COLUMN : NEWELL ’ S NOTES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a freelance writer and photographer , Rob Newell has been reporting on fishing tournaments for more than 20 years , finding the stories between fish and angler to be a stretched line of triumph , heartache , torture and inspiration . bass fishing ’ s blurred lines : the evolution of practicing during competition
M any years ago , in the old-school derby era , anglers had two types of days : practice days and tournament days . Practice days were for exploring and fishing new water ; tournament days were for competing – as in , go to the juice and stay put . The rule was , during the tournament , stick to familiar waters at all times .
Competition days – when entry fees slipped away as the clock ticked – were not the days to wander off to fish new , never-before-seen waters . Back then , just the thought of doing so seemed crazy . The idea was always to be fishing somewhere fish had been caught before , or at least where a bite occurred .
These days , bass pros have no problem fishing new water during competition days . I ’ m talking about places they ’ ve never seen in their lives , in completely unfamiliar parts of a lake . I would venture to say it ’ s much more the norm than the exception , at just about every tournament level . That old line between practice and competition has become increasingly blurred .
20 MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | DECEMBER-JANUARY 2024