Tough Anglers & Humility
Category: article
Jun 11th, 2011 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Jun 11th, 2011 at 12:00 AM
The grinding Bassmaster Elite Series event on the Arkansas River is proving to be a great test. A test of physical endurance in sweltering mid-90 degree air temperatures. A test of mental toughness. A test in personal perseverance. And for one well-liked rookie, a test of character.
Constant class act and BoatUS Angler Weigh-to-Win member, Gary Klein says things should have turned out better so far.
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Klein stood practice casting and tuning a crankbait around the docks stationed inside the morning blast-off harbor, explaining when they bite, he’s often out of perfect hook-setting position when casting around the docks the bass are suspended under. In turn, he fails to get a solid hook set.
“It’s been as tough as I expected, but if I’d have caught every thing I’ve lost, I’d be in the Top 12 of the standings, I should have 22 to 24-pounds so far.” Instead Klein has 14-pounds and sits in 35th place. “It’s not my equipment’s fault. My hooks are sharp, I’ve got the right rod, and my Smoke reels work freakin’ great, it’s just that bad casting angles are subject to getting you caught in a bad situation because you’re out of position,” concluded Klein.
Humility flows frequently through professional bass fishing, and unfortunately the nicest guy on tour, Shaw Grigsby, got caught up in its humble currents yesterday.
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After catching a very respectable 13-pound limit on the first day of competition, Grigsby sat smiling from beneath his mustache in 5th place. But then came humility floating down the Arkansas. “Yesterday, I stayed in the pool we’re launching in, just like I did the first day. It wasn’t a lock and dam issue for me. It’s just that the first day I caught 13-pounds here, and it’s pretty apparent those keepers don’t replenish around here, because yesterday I caught 15 fish and not a single one of them was a legal keeper,” said Grigsby, forced to take a zero for the day.
While green fish were the cause of Grigsby’s humility, for popular rookie Brandon Palaniuk, humility was self-imposed. “The first day, I gambled and it didn’t work. Then yesterday when I went to my best back-up spot it ended up being the same exact stuff Denny Brauer was fishing. It was a little tense. I never dreamed that the stuff he was fishing was among the best stuff I found in practice too. We talked and I told him I was leaving it totally to him today. It’s the right thing to do,” explained Palaniuk, who for a 23-year old has consistently shown his character and fishing skills to be far beyond his years.