Scott Hammer TOXIC
Well-Known Member
My partner (another guide) and I have had a pretty rough time getting it together in our tournament trail (NBC Pro-Series). I have said it all along that I am not a tournament guy because I fish for the love of the sport and I guide people for the sheer joy of watching them catch fish...first....biggest....most....etc. I have always thought that once you did it for money it was a totally different ball game and I was right!! It's one thing to go find fish, it's another to go find 5, 15 inch and over fish for a tournament......consistently....especially on a tough lake like Lake Anna. Clients for the most part do not want to go pound the water for 8+ hours for 5 big fish (well, most don't anyway) and the strategy I use as a guide is to 1st get them on fish and 2nd hope that there are some bigger fish in the mix. That keeps 90% of my clients happy. Most tournament guys that I guide want to "pattern" the fish, they certainly don't want to go stick fish that will weigh in the tournament. I didn't realize how much a disadvantage being a good guide was untill I got talked into doing this trail. My natural instinct to find "client" fish was really hampering us. We would catch 10-20 fish per tournament in the 13-14.5 range and get a couple to weigh. We almost dropped out a couple of times and spur of the moment decided to go ahead and fish. The tournaments average about 60-70 boats with most being 3rd generation lake fishermen, so you have to be on your game every tournament. This last tournament Eric and I went out with no game plan and decided to let the fish tell us where to go and what to use. There were some factors in our favor...1. we are both plastics guys 2. the wind was howling (I just luv the wind) and 3. the spawn was over which uped the ante on skill and made it harder to stumble on fish. This was the result:
Good enough for 2nd place and a check for $1000. That covers my expenses to date. We are now 19th out of 83 boats (we were never really "out" of the hunt) and stand a good chance of making the Regional (top 30 boats) with 2 tournaments to go.
Sorry to ramble but I had a revelation and that doesn't happen very often!!:lol:
TOXIC
Good enough for 2nd place and a check for $1000. That covers my expenses to date. We are now 19th out of 83 boats (we were never really "out" of the hunt) and stand a good chance of making the Regional (top 30 boats) with 2 tournaments to go.
Sorry to ramble but I had a revelation and that doesn't happen very often!!:lol:
TOXIC
