FLW NG Delta

[jiggin_pimpin]

Hey Guys,

I just got done doing the FLW NG Delta and it was my first experience on a major circuit. I ate a bunch of humble pie as I got smoked on the Co side.

I had an awesome pro take me out to prefish and I had a great Day 1 pre fish and a poor Day 2 pre fish. It seems like I carried the 2nd day momentum into the competition.

I've had some time to reflect on the good, the bad and the learned and will definitely fish in the future. In talking to another buddy, we kind of peiced together an observation that I'd like some feedback on.

All my pro's made it into the money and two made it pretty high into the money. My observation was that there might be a direct correlation in how well a Co does and how well the Pro's do. Meaning the higher the weight the Pro's bring in, the lower the weight a Co brings in and vice versa. I know with everything there is an exception to the rule as the the Pro's and Co's do equally poor or equally well.

I'm not using that as a reason to why I stunk it up, but rather what I need to do differently in order to succeed the next time out. I'm already planning on getting back out to the back of the boat and learning as much as I can from the Pro's.

Lastly, I don't want to start anything negative or have this turn into a discussion about bad pro's and bad co's but rather just a simple discussion for people who've witnessed this and may either share a similar or opposite opinion on the matter.

As I stated earlier, I had an awesome time and it brought to my attention just how much more I have to learn about competitive fishing and just how far of a road I must hoe till I can jump to the Pro side of things. But rest assured, I will be out there again for a chance at redemption.

Thanks in advance for reading and commenting.

[Robert F]

I feel you have to be around fish to catch fish. That said some frontseaters can vacuum them up. I think there is a happy median that has to be met to do well on the back.

[Dewayne]

I have had tournaments where I made the cut and was able to help all my co-anglers cash good checks or also make the cut. Last week I think only one who cashed and he fished with me on the day I did terrible. He was fishing his own program and it worked better than mine that day. I have had days where I had the fish I needed early and spent the entire day trying to get my co-angler a good limit and it did not work out. There is no simple rhyme or reason. You want to draw a boater who is at least good at finding fish, most at the NG level are good at finding them and catching them too.

One thing I frequently see is that if I am doing well, some co-anglers will try to copy what I am doing and fish behind me. That is usually a mistake as they are showing the fish what I have just showed them. They get drawn away from their confidence technique or at times drawn to something they love to do. This frequently causes co-anglers to do poorly when behind someone who is whacking them good. The co-angler who did well with me this tournament made sure he was always showing them a different look than what I was showing them. Actually, all three of mine this tournament were great guys and fished well. A couple of them just struggled with the tough bite.

My tip would be to learn finesse and always try to get 5 fish rather than size. Once you have your 5 then search for cull fish. Catching your limit will give you confident and allow you to make better decisions as the day progresses.

[kopper_bass]

Jiggin,
I am not sure about your theory??? I think your thinking is backwards.

In general, there are only a handful of Co's that consistently backseat the front guy and can catch fish irr-regardless what he's doing up there. This is the exception to the rules.

But on the average, most guys catch fish from the backdeck because their boater is "on fish". As Robert said, you gotta be around fish to be able to catch fish.

Now, looking at the stats can be mis-leading, but its pretty easy to see that if the non-boater caught fish, so did the boater. its just a matter of who got the big bite. But its very, very, very, rare to see a NB come to the scales with fish, if the boater got none or just a few. it just doesnt happen that often.

So, because of that, i gotta say that you always want to get the draw of the guy who is "on-Fish" as this will surely give you your best chances of catching fish and cashing a check. Even if its the top guy in the hunt, he's still gonna put you in a position to catch fish.

How you take advantage of this situation is for you to figure out.

Think about it ..........!!!

Kopper_Bass