New Meaning for "Fish the Moment"
Posted by Pete Robbins on Jan 20th 2021
photo courtesy of B.A.S.S.
Hanna and I have fishing trips planned to Guatemala, Panama, Mexico and Alaska planned for 2021. I’ll be both thrilled and surprised if all of them happen as scheduled.
Between all of the major tournament circuits, there are lots of derbies planned for all over the country this year. I’ll be even more surprised if all of them happen as scheduled.
I’m not an epidemiologist, so I have no idea if COVID is likely to be more or less of a problem six months from now. I’m not a politician, so I have no control over whether any sort of shutdowns or mitigation measures will be imposed. And I don’t own a major tournament circuit, or compete on one, so I have no direct skin in the game on how their events proceed. But I am a realist, and from 2020 I’ve learned that flexibility is going to be a key going forward.
BASS did an exceptional job reshuffling last year’s schedule, and they clearly thought long and hard about how to deal with the Classic. No other event in our sport has so many moving parts – it’s not like they could just wait until the week before and then postpone or move it. I hope that in June we are watching a new (or repeat) champion hoist the trophy, but I suspect that BASS has plan B, and C and D in place in case that’s not feasible.
The savvy anglers are starting to think that way, too. Every event is subject to change, either in terms of the venue or in terms of the date, and he who adjusts most ably will fare the best. In other words, there’s a new level of 3D chess when it comes to controlling the variables you can and minimizing the harm of those you cannot.
