Boyd Duckett – A Frustrating First Day at Guntersville

Today was a frustrating day of Elite Series competition. Usually when you catch 14 pounds and 10 ounces, you don’t find yourself in 80^th place. But today was a strange day.

A lot of guys caught them good. The ones that had success were sight fishing for bedders. And everybody that caught big bags caught them down the lake. I was up.

I probably had a limit by 10 o’clock, but I just couldn’t get the big fish. I found one six-pounder swimming, and I spent an hour and a half trying to catch her. I finally got her hooked, and she jumped off.

It was that kind of day.

The problem I’m facing right now is that I don’t have a strong plan, partly because I didn’t find fish in practice. That means I had to go looking for them today. And I found plenty of fish, I just didn’t find the kind that will help me compete.

But tomorrow’s another day, and it might work out. I figure I’ll need at least 18 pounds tomorrow to have a chance to move up and make the cut. I need to turn this 80^th into a 50^th.

Boyd Duckett Onstage at Guntersville – Photo by Dan O’Sullivan – AdvancedAngler

I wouldn’t say that I’m confident I’m going to do well, but I do think it could turn around. That’s partly because  tomorrow will have a completely different fell. We’ve got severe thunderstorms coming in and that’s most likely going to change things. If a lot of lightning comes, it will knock the fish off the beds.

So maybe the guys that were sight fishing today won’t be able to do that tomorrow. A guy that caught 22 today might catch 15 tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I’ve got to figure a way to get that 18 pounds that I’m going to need. But I’m not sure yet how I’m going to pull that off.

My plan is to just go fishing in the morning, to try to find them. All I need is one or two good ones, and that’s do-able.

But if I fish for several hours and it just isn’t happening, I’ll make a change.