Last night I fished the ACE tournament and expected alot of fish to be caught with that weather moving in as it was. I was wrong. It started at four and at six o’clock I was yet to boat a keeper. I decided to drastically switch tactics. I had been going after smallies but was having no such luck. Not knowing where the big largemouth are in the spring I decided that the weather may be warm enough for them to start moving towards late post spawn and summer spots. The first spot I pulled up to was a beaver hut just off a main slough throwing a jig I stuck a 3 pounder right off the bat. Good fish, but would it be good enough in a single fish tournament? I went on the rest of the evening fishing more wood and weeds and cuaght many more male largemouth, though non over 3lbs. At the end of the night before returning to the landing I ran to my smallie spots just to make sure the hadden’t come up. And they didn’t… o well. At the weigh in it turns out out of 38 guys of more than half of which were bass fishing. no more than 6 or 7 caught a legal fish. So that put me in first place with a 3.1lber. So as you can guess I was thrilled. And on a complete side note…. for anyone who has ever won any type of tourney… Do people usually congradulate you when you win? This is the third time I’ve one this tournament and never once has anyone ever even said so much as a “good job”. I don’t know if it is ignorance or jelousy or maybe the fact that I am ten years younger than almost every last one of those gentlemen. I guess in a way maybe bass fishing is still looked at as a sport where age is knowlage and that a younger mind has had fewer years in the water, thus resulting in a lower caliber of skill? I don’t know what this post is really about…. I guess it just irritates me, no…. confuses me that these other fishermen have not conviction in my ablility to fish as well as they do. Any thoughts or suggestions? questions?
P.S- all the bass were cuaght in about 3-4 feet of water on eather blue and black jig or a black with red spec fluke thrown weightless into weeds.
Besides you made a crtical adjustment in this tournament and it played in your favor, a lot of those guys were probably too stubborn to leave the fish they once had to locate more. Sometimes that works and sometimes it doesn’t, and that is what seperates who wins and who doesn’t!
that I fish against from time to time. He’s simply an 
. Now I’ve prayed for him a million times -yes, my ill will towards him has subsided somewhat-, but I still allow him in my head. He’s a guy who not only has a mouth and acts likes God’s gift to the fishing world, but he also has this uncanny ability to catch fish 
-many feel he’s simply a lucky bum-!
(not that they remind you of you, I’ve just gone well off the subject here and am writing randomly). I can definitely be an arrogant knob, or as my wife likes to call me, an “arrogant, stubborn f^>k!”
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