Should I Join a Bass Club?
By Rob Brewer
Should I join a bass club? Is competitive fishing for me? What are the benefits of belonging to a club? Many of us have asked ourselves some or all of these questions at one time or another. What my intent here is to examine what I see as the benefits of “clubbing it”.
First a little history. I began fishing the Suffolk lakes in 1988. A friend whom I work with said, “lets go fishing”. He took me to LakeMeade. We murdered the bass. It was just one of those days, I guess. Anyway, it goes without saying that I would return to this lake many times.
My success varied with each trip. Some day’s fish were jumping in the boat, other times I was just out washing lures. I began fishing these lakes by renting a boat. Slowly I accumulated pieces of equipment. First a trolling motor, then an outboard. Eventually I bought a boat and no longer had to lug all this stuff to a rental boat.
I was a “real” bass fisherman now. I started hitting other lakes that didn’t have rentals available. Still, my success varied. But without making this into an autobiography, I studied hard at learning the ways of the bass, different techniques and so forth. I wanted to catch fish every time I went out.
Being active duty Army, I get plenty of opportunities to miss out on fishing, whether it’s deployments or getting assigned overseas for a tour. I have not been able to consistently fish the SuffolkLakes since 1988. It was on one such overseas tour that I “met” Bob Bullen (AKA Big ‘Ol Bass) via the Internet. He was talking about starting up a club of Jon boaters fishing the SuffolkLakes and asked if I’d be interested. That’s when I began asking myself the questions that opened this article.
Well, now we are at the close of our second season and my first “full” season with the club. I can honestly say without hesitation that joining the club, was the absolute, best decision I have ever made that put me on the “fast track” to more fishing knowledge. Consider this, you and your buddy are out fishing. There are only three real possibilities for the type of day you’ll have (with regards to catching fish). It will either be excellent, mediocre or the pits. It’s the latter two types of days that raise questions. What did I do wrong? Where were the fish? How could I have caught more?
Unless you know a lot of fishermen AND they happen to be there fishing when you are, most likely your questions will go unanswered. Now enter tournament fishing with a club. First of all you will meet many new anglers of various skill levels. But there is a common bond here. Everyone wants to catch more and bigger bass. Everyone I’ve met is more than happy to share what they know with one another. Remember the saying “two heads are better than one”? Well consider the knowledge base of 20 or 30.
Someone is always catching the fish. You might come in with little or nothing, but somebody’s got fish. It might be just one or two when everyone else has none or it might be a sack of 4 and 5 pounders when everyone else has a limit of keepers. That’s the beauty of tournament fishing. It puts a whole field of anglers (or teams) against each other, in the same lake, under identical conditions, for the same period of time. Come weigh-in, the field is brought together and results are tallied. This is where all those questions can actually be answered.
Going back to the “you and your buddy” fishing scenario, the two of you also suffer from “lack of exposure”. By that I mean the two of you always fish together and quite possibly fish the same structure with the same methods. Now in our tournament format, you’ll be paired with someone different more often than not. While some may be resistant to change, the beauty of this is you are exposed to someone else’s style, locations and techniques. You might be fishing with me and I’m throwing something you wouldn’t ever consider throwing in a hundred years. Turns out, it’s my confidence bait and I’m catching fish on it. You tie it on too and start catching fish. Now what other circumstance can put you in that same scenario? As I see it, none. You might try something different, but after 15 casts without a bite you take it off because you have no confidence in it.
Another benefit of fishing with different partners is seeing how everyone “reads” the water. Everyone sees a lake differently and has different opinions about where the fish are. And it doesn’t stop there. One swears by P-line another swears at P-line, one likes Mercury, another Evinrude. One guy will only throw June bug colored baits, another only green pumpkin. Funny thing is both will bring in fish. You learn things like confidence. Nothing instills that better than catching fish. But the bottom line is exposure to other anglers. That’s what will ultimately increase your knowledge base.
You might be thinking about weigh-in. Am I up to coming to weigh-in with an empty sack in front of everyone else with fish? Well, you better be. It’s part of the game and everyone’s been there at one time or another. Unless you have an ego problem, it shouldn’t phase you one bit. Other guys don’t sit there and laugh at you or anything like that. There may be some friendly joking, especially if you talked a lot of smack at blast off or managed somehow to partially submerge your truck at the ramp when launching your boat. But no one is going to think less of you for not catching any fish. Remember, it’s called fishing not catching.
Then there’s security too. Not back for weigh-in? You can bet a couple of boats will be out looking for you and you’ll get a tow. Need a hand with a flat tire? Truck won’t start and need a ride? The list goes on and on.
Should I join a club? I can’t believe your still asking that. The answer is YES! Unequivocally, hands-down, absolutely Yes! But only do so if you are serious about catching more and bigger bass. You won’t glean an ounce of knowledge by just belonging, you’ll need to show up and fish all through the seasons.
I can say without any reservation that joining Bass Jons was the single most, fish catchingest decision I have ever made. Go ahead and check out a few of the local clubs. Aside from Bass-Jons, there’s Rule 9, APAR and Bobby Kinsey’s circuit. Read their by-laws, tournament rules and membership criteria then pick which appeals most to your liking.
Fishing is Life. Rob
