Bad Practice? Bad Tournament Day? How to Recover
Posted by M.L. Anderson on May 16th 2021
By M.L. Anderson
We’ve all made mistakes, and some of them cost us a big fish, and maybe a check. The worst is when that mistake comes early in the day. How do you keep your head in the game and recover from a loss? It’s easy to say “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again,” but how to you actually do that? I talked to a couple of Yamamoto Pros, Marty Lawrence and Gary Dobyns, and they shared some tips for not letting your thoughts get the better of you.
HEAD THEM OFF
Gary Dobyns
First off, don’t let anybody rent space in your mind. Some guys are pros at “dock talk” and that can totally throw you off your game. Dobyns says if you’re on fish and you have confidence that you can put fifteen pounds a day in the boat, some guy who claims he can weigh twenty-five easy can start you second-guessing your strategy. You can’t catch someone else’s fish, and a guy like that could just be all bluster and looking to throw you off. Don’t start wondering where he’s fishing and what he’s doing – stick to your own game plan. Marty says tie on your confidence baits, find some good spots, and go with it.
Some guys will go beyond talk. Dobyns once had a competitor who had a couple of other guys pound Gary’s area for a week before the tournament, prompting Dobyns to abandon the area come tournament time. The competitor then came in, fished Gary’s area during the tourney, and won – on Gary’s fish! That kind of thing only works if you let it, Gary says. Fish your strengths, fish your own fish, and don’t let anybody mess with your mind.
Gary says most of the time mind games can be funny if you look at them the right way, but sometimes guys just plain get nasty. He’s had guys cut him off, run over his spots, and even fish the same tree he was fishing. If you know Gary, then you know he has a hard time keeping his cool with people who pull stunts like that. He usually gets mad, blows up, and has his day ruined, but he’s learning to stay focused and keep his cool.
Another way to head off potential game-throwing thoughts is to avoid making trouble for yourself. Case in point: Marty says during the Apex Cup at John Day River (the tournament got blown off the Columbia), he busted a fish off the second day that he figures really cost him. Thing is, he knew it was going to happen. He knew when he picked up the bait that the line was iffy, but he threw it anyway. It’s hard to keep your cool when something like that happens, but not getting mad at yourself is even more important than keeping your cool with somebody else.
You can’t prevent every lost fish or broken line, but you can probably prevent a majority of them by simply making sure that all of your tackle is in top shape. If you’re going to be throwing into snag city all day, tie up several rods. Check your line after every cast, and your hooks too. Missing a fish can be a by-product of even a slightly dull hook. Breakoffs can happen in the line or at the knot, so take a few extra seconds to re-tie. You never know when the big one is going to bite, and you’ll beat yourself up all day if you do the “woulda, shoulda, coulda” dance in your mind.
Marty says he also missed a fish the first day – it was on for a couple of seconds, then it just swam off. “You can’t make mistakes like that,” says Marty, “but stuff happens. It’s all in how you recover from it.” Keep your head in the game, he says. It’s hard not to let things like that ruin your day, but you have to keep going. He kept his focus and got a four and a two and a half in the last half hour. At the Costa at Havasu a few years back, he says he lost a good twenty pounds, then caught sixteen more. He says it helps if you blow off some steam, then just get back at it. “Keep your head glued on and go for it,” he says.
PREPARE YOUR BODY AND YOUR BRAIN
Marty Lawrence
You wouldn’t run a race without getting your body in shape, and you shouldn’t fish a big tournament without preparation either. Being hungry or in pain makes it much easier to lose your cool and blow up, and that in turn causes reactions like a pounding heart, a headache, shaking hands, etc. Keep your body in the best shape you can so that standing on the deck all day with most of your weight on one foot doesn’t throw your back out of whack. Eat a good breakfast, not just the pastries and donuts at the check-in. Pack a nutritious lunch and healthy snacks, and make sure you eat them. Like any machine, your body needs premium fuel for peak performance.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Ricky Clunn once, years ago, and I never forgot that talk. Rick was so focused that he could literally ignore everything that wasn’t related to the fish. He concentrated on feeling his line, feeling the structure his bait was going over or through, and only paying attention to things that would affect the fish – things like birds, wind, otters, etc. He called it the Zen of Fishing. He would sleep by the lake to get in tune with the nature of the area, and he found fish with a three-prong approach: seasonal pattern, current pattern, and specific pattern.
The seasonal pattern is fairly common knowledge – we all know that fish are in shallow coves in spring and probably deeper in summer and winter. Current pattern can be either individual fish patterns or concentration patterns. For example, if you run a spinnerbait and crash it into a lay-down and catch a fish, then you can crash lay-downs and catch fish – that’s sometimes called a milk run. That kind of pattern can last three days or three minutes. A concentration pattern is something like a channel or a tree or vegetation that is holding an entire school of bass. Find one of those, he says, and you can stay there.
The third pattern is for elite fishermen, and you have to prepare your head for this. Few anglers do this consciously, he says, and an elite angler will do it without even realizing he’s doing it. This is when he’s found a pattern such as the spinnerbait/lay-down pattern mentioned earlier. An elite angler will be able to pinpoint exactly where on a log the fish will be. To prime your mind to do your absolute best in a tournament or a practice day, pay attention to the fish and make a mental note of exactly where that fish was. Clunn says you have to exercise your mental awareness just as much as you exercise your body. He visualizes himself as the lure – “seeing” the objects the lure comes into contact with.
THE TAKEAWAY
Your most important asset is your head, not your tackle. Your tackle is tools, and you need to keep them in good condition, but they simply complement your abilities. As Marty says, pick baits you have confidence in. That’s the only valid reason for selecting a bait. The function of the bait is to find fish – your job is to catch them. Don’t let any minor setbacks ruin your day. Keep your head, take a deep breath, and focus. You can even get apps that will help you calm your mind. But at the end of the day, very few of us are in a position where missing a fish means we can’t put food on the table. Keep perspective, keep calm, pay attention. You’ll be amazed at how much your fishing will improve.
