Never Give Up!

That includes even when you're down to the last 5 minutes of tournament fishing time. No bassin' pro alive today is a more vocal advocate of that philosophy than--you guessed it--bass fishing's original "bad boy," Mike Iaconelli.

For a good spell now, the fishing world has known Iaconelli as the man who nearly always screams "Never give up!" right after he has caught a last-minute bass in a tournament. However, I'll bet there are a lot of anglers out there who have pumped a fist or two high into the air, and/or maybe have done their best imitation of Ike after catching a tournament-winning fish within the last 5 minutes of competition.

This much I do know: I've certainly heard my fair share of "winning fish caught in last 5 minutes" stories during my time as tournament director for the Dewey Mullins Memorial Bass Tourney Series. On many occasions, a 3-, 4- or 5-pounder caught just a few minutes before weigh-in has spelled the difference between walking away as winners or losers.

I found several other examples online, too. For instance, there was a young co-angler who shared that his FLW Tour pro had pulled up on a "last chance" spot that was close to the tournament check-in point. With that one final cast, the young co-angler hooked and landed a fish that helped him win the co-angler title by less than a half-pound. "Stay focused," was the young angler's advice to others. "I can't tell you how many times a fish has made a big difference for me in the final 5 minutes. If you're not focused, you can miss that chance."

In another case, a tournament duo had caught four fish early in the day, "thinking it was going to be a typically good day." To their chagrin, however, several hours then passed without a single fish. It wasn't until about 5 minutes before day's end that one of them finally boated a 2.83-pounder to win both the tournament and the big-fish pot.

I also read an account where, in the last 5 minutes of a tournament, Elite Series pro angler Dean Rojas pulled out a victory with a 3-3 and a 2-13. That success came after enduring a spell in which he had lost a fish and caught three more that didn't meet the 12-inch length requirement.

Yet another example was Winchester, VA, weekend angler Mike Callahan, who won an American Fishing Tour bass tournament on the Potomac River in the last few minutes. He already had caught 10 good keepers but culled a 2-pounder with a 3.5-pound bass in the final 5 minutes to give him the victory with a sack weighing 17.25 pounds.

And finally, we come to Boyd Duckett (left), who, at the end of each season, always tries to sum it up in one statement. For 2016, he said there's only one sentence, even though it's admittedly not original, that works, and that is: "Never give up."

As he pointed out, "Every angler has been through times when he wanted to give up, times when he felt so lost and defeated that he was ready to pack his tackle and head to the house. Whether he (or she)  was tempted to quit the sport entirely, quit on a season, or maybe just quit on a tournament or two, EVERY angler has been there."

This past year, like most others, found Duckett coming down to the final Elite Series event in LaCrosse, WI, needing a clutch performance to make it into the Bassmaster Classic. He remembers sitting under a bridge with Mark Davis and Kelly Jordan during a driving rain and thunderstorm, thinking he probably was in something like 80th place. To make matters worse, he didn't have a single fish in the livewell at that moment.

"We were hoping the weather would eventually clear enough to see 10 or 15 feet in front of our boats," he said. "But I didn't panic. I'd been there before. I just chose to focus on the hope that I would be able to establish a pattern before the day was done. I truly thought I had a chance to catch some fish, so I kept telling myself, 'Don't give up.'"

At the same time, however, neither Duckett, nor those other two anglers, were giving any thought to heading back out and fishing through the storm. As Boyd explained, "Four times in my life, I have been on a body of water where guys were struck by lightning and died. So I wasn't going anywhere, and neither were Mark or Kelly."

All three guys ended up having to get out of the storm's way twice that day, totaling about two and a half hours of lost fishing time. Between those retreats to safety, Duckett ran to a jetty break and caught a 3.5-pounder in swift water, so when the weather had cleared the second time, he ran back to the same spot, but nothing was happening. Convinced the same pattern would work, though, he kept moving and was able to catch enough big ones to stay in the game.

Duckett finished 15th at LaCrosse and 12th in the AOY event on Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota and still barely made the Classic field (he finished 37th out of 39 Elite Series anglers). "It was close," said Duckett, "but the obvious lesson is: Never, ever, ever give up."

I would add one more thing here: I think you have to believe in yourself and your abilities, especially when it comes to making big things happen in that last 5 minutes of any given tournament day. It's too easy to say, "OK, I give up. Maybe next time." I've often said that, and I've also heard a lot of other guys make the same comment.