The word execution is defined in one way as “an act of completing something planned”.

This comes into play during my latest tournament, mainly since my lack of execution was my biggest down fall.

PRE-FISH
We didn’t exactly pre-fish for this event I simply watched the weather channel and looked at the lake. With the algae bloom as bad as it was, I didn’t feel like I needed to submit my boat to the punishment of possible overheating a day before the tournament.

I went back in my notes looked at what baits and areas had worked during theses conditions, then put together a strategy. One of the only was that I had never fished with an algae bloom this bad. The other dilemma was that some of the shallow patterns I had used in the past were a little tougher with this amount of algae. Baits like buzz baits and spooks were near impossible to use. Jigs became my weapon of choice around deeper docks. Frogs, swimbaits, and senkos rounded out the field but jigs were the go to.

TOURNAMENT DAY
The tournament had an interesting twist to it, with DFG only allowing a six hour tournament something had to be done to make it a little more fun. The elite 40 elimination event was unique to say the least. I have never fished anything like it, but truly enjoyed the format. It was a split event two six hour tournaments in one day with everyone fishing the first round and the top forty making the cut for the second. Another twist that came from DFG was you could only have three fish in the first tournament and two for the top forty.

Now my goal was set, make the cut with enough weight to compete for the win. We started nice with a keeper in the three pound range then a short, a three pounder then a thirteen incher. So we had around seven pounds, I had in my head that nine would make the cut twelve gets me close for the win. Here is where execution comes into play, my partner sticks a nice fish in the three range; jumps once out comes the hook. Twenty minutes later I stick one close to four, shakes his head and gone strike two. The third strike was how it looks when a hitter swings at a ball in the dirt, you just look foolish.

Are time was up back to weigh-in 7.14 was our effort for the day it took 8.09 to make the cut.

I don’t really understand how we lost those fish; we made good hook sets, kept pressure but they still came unbuttoned. Fishing is the name of the game not catching, right?

In the end I did what I felt was right, fished baits that can produce big fish, didn’t make a lot of runs so I maximized my fishing time and stuck to my plan. That’s all I can ask of myself, but execute should be a mantra for anyone fishing for money!