2013 Jersey from E3 Sport Apparel

I wanted to give a quick shout out and thank you to Mike and everyone over at E3 Sports Apparel out in Guntersville, AL for a superior product and customer service. Over the past few years I have used a company, that will remain nameless, and they do a lot of jerseys, A LOT. Every jersey, I got from them I had the same complaints, the overall design was ok and the quality was good but the fit was terrible. After a few calls to multiple companies specializing in sub dye jerseys I settled on giving E-3 a shot, and I am glad I did. The owner actually spent some time with me on the phone discussing sizing and measuring a shirt I already owned that fit me so they could match it as close as possible. In addition to sizing we discussed logo placement and colors and they pretty much gave me a blank canvas to work with at no additional fees. I pick my exact size, had colors adjusted and matched to certain logos and even with all the work had a proof within 24 hours and the jersey in hand in less than a week. Needless to say when I received the jersey is was perfect from the color to sizing to the quality. I will never use anyone else and recommend then for your jersey. 

90% Mental and 50% Physical

You know, with all this talk from the Elite guys and their visits to Grand Lake for the Classic practice has got me thinkin’. How mental is fishing and how can I not get thrown into the common pitfalls of losing your head during a tournament or even before you hit the water. A wise MLB catcher once said “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.” Fishing can be the same way, sometimes…

Am I a practice guy, well kind of… Great answer, right? My practice takes different shapes based on how far out the event is or what body of water. For example, I had fished a couple events on tidal waters where I do my best to practice during the same tidal conditions I will face on tournament day. Typically, every two weeks you will see the same tidal height so, say I pre-fish on day 1 when tournament day is on day 14. Will I still hit that body of water the week before? Yes, but I will have a different plan in my head on what I am trying to accomplish. Maybe it’s looking for similar structure I might have missed or coming up with a Plan X, which is something I never like to go to but it is one of those off the wall gambles that can pay off in an emergency. Sometimes on the water you just get that feeling you need a change and it needs to be something big, and 180 degrees from what you’re currently doing.  As I said it’s not something I really condone but it’s there if I choose to use it.

My one warning on practice and it is something I am very careful of is letting past experiences play into the present one. Many of you know what I mean that fish local tournaments on waters you occasional fish but not week in and week out. I noticed Mike Iaconelli was discussing staying away from preconceived notions of a place that can affect not only your practice but tournament day. Even if you bombed the last time you fished Lake ____, you must keep an open mind and remember to keep a confidence bait close by and hell, somebody has to win, it might as well be you. 

While everyone was throwing an A-Rig I pulled out a drop shot with a Z-Man finesse WormZ. A possible check to Plan X...?