Fred Raby
fraby@hook1.com
hook1.com
"FISHING WITH FRED"
Covering Tidal Waters And Impoundments
Good Luck With the Draw
I was very fortunate to draw one of the better fishermen in our club for our last tournament, John Buck. John felt lucky also since he and I had both been on fish for the past 3 weeks.
In fact he had boated a 6.3 pounder only seven days before the tournament.
As with all tournament teams we got together and discussed our strategy. My fish or his fish, or both? He said his bite was mid morning and we should start with my fish first. We arrived at my first spot and on my first cast I missed one. May be the wrong color crankbait since it was a short strike. We continued to work the creek mouth with various colors and baits until we were both ready to do something different. We moved to a second creek and found a barge working!! oh well let's fish it anyway, no luck.
By this time we were both ready to go to the six pounder spot and boat some fish. We got to the secret spot and found two other boats in the area. We fished hard, I missed one on a jig and we watched Rich Cornelius boat a couple (big grinnell).
We worked this spot too fast and both said, lets go to another spot that looks like the one Cornelius is fishing. We found it and I had five or six short strikes on a spinner bait, no fish.
In retrospect, John and I both know how to catch fish, but this day we gave so much consideration to the other's spots and techniques that we forgot the most important thing…catch fish. Although we found fish in every spot we fished we didn't do what it takes to put them in the boat. We failed to cash in on the experience and skill we had to find what and how the fish wanted the bait.
One goal of every trip is to learn something, and I think John and I both learned a lot. We are good friends, we exchange a lot of knowledge and had a good day in spite of no fish and the torrential rain. What we should have done is what we both know to do, and that is stay with fish once they are located and prove we are smarter than the fish. Combine the knowledge of your partner with the skill it takes to put fish in the boat and make
those good days out even better.
Good luck
Fred Raby
