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How You Change

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

I am my worst critic. I know you have heard this before and I assume many of you are the same. The merit in these words speaks for your dedication to learning. The need to become the best you can be. I am not sure if I am getting better or have learned that I don’t need to get so mad at myself that it takes weeks to get over it. Now I just, kick my own butt for a couple of days. The thoughts that ramble through my brain still keep me awake at night. The more humbling the experience the more I learn or should I say, the more I put into practice. The important part of chastising yourself is to turn it around and take what you have learned and put into experience. Make it part of your repertoire.

I am a believer that the clearer the water the farther you should be away from the fish. The assumption is that fish have a comfort level. That level is determined by sight and sound. A fish under a dock will allow you to get close. A dock as well as all cover provides a fish with comfort.  Thin weeds without much else around lessen that comfort level. My friend (Richard) and I were fishing a tournament earlier this year. We had a good bag of fish. He then took me to another spot that I had not been.  There were bushes with a couple of stumps on the outside of them. We had worked around the back side of the bushes when I saw a stump that had one foot of water on one side and three on the other. I fished both sides a couple of times. Richard got hung up in the bushes. That doesn’t happen very often! Honest!  I was heading back to get him unhooked. I had the opportunity to cast above the stump and drag the line so it would go under the stump as far as possible. I pulled out a five pounder.  That lake is extremely clear. We weren’t 20’ from the stump. That stump had such an undercut that it gave that bass a high comfort level.

The numbers of scenarios that present themselves at every tournament are endless. How many you can pick up on, is up to you.

My sons and I have fished one lake many times. There is one stream that you can fish and many times we have gone in there and only caught small fish. We have thrown everything at those fish. The stream has bushes on the banks. The wind was blowing hard the last time we went in there. I wanted to retie, so I let the boat go against the bank. I had put on a Case frog. My first cast was along the side of the bank. That frog didn’t get four feet when a nice largemouth hit it. We spent the next hour fishing that way. The hard part of that is that the guy in the back of the boat got a lot less action. The fishing in the front was the best we had ever done. The more time you spend on the water the better you will become.

I have made countless numbers of lists. They all had the same types of styles to try. I very seldom got very far into the list. I didn’t have the confidence to throw them long enough to prove them out. Go to your best spots and throw something different, for an hour!

Strikezone Lures has come out with a 16” worm. I have not fished it in a tournament. My last trip out I was in my son’s boat and committed to throwing the Big Daddy. I am no longer afraid to throw it in a tournament. I even had it on a 3/0 hook.

May all your luck be in your weigh bags!

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Peter Kjenstad

peterkjenstad@yahoo.com

PK Bass & Tackle