Hi Fam! Okay TLDR, this will be a long post about my recent growth as an angler, so don't feel bad about scrolling past this.

I went out this Tuesday evening for my second ever tournament. I got my boat on the water by 5. Tournament didn't start till 6, and I knew I didn't have a shot in hell at winning this thing. So I said to myself, I'm going to get in an extra hour of fishing, save myself $50, and then go watch weigh in later just to see how everyone did. 

So I got out. By myself. No pressure. Went to an island out in the middle of the lake that exhibits all the characteristics BLat always talks about. I had caught fish there before so I was confident in going back. It took a little bit to get going, but once I did, boy was I on them!

I caught them where the water turns from light to dark, near the heavy vegetation. Used all the techniques. Shaky head. Texas Rig. Carolina Rig. Switching back and forth depending on how thick the vegetation was. Catching fish throughout. I had caught 4 this way.

I kept my head on a swivel, and noticed that the fish were active on the surface 50-100 yds out from the island. I immediately switched and cast a swimbait as far as I could. Kept it on the surface all the way back, and sure enough, hooked a smallie, biggest fish of the day.

I was having success, I had filled my live well for the first time ever. 5 fish, though had I entered that tournament, only that last fish would've counted as the others were just a hair too short. I thought about this community, and about the advice BLat shares, and I thought, let me go see if I can replicate this success elsewhere on the lake. 

I moved to a similar island a little south, had no luck whatsoever. The pattern just didn't fit. Then I tried another, no luck. Then I went to my fourth island. Tossed in my Texas Rig, let it sit. Went to get a smoke as BLat might say, then hooked a nice one. Unfortunately I lost him right at the boat. But I had hooked 6 bass in the span of ~3 hours, which is the best outing I've ever had, ever.

By this point it was almost 9pm, so I called it quits and hurried back to watch the weigh in. Two boats scored 5 fish. So I would've been way behind. Two boats caught nothing at all, so I did better than they did. But I think my biggest fish could've won big bass for the night, so I'm encouraged to participate next time. 

A year ago or even 2 months ago I was not fishing like this. I watch the videos on the site and try to go out and replicate. The more practice I get, the better the outcomes. This is an extremely trying sport, lots of ups and downs, but from my own experience, the ups are worth the downs. So stick with it! The more reps you get the more you'll figure out how to adjust when you're out there. Tight lines, y'all! 

Got out this weekend to try to hone in on the deep water catch. Chose a lake that has a very concentrated 'deep' area to make it easier to find them, which I did. But again, threw everything I could at them with no luck. So I pulled chalks and went to my usual lake. The water has warmed up to ~57 degrees now and I started seeing them shallow. I got a hit on a lipless by a SM but didn't hook him. Then I hooked a LM on a swim jig in about 12-15 ft of water and brought him all the way to the boat. Bad finishing technique and he jumped off. I can deal with that and I can get better at that technique. But where I really struggled was in recreating the success. I just finished B-Lat's Build the Bridge Confidence video and I completely get the message about following the pattern. If I had already gotten a couple of hits in one spot, I didn't need to stay there indefinitely. I should have made a mental note of the pattern and gone in search of the next area that matched that pattern. I can't wait to go back out and try it again. Heck, they might even be spawning next time!