Fine Tuning

The sport of bass fishing takes up about 7 months of the year for me.  From April 1st to the end of October, fishing for bass is on my brain constantly.  Whether it is thinking about different lakes, what the weather might be doing to the fish, or the water levels of lakes and rivers, bass fishing is on my brain.  No matter how long I think or study up on these topics and dozens more, nothing beats getting out there on the water and fine tuning things.
I took the opportunity between family obligations and bass tournaments to do just that this past Friday.  The word "practice" gets used quite often in the realm of bass fishing and tournaments.  Practice can mean a couple things, first, the actual idea of going out to the lake or river and finding fish and trying to figure out where they are living and feeding for a particular day.  Secondly, practice can mean actually using a specific technique and "fine tuning" your equipment and your skills to use that technique properly.  It is just like taking batting practice or going to the driving range to work that slice out of your driver.
This past fishing trip had the bass holding off-shore along a weedline.  Normally bass can't resist a crankbait in this situation, but on this particular day they wouldn't touch one.  The fish were not very aggressive and wanted slower baits, this gave me some practice time on the drop-shot rig.  This is a rig that takes a lot of practice to get the "hang" of it.  In my experience with this rig, the bites are soft, and most of the time are not actually felt, but seen.  Something that takes a lot of focus and concentration.  I was glad that the bass were in a mood that allowed me to work on this technique, as a tournament angler, you just never know what technique you will need to bring in those keepers!