Western blogging – Change now or change later

EverStart Series pro Jimmy Reese discusses his latest Shasta experience

Well I have to say it’s been an interesting journey the past few years. I have been watching all of the industry changes, watching friends come and go, watching young guns step up and chase their dreams and watching leaders rise as well as fade. But the one element that seems consistent is change!

Change is one of the hardest things to do in life if you really think about it.

Changing schools as a kid was no fun. Remember when mom would make a batch of cookies to give to your new classmates to help make friends? Back then I didn’t know what bribery was. Mom did though!

Changing jobs or careers and learning new skills was usually scary at first. Changing the way we think is the toughest routine to shake. “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten,” reads the old mantra. We are where we are in life today because of the decisions we made yesterday. So, if we want things to be different, we need to do things differently! Easy, right? Well, not exactly.

Strategy

Well here was my first dilemma this past weekend entering the FLW EverStart Series event on Lake Shasta here in California. I was getting my Ranger Z-521 ready, loading up all my gear and I started thinking about past performances there – what was working then and what was working for other fishermen.

I have had success on Lake Shasta over the years, but lately my results seem to have dropped a notch. So I started evaluating my decisions on how I was fishing the lake. Was I fishing too deep or to shallow? Was I fishing the wrong areas? Was the Berkley fluorocarbon line I was using too heavy? Should I use 4-pound test? Was the Roboworm I was throwing the wrong color? Should I throw a jig? Should I throw a Senko? Should I throw a swimbait all day? Ripping jerkbaits works well up here so maybe that’s what I should do. Winter came late so maybe the spoon bite is on.

Wow! I really started second guessing myself. And as a professional angler, that is the worst thing you can do. I have had many people ask me, “Do you just get lucky or is there really skill to fishing?” Ha! I always tell people that I put myself in position to get a lucky bite. So that being said, I start to focus on the three main elements – areas of the lake, type of lures and presentation. And with those ideas in mind, I put 24 rods and reels in the boat because I felt like I was really dialed in now.

Lake Shasta is known for its large spotted bass populations. You will catch some nice smallmouth bass and a few largemouth bass roam the lake, but January conditions and the low water temperatures hide them pretty well so the main focus – at least for me – was figuring out how to find and catch the spotted bass.

Practice

Having five days of practice was a blessing. The first two days were cold and miserable. I was running all around the lake which is something that you generally don’t want to do. Fishing two areas of the lake each day was a chore and by Sunday we were off the water by 12:30 p.m.

Well, fishing to this point had not been very productive as I had only caught five fish on one day and one fish the next. So I decided that it was definitely the time to make some changes. I tied on the Wacky rig Senko in watermelon color and set it in the rod locker. Then I tied on the big umbrella-looking thing with 25-pound Trilene fluorocarbon, put half of my fishing tackle on it and put it in the rod locker. There it was … change.

Okay, with the new rig already set to go, I figure I’ll now just have my friend and pre-fishing partner Gary throw it all day. If he gets some bites, maybe I’ll throw it. So Monday morning rolls around and I make the commitment to throw the Alabama Rig for half the day and the Senko the second half. So Gary and I pull up to our first spot – a flat with small points that run through it – and immediately I drop my drop-shot down and try to catch a fish I see on my graph. No luck. We go two hours without a bite and I realize I am in La La Land and need to refocus on the task at hand … change.

With my MinnKota trolling motor up and Mercury motor full forward, we get to the next spot – a nice set of small, chunk-rock points – and out comes the Senko. I throw my first cast up in 20 feet of water, work it out a little deeper and tick! Sweet, a bite! So I set the hook. Whiff! So I cast again into the same area. Tick. Whiff. Another cast. Tick. Whiff. We work our way to next point and three out of next five casts produce nothing but a big whiff. Are you kidding me?

The whole “change” thing is killing me right now. And, at this point, Gary is laughing his head off. I have tried every hookset I can think of and frustration is setting in. I probably would have quit right then but my fishing partner helped me keep things in perspective. He said, “We are getting bit, right?” So I regain my composure, have a deep intellectual talk with myself and make a decision to absolutely drill the next fish. I cast out my line, work it and then get another tick. Here we go! I reel the slack up and really lay into it.

As it turned out, this was the mother of all hooksets. Unfortunately, the 6-pound test line had no chance. Snap! By now, Gary is beside himself. He has seen pretty much everything over the past 15 years and now – at this very moment – he has decided that this is best time to laugh his tail off!

Well, as it turned out, this was the best thing that could have happened to me. I decided to change hooks and give it another whirl. And thank goodness, I finally started having some success. By the end of the day, we wound up catching 30 to 40 fish. My confidence went from sub-zero to 100 percent as well. And even though we did not find the big fish, I felt like I had just added another way to catch fish on any body of water at any given time.

Experience

The concept of winning and change reminds me of Everstart Series event on Clearlake that we fished back in March 2006. We had just fished Shasta and I had a Darthead worm on the deck. I looked at the bait and said, “What the heck, I might as well try it.” I figured I would throw it around some docks and sure enough, we caught some nice fish. At that time a big cold front had come through. It snowed and the conditions really sunk the swimbait and jig bite, so I resorted to the Darthead worm rig. Long story short, I finished in first place and had everyone shaking their heads at the outcome because nobody wins on Clearlake throwing a worm.

Tournament days

On tournament days, I have to say it’s really easy to get excited when you learn something new. You really look forward to the task at hand and it seems a lot easier to remain focused. Overall, I had a great tournament on Lake Shasta, ultimately finishing in 13th place. I caught almost all my fish on the Senko rig and fished both days with only three rods on the deck. But most importantly, I had total confidence in the changes I had made. Over the course of the tournament, I really felt like I accomplished something great – and I’m not even talking about the 13th-place finish.

Change is good

Versatility is the best way to be consistent in the tournament fishing world. And whether you’re a pro or just a weekend warrior, the more tricks you have up your sleeve, the easier it is to keep the bites coming – as well as prevent your buddies from having a laugh at your own expense! In sum, change will come whether we want it to or not.

And remember: The mind is like a parachute, it only works when it’s open.

Blessings,

Jimmy Reese