It’s no secret that the start of this Bass Pro Tour season has been lackluster for me, to say the least. It’s been a tough streak of bad finishes to start the year. Now, here we are heading into REDCREST.
The good news is that I’m coming off a solid finish at my home lake, Kentucky Lake, in the Toyota Series, where I placed fourth. That was just what I needed to get my confidence up as we head into the biggest event of the season.
Busting the slump
You hear all the time in bass fishing about slumps and how to get out of them. I’ve read articles about it from pro anglers for as long as I can remember. Now that I’ve lived it firsthand, I can attest that it’s hard to stay confident in yourself when nothing seems to go your way, and I know it’s cliché, but the only way to get out of that is to fish your way out of it. Just like they say in baseball: You must swing your way out of a slump. That’s why I decided to fish the Toyota Series event last week, even though that meant I would have to drive straight to Table Rock Lake to make it in time for practice.
Kentucky Lake is by no means a layup because it’s such a vast fishery with a lot of variables, so it wasn’t a given that I’d do well last week, even though I’ve had success there in the past. For me, it was just something I had to do to try to right this ship in time for REDCREST, and I’m really glad I did. It was just what I needed in a year when, up to this point, every decision I had been making seemed to put me behind the curve. Hopefully, I can keep this thing rolling this week at REDCREST and for the rest of the season.
I’m excited for another shot at this event. I had a strong showing last year, finishing in the Top 10, and I’m determined to win this one. It’s what we fish for all year, and I’ve been excited about this tournament ever since I qualified. Last year on Lake Guntersville was my first REDCREST, and I never really got the jitters too bad, because sometimes you don’t know what you don’t know. This time, I know more of what to expect. But I’m approaching it like every other event and going to spend my time thinking about how I can win it.
Breaking down Table Rock
Fishing last week on Kentucky Lake was also something that I think should help on Table Rock. The fish were spawning, and I think that will happen again this week at REDCREST. I think with bass in all phases of the spawn, we should be able to catch them a lot of different ways, and I really like tournaments like that. There will likely be fish on the bank spawning, and some will be swimming out over 100 feet of water.
One cool thing about Table Rock Lake as a tournament venue is that largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass could all play in this one. It’s possible to catch a bunch of each of them every day, and from the same places. That’s a cool thing for any bass fisherman.
One variable this week is that the minimum scorable bass is 2 pounds. So, in practice, I’ll weigh everything to get a feel for the average weight of each species. That will help me formulate my game plan, and I plan to get that figured out early on and determine which direction we should go in with this one. There’s no doubt plenty of fish will be caught; it’ll come down to who makes the right calls and chooses the right area and species to target to become this year’s REDCREST champion.