It’s hard to believe but the final event of the FLW Tour season takes place this week as we hit the Potomac River, just outside of Washington, D.C., for the seventh stop of the year.
We try to stay as consistent as possible all season long in hopes of qualifying for the season-ending championship, the Forrest Wood Cup, which will be held in August in South Carolina.
After a great start to the season, with good finishes in the first two events, I’ve now gone four events with poor finishes and find myself a couple of spots out of the cut for qualifying for this year’s Cup.
The good news is, if I can get the ship turned around and have a good tournament this week, I still can salvage the season and qualify, so that’s about all I can ask for.
Tournament fishing sure is a roller-coaster ride. After going nine events in a row where I cashed a cheque, I now have gone four in a row without doing so. There is no simple answer to have a good tournament; I just need to work hard and hopefully my luck will change.
Some anglers believe in luck more than others. But then, why in these tournaments do a few anglers consistently do much better than everybody else? I believe there is luck in fishing, for sure, but we all need to put ourselves in the position for luck to happen.
We do this by choosing good locations where we are putting our lures in front of the fish we are chasing and by using the best presentation to trigger them to strike.
After a couple of days of practice on the Potomac, the fishing has been okay. We had a tournament here a couple of years ago and I did not catch a five-fish limit any day in practice.
I did manage my limit both days in the tournament but ended up just outside of the money.
The fishing seems to be a little better this time. I’ve been catching a decent number of fish and a few good ones each day, but it’s tough because a lot of boats are congregated in the areas where the fish seem to be.
If I had the whole river to myself, I think I could catch a beauty limit of bass, but I may not get to fish everything I want to in the tournament. I’m going to have to make some good decisions on where I choose to fish when the tournament starts today (June 15).
Regardless of what happens, I am having fun with my fishing buddies this week and I’m going to work hard to try and have a good tournament.
I’ve made some great friends fishing these FLW tournaments the past several years, and this could be the last time I get to see them this year after spending a lot of time with them over the last five months.
Follow the results for the tournament this week at flwfishing.com (the action runs through Sunday).
Then look for my tournament recap in next week’s column.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
