flysmallie]

11 minutes ago, tjm said:

So, you are saying it is stuff that could have been learned by just fishing if the angler had ambition to learn?

I could learn to play basketball at home in the driveway by myself or I could go to the rec center and play with other players. Which one do you think will make me a better basketball player? 

[tjm]

Apple and carrot comparison unless competitive fishing is a team game.

[tjm]

25 minutes ago, Quillback said:

spend more time prior to, looking for fish. 

This is the fishing, the rest is catching.  But, I'm' stream oriented  and prospecting every piece prior to jumping in and scaring the fish has always been key in my methods. I think fishing blind cuts the catch tremendously.