Failure or Success

By Don Wallingford

Once again it is that time of year where we reflect on the previous year and try to untangle our failures from our successes. We all have parts of the last year that we would love to happen year after year and parts that we hope never happen again. Perhaps it is our record in the tournament trails that we entered or it is the patterns that just never really turned on until the last couple hours of fishing time. How we look at things determines if a season was a success or a failure.  For the most part we all put a monetary value on success and failure. This can really cloud our overall depiction of what truly has happened. In the next few paragraphs I will try and give both sides of this equation.

The year 2007 was both a good year and a bad year for me. I entered my first two tournaments as a boater in the two ABA tournaments that I fished in 2007. I made the cut for attending the BASS Weekend Series National Championship on the co-angler side and was not able to attend. Over the course of the year I hooked and lost several fish that meant the difference between cashing a check and donating. I drew good boaters and bad boaters. I found lures that worked extremely well and some that were a waste of my hard earned money. These are just a few of the things that highlight my 2007 season so now let's break them down.

We will start with the ABA tournaments I entered as a boater. 2007 was the year I found out that I could go out and locate quality fish in a tournament environment. I was able to pattern these fish all the way down to the exact lure and what color it had to be. My problem was being able to net quality fish along side the boat before they did that magical flip and sent the bait straight back at me. It was this very weekend that the foot pedal for my trolling motor went bad and I had to quit early in the second tournament due to strong winds and not being able to hold my position. Was this a success for the 2007 season? YOU BET IT WAS! I discovered that I was good enough as a boater to enter as a boater. It also pointed out a weak spot with my boat and with my netting abilities. Did I cash a check in either of these tournaments? No, but I walked away with something much more valuable, CONFIDENCE.

I feel that my performance in the BASS Weekend Series was a huge success. Not everyone is able to make the cut and be invited to the National Championship. When they announced my name at the district championship as a qualifier for the National Championship on the co-angler side I saw this as a chance to break out and really come into my own as a tournament angler. I still had not cashed a check for the season. In the end I was not able to attend the Nationals because a death in the family. Was this a failure or a success? I chose to look at it as a huge success. What was the value here? CONFIDENCE!

 This was a year of getting quality fish to the boat but not in the boat. Sometimes when we know that we have a very good fish on our line we try to horse them too much instead of playing them and taking our time. How many of us have had a nice fish on our line and lost it? Every time this happens we tell ourselves that next time we will slow down, or I didn't have it hooked well when in fact we may have ripped the bait right out of the mouth of the fish due to forcing the situation. Having this happen throughout the year has caused me to pay more attention and take a little more time when fighting a fish. The proof is in the pudding as they say. In October while practicing on my home lake I hooked the biggest bass I have ever seen in this lake. I took my time and even netted it myself and have a fantastic picture and a great memory to show for it. That fish posted on top of this bio weighed 9lbs 10ozs and was 24 inches long. How can you turn losing fish into a success story? I just did.