for me i would want to learn my graph better and learn to video game fish.

Being able to find and pick apart a school/deep biters. More specifically finding the productive bass and an effective lure rotation. Also, I would want to learn when to bug out.

It is a combination of all of the above, basically.

There is a reason many guys fail at the top level! James has been what I would call successful!! He fished, He competed and most of all he showed he has the skill set to be there if he chooses to stay. Very few Anglers make a living swinging for the fences every at bat. The world series is normally won by the team that can play small ball the best and executes well! The Elites and FLW tour is a marathon if you have a zero because you was swinging for the fences your championship and angler of the year hopes are gone. The other thing that many do not realize and I learned this lesson just at the central on Ross Barnett many of these guys don't have normal jobs! They will have 15 to 20 days in on a water body before official practice even starts. For people like James, myself and others we can barley scrap enough time off to just make official practice everyday. While we are figuring out how to get around a water body so we do not knock off our lower units or worse these other guys are running and gunning and putting a plan together. James is telling you some truth for tour level guys just starting out. If you are wanting to make this journey you might want to listen!.

Great question James. I don't and have never had any interest in fishing professionally so that wouldn't be anything of interest to me but I can tell you one thing I would love to get in the boat and learn. It's the combination of how to break down a lake in a very short period of time (not quite MLF style but close) and how to take what you learned from that break down and create a game plan for a tournament day.

My partner and I tend to focus on a few (1-4) areas in a day and spend a lot and some times too much time in one spot because of our confidence in the that spot or area. When I have fished some tourneys with some more "seasoned" guys, like my good friend Dannie Golden, he had much more of a run a gun approach than I ever fish in a tourney.

Great topic James and congratulation on a fantastic year! You make many good points for people wanting to compete at the top level. In my younger days I gave it some thought but just couldn't pull the trigger. Now that I'm older and fish less tournaments I love learning all I can about my electronics and new techniques. Have come to love finesse fishing and I am currently working on learning when, where and how to use swimbaits, so that would be it for me. Wishing you, Tim and the others that pursue the dream the very best of luck!

I personally would choose to be able to spend a day out on the lake with someone like Larry Nixon. Someone who has been through the wars from the beginning and just hear stories about what it was like going through all of the changes like what his first boat was and how he changed with the technology and how much he still relies on his natural instinct in his fishing. I will never forget the vision in my mind of him on the intro for the Bassmaster show when a giant fish jumped out of the water and to see him turn around with such a HOLY COW look on his face. Just to relive some of his great memories and stories would be an awesome day on the water as well as others like Rick Clunn, Gary Klein etc.

breaking down lakes by season and conditions, highest probability starting points and staying with the fish as the season and condition change. Far too often I can be on 'em good one day and the very next morning absolutely everything has changed. I struggle to get back on track when they make a big change overnight. Second would be electronics.

James,

It sounds as though you have some people on here that would like to learn a variety of new techniques and more about managing money as a pro. Would you be interested in doing some guide trips and tutorials? I know I would like to learn new techniques and I feel like this would be much more beneficial for me as a tournament angler than to go "spot fish" on a lake with a typical guide service. I understand this is not for everyone, but I personally think there are many anglers both tournament guys and others that would benefit from an informative guide trip centered around specific questions for each individual.

I agree. I've been trying to gauge interest in this type of service. I think as much as we spend on boats, tackle ect... to learn a skill set that would improve anglers exponentially in the future only make sense. I'm going to post in the plugs and announcements section about this service. The first 5 trips I book on TFF will be $100 off. Send me a PM. Please keep posting what yall want to learn. This is very helpful.

The person I would want to learn from is Brent Ehrler�this guy has been successful on all trails and formats and is a jack of all trades to include drop shot, crankbaits and jerk baits. I would definitely want to learn how he reads a graph and his drop shot techniques.

+1 he's a beast

I'd rather fish with Dance - on ANY body of water. I've met him, and he's just a fun guy.

I would want to learn their mental game more then anything.
Not how they fishing a bait but why
Same for boat positioning
And why they make runs when they do

Other things I think just have to be picked up over time.

James, let's go fishin!! I'll be in touch soon.

Ehrler seems like a great guy just from what I've seen and read about him.

And talk about a guy with his ego in check.... Ehrler seems top notch.