As Gomer Pyle Used To Say: "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!"

A couple weeks ago, I hit the water one day to try out some new plastics I just had purchased online. I was intent on giving them a fair trial, so had left all but my worm rods at home.

The day started abysmally slow...had nary a sniff after more than two hours on the water and decided it was past time to change locations. It was on my second stop in the new location that I finally found success.

I tossed one of the new-to-me soft-plastic baits up next to the base of a cypress tree, where I couldn't help chuckling to myself, knowing that cast would have been one time Wayne wouldn't have been chiding me in a friendly way about my well-established bad aim. Couldn't languish in that thought, however, because, as soon as the plastic hit the water, I felt a fish pick it up, then start moving right with the bait. After a short ways, he stopped, turned and started moving left, gathering more speed as he went. Once I felt certain he had the whole thing in his mouth, I swung and immediately felt a bigger fish than I had had hold of in a fair spell.

I gotta admit here that I was both a bit mesmerized and anxious, too, about maybe losing the fish in the next few seconds, as he was hellbent on making multiple leaps clear of the water. Fortunately, though, he stayed buttoned, and I soon was able to slide my net under him. Hand-held scales put his weight at 4-7, which admittedly was enough to have my adrenaline pumping in overdrive.

Moments later, as I was releasing that fish back into the area where I had found it, I suddenly was struck with the thought a fish that size probably means little, if anything, to a pro angler. As luck would have it, however, I was reading an account online earlier this morning when I was surprised to learn that's not necessarily the case...not all the time, at least.

This article described a Beaver Lake tournament that veteran bass pro Randy Blaukat (left) had fished some years ago, in which he caught a 5-pound hawg during the afternoon of day two.

Said Randy, "The fish bit on light line and immediately wrapped me up in a cedar tree. All I could do was keep tension on the line as I buzzed to it with my trolling motor. When I got there, she was hung up about 3 feet underwater on a limb. Fortunately, I was able to get her in the net while she still was underwater.

"The moment she came in the boat, the endorphins that all tournament anglers live for kicked in. As I took her out of the net, my heart was pounding, my awareness was at peak levels, and I knew that fish locked me into the top 20. It's the best feeling in the world.

"When you reach that point of success during a tournament day, there is an emotional, mental and spiritual shift in your consciousness. Some anglers are fortunate to get to experience it more than others. It's powerful...almost addictive. It's the same feeling you get when you win an event, only the circumstances are different.

"It's this thrill of a victory or momentary success that drives every tournament angler. Fishing is an art form--no different than singing, painting or acting. You seek perfection in your art form, whatever it may be, and when you experience it to whatever level, it makes you feel alive.

"This is a state I wish we could all live in all the time, but for whatever reason, it is elusive.

"After a tournament like I had at Beaver Lake, coming home with a great check and good points creates a thrill that all who have experienced it can relate to. Food tastes better, your moods are better, grass is greener, and life is good."

As Randy went on to explain, though, you also always have to be prepared for the flip side of success like he had at Beaver Lake. That reality came to him during a subsequent FLW Tour event on the Mississippi River.

He had a very strong practice, locating an area in Pool 9 that he had to himself. It was full of good fish. He ran down there on day one and caught a limit weighing 12 pounds , 11 ounces in 30 minutes. Super heavy barge traffic was on the river, and he was in the first flight, so after fishing only two hours, he elected to lock back into Pool 8 to play it safe and not get locked out, thinking 12-11 would be a good weight.

As it turned out, though, he locked back through way too early and never could upgrade. He found himself mired in 70th place after the first day...far removed from the top 30 he thought he would be in.

"On day two," said Randy, "I arrived at the lock in the morning to find a barge in it. After waiting almost an hour, we locked through, and I ran to my best water, only to find it the color of chocolate milk.

"I scrambled and finally, about 1:30, found an area with cleaner water and began to catch them. I had four good fish and one barely 14-incher that I knew I had to get rid of to have any chance of getting a top-50 check. I was totally confident I could cull up several times in the next hour and possibly even make the top 20.

"About that time, I saw a double-stacked barge heading upriver. I calculated its arrival time at the lock and figured if I didn't leave right then, and the barge made its approach before I got there, I would be locked out."

Randy elected to play it safe and locked up ahead of the barge. Once in the lock, he heard the lockmaster say the barge had decided to anchor and would not be locking through. Had he known, he could have stayed and fished another two hours in his key area where the fish were biting.

"My heart sank," he said, "as I knew I could have caught several more good ones in two hours. Because of this, I never upgraded and missed making the top 50 by just 5 ounces. This resulted in my painful reality of driving home with zero money, instead of $10,000."

The lesson Randy has for everyone after more than 30 years of tournaments and experiencing much success and failure is two-fold:

     1. You can't sweep your pain of failure under the rug. Feel it...get mad...get upset...vent to your friends and family. After a couple days, it becomes easy to let it go and gain wisdom from the experience. When you have decompressed, reflect and learn from your experiences and those of the other anglers in the event. If you do this, you can turn a negative into a positive, which leads to more positives.

     2. On the other hand, when you have success, take time and file away how it feels. Remember it well. Remembering the feeling of success breeds more success.

"Just as success or victory will make you feel alive, failure or defeat will make you feel alive in a different way," said Randy. "As humans, we have a need to feel, whether the feelings are good or bad. Finally, stay positive. It's a choice you have, and there is always something you can gain as a positive out of each event. Savor the good moments, and learn from the bad ones. Stay in the moment. These are the keys to surviving what I see as the most difficult sport in the world."