I am the first one to admit about the disgusting 2 seasons my partner and I have had. We have fished hard and the size just has been eluding us. We have never had such a hard time collecting decent weight as we have recently. We try to stay focused and grief seems to take over. After yesterdays RR Tournament we both started to just jump overboard and go scuba diving to see why the fish were acting that way. After all the confusion and the swearing we left shaking our heads in disbelief.

But after a cold shower and some rest from the pounding weather, I woke up to non-stop fishing shows on TV and watched all the competiors going strong and Im ready to do it all over again. I had banners days in the past, but this year especially we have struggled to find the whoppers. We are NOT giving UP and looking forward to next competion. Biggest disapointment was we didnt even have enough fish to take home for a meal. Im laughing about it now but I wanted to drain that lake yesterday to see if there was any fish in it.

So never give up SH-T Happens, refocus and start over, See Ya on the Water(just not RR anytime soon :D)

I agree 100%. It has been awhile since I've had a worse tournament than I had yesterday. I was fuming all day at the wind, the fish and decisions I made. Was lost and could not get anything together.

Those days make the good one even sweeter

Congrats to those that figured it out.

I hear ya Cliff! The last tournament I fished was also on RR and I only caught 1 fish all day. There are just some days that you just can't find the fish/bigger fish. That is one of the things I love about this sport... you just never know what a day may bring.

That is right never give it up - just keep moving until you get all over them.

Keep moving and get on their heads, (if you do not like what you are catching � just move until you do),

Cliff,

Great post!!! Yesterday's tourney on RR left both of us, Pat and me, cussing and wondering what the heck we knew about crappie fishing!!! I agree with you 100%, perseverance (SP) is the key. Everybody has off days.

Pat and I are just thrilled to be in this organization - number one, and we enjoy (Saturday was tough though), the competition from SO MANY GREAT ANGLER'S IN BOTH DIVISIONS!!!!!

I was ready to throw in the towel at noon, but my partner Pat helped me to re-focus on what we were out there for. Thanks Pat! Hey, it's all good - we were out fishing and not at work!

Tight lines to all

Jeff

Lol..this story sounds familiar. I had the same experience Friday pre-fishing for Granger and decided not to fish it Saturday. I could not graph a brushpile to save my life and only caught two cats. I figured my christianity would be in jeopardy come saturday so I avoided further anger and just fished the home waters of Belton. I still didn't do great, but wasn't mad and never cussed..lol. At least everyone had company Saturday as it was tough.

It reminds me a lot about the way I was with golf. Once I got pretty good. I'd be infuriated to shoot over 80. I'd cuss, throw clubs or just quit and walk off the course. Now, golf means nothing, but just a time to relax no matter what I shoot. I just enjoy the good shots and forget the bad ones. Hopefully, I'll evolve in my crappie tourney approach.

Hey brother,

Just keep fishing. We, my partner and I, still learned a great deal from the experience on Saturday and will put that to work for us later. We always try to learn 3 things from each Tourney we fish!!

Tight lines

Jeff

Some days you're the bug and others you're the windshield...

Mack and I didn't have a stellar tourney either but we had a great time. That was worth the trip alone....

Cliff,

You and your partner keep on fishing. I've fished about 15-20 tournies over the past three to four years and only brought in a limit of fish a few times. Even then, I was at the bottom of the pack. I won't be fishing any more tournies this year, but plan on hitting it strong next year. Thanks for encouraging me when I was fishing your tournies.

It was a good time but I just woke up for the 3rd nap today.
I enjoyed every minute. We were so hyped up Friday night we got into a joke telling spree at 02:00.
Once you get me rollin' I can pull them up from way back.

And Hey, even your own partner can't get ya name right sometimes.
The BigMac is a big cheap mass of beef and fat and I'm BigMack, a big lump of.... OH nevermind.
I see the problem telling the difference.

Jimmy and I fished that lake two saturdays before and the friday before and had all our spots picked out and several back up spots as well. We were jacked up for saturday and were on our first spot right at seven where we caught fish that friday and then it happen we threw everything short of dinamite and still only managed three keeper fish. When we saw Paul and Gary come by and they were fishing thier butts off. Then we saw Jerry on the main lake cause we never see those guys until they are collecting thier checks at the end of the day. Then we see all the normal front runners running around like pointers looking for birds. At that point I think we felt better because we were in the same areas and that usally only happens at the wiegh in. the only thing missing yesterday was the rain. I take that back I did see Tom Rains. Oh well can't wait for Lake Waco from the lake map you won't be able to hide on that lake. See Ya There.

100% true cliff ben doing this 7 years and still no win but come close, all i know is we accomplised alot so far beat jerry for once this year ok stomped jerry lol and after puliin two fish out of the bag had paul shaken but only han two more fish to go with them if we caught three more keepers it was ours and lost twice that many but it happens, its all about the competion and fun witch ill have every tourny more than anything love the storys I hear at weight in. Besides being the best around is the goal but we all have along journy ahead of us before we reach that goal but the opportunity is there for all of us just gotta keep chasing it.

i haven't caught a keep all year...how sad is that ?

bad enough i have drive 2-3 hours just go fish a lake that even has crappie, then i have to have to try to find them from the bank.
Sun beats me down, and im lucky if can catch a few that are 9" to keep my hoping that a keeper is lurking somewhere within range.

but i love to fish, and thats the only reason i still go.

I'm claiming dizziness brought on by lack of sleep, rough water, and too much sun.....sorry about that.

Mike...You had a Mac Attack.

IBFishin when ever I would get down and depressed over a bad day at any sport, my dad always had a saying that would cheer me up. He'd say son, dont get down on yourself, your not worth it!