Well, outside of the Media Championship this year, I am done with tournament fishing for a while. Work has been stressful, home has been stressful and I have not been having fun tournament fishing for two years now.

I bought a weekend place on Fork three months ago, so for me, it's learn Fork much better and fish for the fun of it. Relax. Just have fun. Try and find why I love this sport again.

I don't post out here much anymore, just lurk, so back to lurking for me now.

I totaly understand. You will find your spirit again as far as the love of bass fishing goes. I will not knock you for giving up the tournaments, as they are pretty costly in the long run if you never quite make it to the top along with alot of other things I particulary do not care for myself. Relax, enjoy yourself and you have picked a great place to hang out!

and sometimes its just really nice to be able to fish and not worry about the livewell, the time, or what the others are doing. dont get me wrong, theres nothing better than a plan coming together or have luck on your side and get pd for a tourney but when its a dry run just go fishing. try some new stuff and have fun. I always tell myself - ok, this tourney Im just gonna go where I think the fish are and just fish and not worry about anything else, just let things happen. but it never works out that way. then you see all the other guys with heavy bags and you lay in bed at night asking yourself how come these other guys are so good and I suck.

wheres your place at on Fork????? I'm at Popes.

its hard not to get frustrated when things dont go your way. we had a really tough time on sandlin, not so much for finding fish or getting bites but getting a hook in them was the problem. we had about 30 blow ups and only put 3 keeps in the boat. it was a tough day.... this year has been a screwy year, last year was the same way to some extent. dont let a couple of bad finishes take all the fun out of it. you gotta realize who your up against in the tournaments you fish... there be some sticks out there who LOVE takin peoples money. (cough) dillon... (cough cough!)

Jay is pretty much dead on. I have problems getting frustrated quick missing fish. And then once that happens ill backlash a few times before I get my head back in the right place and im back at it.

I am not burned out but I kinda took this year to step back and spend more time just fishing and trying to improve. I miss not fishing as many tournaments as usual but I realize the end result will be worth it. my deal is I am blessed with the time and resources to fish a lot so I decided to get my level of fishing to a better place as far as tournaments are concerned. I've done well in the past in Media and other trails but just felt like I needed to do even better. So far its been fun and its been the right decision for me. Hang in there it gets better.

If it makes you feel any better, I blanked today at Cypress! Only 5 of 40 or so blanked. I worked every strategy I new off and nothing, but a nice channel cat. Just keep throwing! Enjoy your time off.

I know what you mean, on Saturday the first bite felt like a big fish. Took the bait straight to the bottom into a tree, the boat was moving forward I tried to slow or stop with the trolling motor, my line went across the branch of tree out of the water. The fight was on for a minute that seems like five but soon I knew the fish was gone and I was hung. Broke off lost my rattle trap, which set the tone for the rest of the tournament. Missed bites, bad hook sets, fish jumped off at the boat. What a fishing trip, all I can do is brush it off and regroup.

Yea, it gets mega frustrating out there some times but just try to remember that it's just a sport and God has blessed us with so much more than we sometimes realize.

I sure know what you mean. I tournament fished for 20 yrs and for two yrs at the end I knew I was burned out but took a long time to be sure. Then I sold everything and went back to golf. Ten yrs passed when fishing didn't even sound good to me. But finally I took it up again. I strictly fish for fun now and I'm glad the pleasure has returned but I wouldn't fish a tour for anything...I don't want to lose the pleasure of fishing again.

I think we all get caught up in the adrenalin rush of tournament fishing and it makes us blind to the more important things. Enjoy your place at Fork. Learn that lake and come back stronger than ever... on your time.

m5ash, I'm in Lone Oak Park.

I had dink fest on Sandlin Saturday, could not find a good bite. I fished from dirt to 35' of water, had one about 1/2 the length of my 10" worm in that 35'. What the heck is that little fish doing out there? I had maybe 9lbs for my 5. I knew the was not going to get a check and points didn't matter. I let my 5 little fish go and put it on the trailer.

Ihad one of those dink days but you have to fish thru it to make you a better fisher men

I admire your decision, Fishn_man.

Tourneys can be fun and exciting and can really make you a good fisherman, but I've seen far too many good guys lose their way because of them. Ya know, guys who seem to have forgotten how to have fun when fishing.

If it ever gets to the point where you aren't having fun catching fish (even the little ones!), I pray that you step back and try to remember why you started fishing in the first place.