The mind games of tournament fishing

This is Bass Week in Fort Frances. Bass anglers have been plying the waters of Rainy Lake for the past week. You can see rooster tails flying high in the sky as those sleek fibreglass bass boat skim across the water. The boats, shone into mirror finishes, seem to be loaded with the latest technology systems.
Stable and comfortable, they are easy to fish from.
The compartments filled with rods, reels and tackle and baits, have enough stock to fill a small fishing store. There is always something new on the market that every fisherman will need.
One of the most practical products on the market is Troy Lindner’s “Fit 4 Fishing”.
I hadn’t given the idea of being a fit fisherman much credence until I fished my first Bass Championship tournament. In fact, I must admit that I didn’t think that tournament fishing was all that strenuous.
You choose your rods and reels, and attach the appropriate baits and go fishing. You speed across the lake and pull up to a shoreline, or rock out cropping and begin casting or jigging. The sun shines down on you. A small breeze keeps the heat of the day down and everything is perfect.
On the first day of tournament fishing, your adrenalin is pumping out and energizing your body. You are on a high By the third day, although the same chemical still is sweeping through your body, it is doing so in smaller doses.
Being physically ready is seldom on one’s mind when fishing. It should be relaxing, calming, and mind cleansing.
I really was not prepared for strong winds rocking the boat or fighting the wind and waves with the trolling motor, while keeping my balance so that I wasn’t thrown over board. Just that dance on the front or back of the boat was tiring. And the pounding of the boat travelling up and down the lake seemed to jar every bone in my body.
Tournament fishing is also a mind game. “Why aren’t the fish biting?” “Where did they move to? I used a motor oil colored grub yesterday… why is that colour not working today? The wind changed from a light northwest breeze to a strong south east breeze. How are the fishing setting themselves up? Your mind is continually trying to process all the variables.
And after being on the water for almost nine hours, I was physically and mentally exhausted only looking to crawl into bed so that I could repeat the process the next day.
My wrists were sore. My arms were sore. My back and shoulders ached. Even regularly applying sunscreen through the course of the day, I ended up with raccoon eyes.
I had forgotten how tired I felt at the end of the day until this past week. I have been out on the water practicing with Phil Bangert and a crew from Missouri. I found myself experiencing the same exhaustion that I remember from the two years of tournament fishing.
I thought that a couple of days on the water would not be tiring. I was wrong.
I have known about Troy’s program for anglers for half a decade and really never looked at it. I finally did so, and some of his solutions to relax muscles on the water or just preparing to be on the water, I will use in the future.
The anglers on the water this week will all experience the potential aches, pains and tiredness that I felt. Those who have been training will seem as fresh at the end of the day when they walk across the stage with their baskets of fish as they were at the beginning of the day. Those who do not fish tournaments regularly or only this one, will be exhausted.
Tournament fishing is geared for a younger generation. This year there are 40 anglers who will fish the Fort Frances Tournament for the first time. It’s great to see the new young blood that can bounce back quickly
–Jim Cumming,
Publisher