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| photo courtesy of fishkats.com |
One of my goals this fishing season was to become active on the Central Texas kayak tournament fishing scene. After some research of what was available in my area, I selected the dates that I thought were reasonable to participate in with my work schedule. All the dates that I selected were on Saturdays, the typical day that I go fishing anyways.
The first thing that I realized about tournament fishing is that it takes an extreme amount of commitment. The money is one such commitment; not only do you have to pay the required entrance fee, but there may be a membership fee just to join the circuit. Include transportation fees, new lures and other tackle and your looking at hundreds of dollars spent on one Saturday tournament. Now the good news is that if you are a really good fisherman, you can recoup some of those costs. With two tournaments under my belt, I have had no luck thus far. Hopefully I can change that in the future.
Another thing to consider is time. While the tournaments I have decided to participate in are one day events, I have also made the decision to attempt to pre-fish each lake at least once before the event. Careful scheduling must be done to ensure that you are leaving enough blank space on your calendar for pre-fishing days while not allowing yourself to go into a tournament "cold turkey" on a lake you have never seen before. Easier said than done.
I am really looking forward to the upcoming events I have planned. While I haven't won any money or prizes yet, I have met a lot of great people and seen interesting rigging ideas and fishing tactics that make me a better kayak angler. If you haven't participated in a kayak fishing tournament, check one out, at the least you will meet some awesome like minded people to share your addiction with.
