I wish some of the successful people would share their patterns and baits. We fished Caney Friday and only caught a few with the biggest being about 2lbs. We concentrated in 8-12 ft with swimbaits and flukes and Senkos. We didn’t talk to anybody or see anybody who did any better than we did. Looking back, I wish we had dropped a big jig in some of the hydrilla that we found but I don’t know if that would have helped or not. With the lake high, we knew there would be some fish shallow but we felt like our chances would be better for a big one out a little deeper. Come on guys, tell me where we went wrong?
I feel your pain and so do a lot of other guys on this Monday following the big tournament. I have fished Bob's tournament for over 20 years now and the ride home always makes for interesting conversation with either yourself or your partner. The "what if's" run rampant in an anglers mind. In my younger days, I would beat myself up with questions and thoughts of what I could have done better. The Splash is unique in the sense that people come from far and wide to fish it with abilities that range from novice to very very good. Throw in the fact that it is a "one" fish tournament and it levels the playing field somewhat. There are no real secrets. There is no magic bait. There is no magic depth, fish were caught in a foot of water, fish were caught in 30 feet of water. In my very humble opinion, it all comes down to what you believe in doing and what you believe will work.
You have to be willing to fish the entire day for ONE bite and maybe not even get bit, not 25-30 spot or dink bites. That is VERY hard for most folks to do, including me. I am not saying you cant catch a big one in those schools of little ones, but your chances are smaller in my opinion. I have been fortunate enough to make the trip to the pavilion 6 or 7 times in the past 5 years, not for anything huge, but maybe an even weight fish or a 5-7 lb fish from time to time. That is more than I did the first previous 15 years combined. Why? The answer is simple, I quit fishing it like a stringer tournament and started focusing on 2-3 spots for the ENTIRE tournament, places I have confidence in, not necessarily from past history, but where I think they should be. This year for example was 7-10 foot of water, scattered grass, a small ditch nearby leading to deeper water. Of the 24 hours of fishing time we had, we fished that spot probably 16 hours and had 5 bites the entire time, but one of them was a near 6 lb fish that got us a small check. We were fortunate because we could have just as easy caught nothing or we could have caught a 10 lb fish, it's all the same. Me personally, I think you have to slow way down and just enjoy the weekend and be thankful if you happen to get lucky enough to run into one those pigs. Age and wisdom will do that to you!!