Evan Barnes: Round 2 South Texas
Round 2: South Texas
The second leg of the FLW Tour is here and we are locked and loaded for Lake Travis!
Lake Guntersville ended up being one of the worst finishes I've ever had in my career with FLW. Those type tournaments are going to happen but you always have to learn from them to keep improving. The biggest thing I learned in my first tour event is how to keep my composure mentally when things don't work out. I found a few different schools of fish in practice that I felt pretty good about. Weather conditions changed and so did the fish! I caught just over 6lbs in two days on one of the best lakes in the country. When I got back home I joked with my friends about finishing "dead last" but one of them put a unique spin on it for me. He told me to say I finished 1/2 a pound behind Scott Martin!
I guess when you put it like that it doesn't sound nearly as bad. It was a tough event for some really great fisherman and props to those who caught em!
The event on Travis is setting up to be about the same for me. They say it's tough but I still feel like I'm missing something. I can catch as many non keepers as a guy would ever want to catch doing just about anything you want to do. I have finally settled in to one pattern and once again I am planning on giving it all my attention in this event. That being said, I could very easily tank once again.
After listening to a video, which I'm sure many of you have seen, of Gerald Swindle discussing the new "Damiki Rig" for Lake Cherokee, I've decided to take his advice and fish my strengths. If I'm going to lose, I'm going to lose fishing my strength. That may have been my downfall at Guntersville. I consider fishing a trap around grass to be one of my strengths after fishing a lot of college events on Rayburn and Toledo. After two days of trying with no results I bailed on the trap bite at Guntersville and opted for throwing a big swimbait both days. The potential there was extremely high but obviously it didn't work out the way I had hoped. In hindsight, maybe I should have stuck to my guns and kept the trap in my hands.
So that being said, that's what I plan to do in this event. I am not catching nearly as many numbers as id like to but I am catching some decent fish here and there. I guess we will see what happens!
My buddy AJ Mays and I are on our way to Joel L Dretchen Primary School in Magnolia, TX to talk to the kids about chasing their dreams! We talked on the way about how awesome it would have been to have a professional fisherman come to our school and how more than likely we would have ended up leaving with them too! Even though my boat is wrapped (Haha), I don't really consider myself a "Professional" yet as I am still chasing the dream and trying to "'make it" in this sport. One thing I do know, if it's in God's plans for me to continue on this path, He will make a way!
God Bless you guys! Let's get em this week!
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"10:45 at night...10 hours into the drive to La Crosse...It's uphill, the whole way..."
