Pros prepare for tournaments differently. Some are die-hard map-studiers. Others pump themselves up with music. Still others rely on visualization or other techniques.
Alabama's Gerald Swindle has a somewhat different approach: he makes a list.
Talk Show Idea
Swindle said he got the idea from listening to a radio talk show. "A financial consultant was talking about how to correct your financial status by making lists," he says. "I decided to try to use that in fishing."
That was about 1 1/2 years ago. Since then Swindle has made pre-tournament and pre-season lists, and it has helped his fishing.
Pre-Season and Pre-Tournament
"I sit down at the beginning of the year and make a list of my goals for that year," he says. "It helps me stay better-focused, and kind of keeps my head up when I'm down. It keeps me looking in the right direction.
"I also do it when I go to a lake. I write down what I intend to do, how I'd like to finish-up. The goal is always to win," Swindle adds, "but all lakes don't fit all fishermen's styles. So I'll set a realistic goal, like a Top 20 finish."
He notes that writing down goals is one thing, but you have to read and re-read them to keep them in mind.
Two Examples
Swindle used his 9th-place finish at the BASSMASTER MegaBucks tournament last season for one example of how list-making has worked for him.
"Last year, before the season started, I wrote down that I wanted to make the Top 10 at MegaBucks, knowing that Douglas (TN) wasn't my type of fishing water. I wrote it down and lived on it all year. I was waiting to get to that tournament. I didn't practice differently, didn't pre-fish it, but I made the Top 10."
Again, writing it down helped him focus, he says. "A lot of times you go to a tournament and don't know what to expect," he explains. "But if you go into it and really want to make the Top 10, you constantly thrive on finding a better way to catch fish because you want to make the Top 10.
"I know it sounds weird because you want to make the Top 10 in every tournament. But a lot of times you're not thinking about it that way.
"Here's another example," Swindle says. "Last year (2001) I wrote that I wanted to make a Top 20 check sight-fishing at Beaver Lake (FLW Tour). I went there, sight-fished and ended up finishing 2nd."
List-Making Hints
"I seem to be do better when I write goals down and focus on them," he says, and it obviously works for him. Re: how BassFans can benefit from his technique, Swindle made the following suggestions.
"Say you're in a bass club that has seven events this year. Take a look back at last year. If you fished the same seven tournaments and only got one check, having the goal of winning all seven tournaments isn't realistic.
"Try something like, 'I'd like to increase my catch and get a Top 10 finish in these three tournaments.' Or if you didn't get in the money at all last year, you can write that you want to get in the money in at least 40 percent of the tournaments.
"Write these goals down and make yourself do them," Swindle says.
