IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN : ALL ANGLERS ARE WELCOME

[kevinb]

Congrats to Mark and Russ(basspro).

Anyone here going to the Club Fishoff at Sammamish this weekend?

[fishingmachine]

What club fishoff kevin? Whose putting it on?

[Bigbass Dez]

What club fishoff kevin? Whose putting it on?

FM , You have to already be a member in a bass club in order to fish this event !!

[fishingmachine]

oh gotcha
thanks for the clarification

[kzoo]

congrats to Dez and Ryan on taking third on the tournament!

[kevinb]

What club fishoff kevin? Whose putting it on?

WBA
http://www.washingtonbassclub.com/
Its this Saturday with a big raffle etc. Figured I might head up if I'm not musky fishing at Merwin

[basser90]

Way to go Mark and Dez. Not only that, but I read about both you guy's in my October magazines. Mark with the BASS write up about Sammamish and Dez, FLW with moving on in the TBF Divisionals with the 2010 state team. Right on. Hope to see you guys out at Sammamish this Saturday.

[Bigbass Dez]

Way to go Mark and Dez. Not only that, but I read about both you guy's in my October magazines. Mark with the BASS write up about Sammamish and Dez, FLW with moving on in the TBF Divisionals with the 2010 state team. Right on. Hope to see you guys out at Sammamish this Saturday.

Thanks for the kind words Basser , The FLW Mag deal was a complete surprize to me but yet very cool .. As for Marky Mark the bassin superstar , that dude is on fire this year .. Hold up here , let me tell ya what mark told me this past winter one cold day in january "Yeah Dez , im gonna pull back this year and proberly not fish too much , im just gonna take it easy " ...yeaaaa right !! lol Way to go P&C !!

Basser im not gonna make it out ot sammy this saturday but goodluck to you guys , I prefished with tyler out there not to long ago so he now knows all the sweet spots (just follow him around all day ) ...

[basser90]

Dez, I hear ya about Mark. He's was down playing things earlier this year at the Divisionals, but all summer and fall I'm seeing him kickin butt all over. I'll be following Tyler all right, I'm going to backseat with him Saturday. I'll be out doing some camera work tomorrow also. By the way did you ever get into one of those chromer Kings last month? See you around

[Bigbass Dez]

Dez, I hear ya about Mark. He's was down playing things earlier this year at the Divisionals, but all summer and fall I'm seeing him kickin butt all over. I'll be following Tyler all right, I'm going to backseat with him Saturday. I'll be out doing some camera work tomorrow also. By the way did you ever get into one of those chromer Kings last month? See you around

Nope i decided not to go last minute due to the rain , That was the day tyler and i got out on sammy ...We did managed a nice bag of 5 that were scale worthy ..He has plenty of water to fish and i bet you guys will have atleast 13-14lbs , i think i may have left a couple of my magic baits in his boat so be sure to look for them bro ..lol

Tell tyler i said "the perch hole is off limits"[flapper] lmao

[BassFanatic]

I want to give a congrats to all of you guys that fished this tourney, It's not a easy tourney to fish. Nice job Russ and Mark.

Dez I have to give you allot of respects and nice job of placing high keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


BF

[marktfd88]

Dez, I hear ya about Mark. He's was down playing things earlier this year at the Divisionals, but all summer and fall I'm seeing him kickin butt all over. I'll be following Tyler all right, I'm going to backseat with him Saturday. I'll be out doing some camera work tomorrow also. By the way did you ever get into one of those chromer Kings last month? See you around

Nope i decided not to go last minute due to the rain , That was the day tyler and i got out on sammy ...We did managed a nice bag of 5 that were scale worthy ..He has plenty of water to fish and i bet you guys will have atleast 13-14lbs , i think i may have left a couple of my magic baits in his boat so be sure to look for them bro ..lol

Tell tyler i said "the perch hole is off limits"[flapper] lmao

As some of you know, I have been really ill this year. It has dramatically effected my abilities to physically fish. However, it has not shaken my confidence, my mental abilities or desire to fish and compete.
So yes, I did physically fish alot less this year. Well under my usuall 100 days on the water. So lets look at what that meant for me and other anglers that can't fish as much as they would like.
I had a very good year this year results wise. I fished in 9 different events in the last 12 months. Of the 9 I have had three 1st place finishes, two 2nd place finishes, and one 4th place finish with that event being on the river and me getting my new personal best smallie @ 6.68 lbs. Very good results to say the least. But why was this the case. My physical health put me at a disadvantage in all but one of these events.
I believe it comes down to the 6 inches in life that is the most important 6 inches of all. My mental state. The 6 inches between my ears. How do I approach things in general and tournements specifically.
Now alot of times you will hear guys say " time on the water ". This is very true. I have spent ALOT of time on the water. But this year I could not. So I had to rely on other things to get me thru.
Example would be the Mickleson win. I found a new area that was absolutely on fire during this fall stretch. How did I find it with limited time prefishing. I used my head. From past experience I knew of an area that held really good smallies in the spring and summer. I just had to figure out where they went
in the fall. 2hrs of using my electronics and gps, and bingo the motherlode of fall fishing holes.
Another example was the BASS qualifiers on the river. Again I have had really poor results on the river in the past. Key word here "past". You have to flush out that negative thinking. I talked with friends down on the river and they all told me fish in 15 to 22ft. I started in that zone and caught alot of cookie cutter 1 to 1.5 lb fish. Not going to cut it. By looking, observing, and noticing what was going on around me, I found fish in 3ft of water or less that were real aggressive and much bigger. Resulting in me having 2 real good days on the river and qualifing 2nd overall. Again, this was much more of a mental thing than a physical abilities result.
Bottom line here for me, was, don't let the little things get in the way of success on the water. So what if you only get out 15 day a year. Who cares if you only have a 12 ft aluminum boat with a 9.9 on it. So what if you only have 2 rods / reels. Do you really need 100lbs on tackle to catch fish. What matters the most, is the 6 inches between your ears. The mental game is where fishing success really starts. But how do you change that mental game / image of yourself.
It begins with how do you define success. For me this year, success was just having the physical ability to get out on the water for one day. After that, everything else was gravy. By having that attitude, not putting pressure on myself, and really, and I mean really enjoying, the day on the water.
The one event I really wanted to do well at was the divisionals in Montana. By putting that extra pressure on myself, I failed miserable. I mentally didn't execute at all during that prefish time and first day of the tourney. I was out of it at the end of the first day and knew it. So on the 2nd day, I just fished for fun, and you know what, I had a great time, caught my fish and made a new friend in Big George from Montana.
So, by defining success differently, I was able to improve my fishing with spending alot less time on the water.

Mark

[ChrisB]

Excellent post Mark. I am glad to see you have an awesome year fishing in your limited amount of time on the water. The fish better watch out when you get 100%.

[basser90]

Good read Mark. I know after talking to you at the divisionals that your health was a big issue. I hope things are going better for you now. Congats on a good year.