I proved something to myself last year. While practicing for the BFL Regional at Lake Guntersville, I was able to locate the correct quality and quantity of fish to really have a shot at performing well in the event. Some poor execution on my side prevented me from doing better then what my finish displayed what I found.

What that event did for me was give me a huge boost of confidence. I proved to myself that I could find the right fish against a very competitive crowd. I was able to spend three days practicing for the event, the most time I have ever spent practicing for any one event.

In the years past, my approach to preparing for events was to fish as many events in a year in hopes to stay on the fish. I would spend only one day practicing for a particular event. With that thought process, I have only cashed one check in the past two years. Some would say that I have been on a great donation program for the winners. I plan to change that this year.

This year I will be fishing fewer events while spending more time in preparing for those events. I plan to fish the entire weekend before each one of my events as well as the Friday before the start of the event. I also plan to fish the Rayovac series at Santee Cooper as a co-angler as it is the weekend before the BFL. I pray that I draw out with a few guys that are on some fish and may be able to show me some new ways to get around the infamous Santee Cooper.

I also plan to be a little more consistent with my blogs and post-tournament reports. I will also try to put together a quick GoPro video recap from each event on things I figured out.

Check back on my blog here as well as my website to see how the new approach works for me this year. I hope that I will be a little more on the positive side of the tournament winnings this year.