Brian Ingersoll
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- Feb 20, 2004
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I just finished the third Stren of the year, originally scheduled for Fort Madison but moved to Kentucky Lake. It was a tough practice with a lot of new grass (milfoil) down south and the time of year for ledges to be going strong.
I split my practice between the two (turned out to be a mistake) but couldn't find any quality on the ledges, mostly just 1 1/2 pound fish - not what I was needing. I knew the better quality fish were in the grass but hadn't found a way to consistently get the bigger bites. I decided to go with my strength, the shallow fish, and work my way to the deep grass (6-8 foot)after I had my limit to upgrade.
Day 1 started with a broke trolling motor before take-off. Luckily the Ranger support guy was able to get me going 10 minutes after everyone left. I had a hard time getting a limit shallow and couldn't pattern the fish. A long day later I weighed five for 7-12. I ended the day 102 out of 170.
Day 2 I decided to hit the shallows early then go to the grass fish and try to figure them out. I caught 30 or 40 fish but had a hard time getting them to cross the 15" line. I was able to get two 15 1/2" fish and two good ones and start to see something. I weighed in four for 11-11, but felt better since 2 of them were close to four pound apeice. I moved up some to 78th place.
From looking at the standings I knew I needed 16-17 to get a check so I decided to swinig for the fences and hit the grass all day. I was questioning that decision with 2 1/2 hours to fish and one 15" fish in the box. Then everything started clicking for me. I was able to put four good fish in the boat that went from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds and lost one more that wrapped me up and got off. Unfortunately time ran out before I could cull the last small fish. I came in with five for 17-4 which is a personal best for me. It was the 9th largest sack of the day and moved me all the way up to 40th place and a $900 check.
I am now sitting in 22cd place in the yearly standings with only one tournament left to go and as long as I don't bomb it I should make the Stren Championship:blink:!
This was an eye-opening experience that I learned a lot from - and most of it had nothing to do with fishing. Being a somewhat local I felt it would be easy to get a high finish and good check. After the first day I was really down on myself, but felt I just needed to go out and get on the right pattern and turn it around. After the second day it got worse, I had caught a better sack and had a couple really good fish, but hadn't figured anything out and didn't feel I could repeat the better fish. I was wondering to myself if I had gotten in over my head and shouldn't be in this level of competition. I was really down, but at blast off I put it out of my head and decided to go fishing and let what happens, happen. By the end of the third day I regained all my confidence and realized I had taken just a little to long to find the pattern, but eventually was able to put it all together. I had limited myself in practice trying to make things work instead of just fishing my strengths and doing what I like to do. There is more of a mental aspect to it then I had ever thought.
I'm ready to go to Lake of the Ozarks in October now and get this championship qualification done!
I split my practice between the two (turned out to be a mistake) but couldn't find any quality on the ledges, mostly just 1 1/2 pound fish - not what I was needing. I knew the better quality fish were in the grass but hadn't found a way to consistently get the bigger bites. I decided to go with my strength, the shallow fish, and work my way to the deep grass (6-8 foot)after I had my limit to upgrade.
Day 1 started with a broke trolling motor before take-off. Luckily the Ranger support guy was able to get me going 10 minutes after everyone left. I had a hard time getting a limit shallow and couldn't pattern the fish. A long day later I weighed five for 7-12. I ended the day 102 out of 170.
Day 2 I decided to hit the shallows early then go to the grass fish and try to figure them out. I caught 30 or 40 fish but had a hard time getting them to cross the 15" line. I was able to get two 15 1/2" fish and two good ones and start to see something. I weighed in four for 11-11, but felt better since 2 of them were close to four pound apeice. I moved up some to 78th place.
From looking at the standings I knew I needed 16-17 to get a check so I decided to swinig for the fences and hit the grass all day. I was questioning that decision with 2 1/2 hours to fish and one 15" fish in the box. Then everything started clicking for me. I was able to put four good fish in the boat that went from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 pounds and lost one more that wrapped me up and got off. Unfortunately time ran out before I could cull the last small fish. I came in with five for 17-4 which is a personal best for me.
It was the 9th largest sack of the day and moved me all the way up to 40th place and a $900 check.I am now sitting in 22cd place in the yearly standings with only one tournament left to go and as long as I don't bomb it I should make the Stren Championship:blink:!
This was an eye-opening experience that I learned a lot from - and most of it had nothing to do with fishing. Being a somewhat local I felt it would be easy to get a high finish and good check. After the first day I was really down on myself, but felt I just needed to go out and get on the right pattern and turn it around. After the second day it got worse, I had caught a better sack and had a couple really good fish, but hadn't figured anything out and didn't feel I could repeat the better fish. I was wondering to myself if I had gotten in over my head and shouldn't be in this level of competition. I was really down, but at blast off I put it out of my head and decided to go fishing and let what happens, happen. By the end of the third day I regained all my confidence and realized I had taken just a little to long to find the pattern, but eventually was able to put it all together. I had limited myself in practice trying to make things work instead of just fishing my strengths and doing what I like to do. There is more of a mental aspect to it then I had ever thought.
I'm ready to go to Lake of the Ozarks in October now and get this championship qualification done!
