My first thought, after less than a year had passed since I felt the rush of getting smashed under a brush pile by a decent bass, was absolutely not. Why would I ever want to fish competitively when all it would do is rob my passion of the raw feeling I had experienced since day one? Besides the fear of the unknown, the thought of travelling to comps monthly to compete against anglers I had only seen in magazines was a daunting one to say the least. You see up until that point, I was a weekend social angler who had never dreamed of competing. In all honesty, the idea was not even considered.
Fast forward a couple months. After a great amount of encouragement from my fellow anglers, I arrived at my very first Kick Boat Trail at the Breede River Classic in Robertson, Western Cape. By this point I had introduced myself to a few of the regulars on BFSA but was still wandering into unknown territory. The warm words of encouragement and knowledge that was to be bestowed upon me over the next while led me to believe that this was more than a bunch of guys getting together to camp and fish. This was a community of like-minded individuals willing to throw an arm around a newbie and share just enough knowledge for me to find my feet.
The fishing was tough that weekend but the team spirit left me feeling somewhat accepted into this new world and my fear of the unknown was soon replaced with a healthy rivalry and motivation to do better next time.
I have come to believe that every angler has within him or her a wealth of knowledge. Whether it be tackle, tactics, venues or techniques. This is a constantly changing knowledge base that is pushed and stretched by being exposed to a competitive environment. I find it very easy to get caught up in the moment and have had to force myself to stop and put things into perspective. Everyone has a game plan and there are often unwritten rules and strategies that can be easily learned by paying attention to detail and being open to suggestions. Simple tasks like looking at a venue on Google Maps before you fish it, allows you to see a much broader scope of the water before you tackle it. Pre-fishing is not always possible, but getting to the venue and looking at the landscape often provides valuable insight into structures that might be holding fish. A quick swim at an unknown venue helps to gain insight on water temperature and clarity. That is something, which is often difficult to identify at first light. Reading up on forum posts often helps me to identify what tackle has been used at the venue before and I often find myself zooming into pictures to identify specific baits and rigs used at a particular venue. As my knowledge grows, so does my tackle collection, but carting half a garage full of plastics to a comp is a also a waste of time and space.
HEADSHAKE
Headshake – The Transition from Social to Competitive Angling
Bass Digest/May, 2014