I lost “my bike” with my Garmin Vivofit!

(I lost 31lbs in 8-weeks)

Alright…so the hook is in the title and I’ll preface with this: I’m a very satisfied Garmin Vivofit user and I still own my beloved Trek Stache mountain bike.

Anyone who’s ridden Midwest singletrack knows that shaving a bit of weight off your mountain bike is pretty noticeable in the woods because all we do is pedal the entire ride. No ski lifts…no long uphill with a downhill reward to enjoy. Just pedal, pedal, pedal the whole ride…so we try to build the strongest bike possible with the lightest parts we can afford. My own completely custom bike is on the burlier side of hardtails so it weighs 31 pounds, but I’m a bigger rider and don’t shy away from jumping or little cliff-drops on our local singletrack so a heavier, strong bike is a necessity. I often wondered what it would be like to ride a sub-20 pound rocket again…but I know it would implode beneath me on our rough terrain.

·         Spoiler: This is actually a weight-loss story about how I was able to lose 31 pounds in 8-weeks utilizing my Garmin Vivofit 2 watch.

My wife won a Garmin Vivofit 2 but she already owned and used a smartwatch, so she gave it to me. At the time, I wasn’t tracking any steps or calories and basically eating whatever, whenever. I started wearing it just as a watch for my work at a local hospital. After downloading the Garmin Connect app to my Android device, I spent some time touring the options in the app and the functions of the watch and decided to start tracking steps.

231.4 pounds

On July 8th, I visited my physician about a sinus infection and she weighed me at 231.4 pounds. My jaw hit the floor.

 In the mid 2000’s (in my 20’s), I put down the guitar and started mountain biking again. I lost about 30 pounds from Thanksgiving to Christmas and started to race the State Games and only weighed 185. Since then, I knew that my weight had been steadily creeping back up since I quit racing. I kept promising myself that I’d pick up the pace and put down the fork…but it “seemed” just too difficult. When I hit 195, I was a little panic-stricken…but soon dismissed it after I had the best French Silk pie of my life. Similar panic arose at 205 and 215, but when I found myself at 220…I decided to join a Biggest Loser group at work. I failed. It lasted 2-3 days and I was back into the rut.

I ultimately gave up on all of it and chalked it up to me creeping into my mid-40’s. I essentially gave up and said to myself…“I feel good, I still ride my mountain bike, I’m longboarding now…I’ll just be happy with where I’m at.” I know I was able to drop from 215 to 185 back in my 20’s…but now I’m in my 40’s and maybe my metabolism is just too slow.

My spreadsheet over several weeks

After this last trip to the doctor and weighing over 231 pounds, I'd finally had enough. I started a spreadsheet utilizing Google Sheets tracking my entire caloric intake and started tracking all of my caloric burn with the Vivofit 2. I knew by doing a bit of research that 3,500 calories is equal to roughly 1 pound of fat. It wasn’t long before I was able to easily track my caloric burn with the Garmin Vivofit and Garmin Connect app. At this point it seemed like a no-brainer. I just did the math. “I ‘could’ just burn 500 calories per day more than I eat and I’ll lose a pound per week.”

My total loss graph and projections graph

I’m not the type of person who can do anything on a basic level. I have to try to be that obsessive overachiever in whatever endeavor find myself in. I remembered back when I raced that losing 2-3lbs per week is actually pretty doable, so I shot for 700-1500 calorie burn surplus per day and was astonished at how quickly I started losing weight. My Vivofit 2 doesn’t have any mapping ability or GPS tracking, so I utilized another app on my phone for mountain bike and skateboard calorie tracking and added it into my spreadsheet. There are definitely more impressive options out there by Garmin that will do all of this for you and much, much more.

 

My calorie tracking spreadsheet over 6 days

In the first 2-weeks, I lost 9.3lbs. I was elated to say the least, but I wasn’t feeling fantastic knowing I was overdoing it in classic “Me” form…so I backed off a bit.

I was longboarding (skateboard) with my daughter and started pushing up a mild incline when I felt a snap in my right calf. I just knew I’d been shot in the leg…but there was no blood. I had torn my medial gastrocnemius muscle in my calf. This happened to me in 2015 on the other leg while sprinting up a steep hill…so I knew exactly what had happened.

“How am I going to maintain momentum when I can’t skate or ride my bike?!” I muttered to myself. This was the first time in my life that I relied solely on the math of calorie counting to lose weight and began eating healthy. I lost 4lbs that week alone. I decided to up my protein intake considerably to help my muscle heal faster. I also started intentionally seeking out more fruits and veggies and I have to be honest…I wasn’t all that hungry and the weight kept melting off.

By week-5, I was back on the bike…but only spinning smooth circles through neighborhoods. I still couldn’t ride the longboard because pushing directly affected my healing medial calf muscle. I still relied heavily on my Garmin to track calories burned and continued to seek out healthy food options.

Somewhere around this same time, my wife started noticing how much thinner I appeared. I had visibly lost fat, not muscle. I was eating plenty of protein and now doing 75x pushups and 60x 25# dumbell curls per day, so I was actually gaining muscle while still losing weight at a fantastic rate.

My wife decided to start doing the same thing given how easy it appeared. I built her a spreadsheet for her phone and she tracked her caloric intake and burn similarly. Within 4 weeks, she had lost 15 pounds which was an even greater victory given the fact that she’s diabetic and has to treat her low glucose levels with straight-up carbohydrates. For this, I’m so much more proud of her than I am myself…her success to date far outshines my own.

After only 8-weeks of changing my lifestyle, I found myself 31lbs lighter which incidentally…is the same weight as my mountain bike. I finally hopped back on the trails and was astonished at how easy it was to climb our punchy, technical climbs now over thirty pounds lighter. It was almost like I sold my gnarly hardtail and bought a new weightless alien mountain machine…or E-Bike.

Me minus 31 pounds

 My wife and I are now both eating healthier foods, reading labels, and experiencing victory-over-adversity every week as we reach our health goals together. I also look forward every day to enjoying her company during some pretty long daily walks together.

As I am typing this, I’m down about 34# now and remember that I reached a vivid realization halfway through my first 8-weeks that really opened my eyes. I no longer had to ask myself “If I can get down to a certain weight”.  I now just set a goal of “When I reach this weight on this date”. I also didn’t pay much attention to the BMI charts online during the process because they always seem to be a bit heavy-handed. Given the fact that I am a mountain bike enthusiast…I have a lot of leg muscle which weighs more than fat and my BMI at 6’2” will be a little higher than the norm because of it.

My first goal of 200 pounds was quickly reached mid-week on week 8 about 1-week ahead of schedule. My next goal is 195. I know that I’ll attain that goal by the end of week 10. (likely sooner) My ultimate goal as a 6’2” mountain biker is to hover between 190-200lbs. When (not “if”) I drop to 190lbs, I’ll evaluate how difficult it was to attain, how I feel at 190, and how difficult it is to continue maintain. If I’m still relatively comfortable, then I’ll continue to 180’s. That will be the end of my journey given that I just want to be healthy, feel great, and enjoy my passions of mountain biking and longboarding.

I have taken a wealth of information from this experience so far:

• ·        I’m the type of person that needs a scoreboard with plenty of numbers on it to crunch and obsess over. If I hadn’t weighed myself every single day, if I hadn’t kept score on my spreadsheet, if I hadn’t obsessively tracked my caloric burn and intake…this would have just been another failed attempt.

• ·         There were a few times during this journey when I gained a little from day to day. Other times my weight plateaued. I fought to keep positive because my overall weight trend steadily dropped and continues to do so as I see results and experience victory over adversity almost daily.

• ·         I feel so much better. My clothes fit me again. Some of my newer clothes are falling off of me. I can ride my bike faster, longer, and without the fatigue. I will save money on bike parts that I won’t be breaking under my lighter weight. My bike is quieter now that I don’t have so much weight causing all of those annoying little ticky/creaky noises.

·         My self-confidence is high in how I look, feel, and perceive my ability to maintain goals.

Overall, I’m just a happier and more satisfied person now.

Late summer, tough bite blues.

I have a love/hate relationship with the latter part of summer with regard to bass fishing. I've considered getting uber-technical and trying out one of those castable sonars, but cost has kept me appearing the Luddite... though I don't fear the tech, I spend my coin elsewhere.

My bank fishing solution is always downsizing my presentation to finesse or even ultralight. There are pros and cons to it, but the biggest pro is that you still catch fish. One of the notable cons would be the deflated size of the catch.

That said, I've caught plenty of decent fish on 4-6 lbs line and one of my favorite perks is the challenge of landing them on light tackle.

As you can plainly see, my bleeding shad chrome/blue Tiny Trap has seen plenty of battle, and throwing it on a 9'6"ML rod and 4lbs monofilament makes for a memorable tussle with just about any fish.

Catch & Release (videos)

The catch and release versus catch and keep controversy is volatile subject that can end in a thermonuclear cloud over your friendship if you're not careful. So what's forthright, honorable, and just? I'm not even going to pretend to know the complexities involved in maintaining a renewable conservation area, I just try to do my part by following the rules and keeping my back yard clean. But what if my freezer is empty...is it okay to keep a few in a sport riddled with passionate members that would sooner throw YOU into the lake than watch you keep a future five-pounder?

Last year, I was fishing a small lake that is used to water the fields in a sports complex. This is the same place that once gave me a 6 pound oinker that I would never in my life expect to catch in this place because I heard that the lake had nearly run dry in a recent drought. (never trust the grapevine) A confident young guy approached me and asked if I had been doing any good though I suspect he saw the little 19-incher I just threw back and wondered what I was using.

He started going off with choice expletives on how he saw an angler keeping a bass and that they should be offed in some torturous gangster manner. "If you're going to eat fish, eat a catfish. Bass are for sport only!" he boastfully exclaimed in a semi-hostile manner. He talked about how this hole once teemed with fat-daddies, but they're all gone now because the entire Midwest takes bass from it. (a little delusional)

I like the taste of bass. I like it more than most Midwestern freshwater fish, so do we need to throw every single green meanie back? Do we need to practice some form of catch and release? I think the answer to the controversy is "yes & no".

I had recently read an article defending the bass-eater that made sense to me and lay some of my own questions to rest with common sense. 

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing/catch_and_release_bass.html


Here's a release video I made up on my phone. It's fun, check it out. (I did keep the big 20# common carp)

https://youtu.be/SCmz4IFWbd8

Heat Index...

I'm gazing out the door from inside my comfortable 65 degree workplace...eyes glazed over, the roar of air handlers working overtime in the background. Heat radiating from the pavement causing the horizon to look as if it's underwater. Everyone's talking about the heat index today. What does 110 degrees really feel like? 3:30 hits hard like a school bell and the middle aged students-of-life flock to their rolling steel coffins for the arduous commute home. What's on their minds as they roll along the scorching black pathway toward their neighborhoods?

I recall the words of one Adrian Cronauer:

"Were you born on the sun?! It's so hot, I saw little guys in their orange robes burst into flames. It's that hot!"

I had plans to go fishing this evening but visions of me working the bank in my Muck Boots tossing a squarebill around structure as the cool breeze blows through my T-shirt cranking in BossHawg are quickly turning to phantasmagoric hallucinations and apprehension. I would normally head out around 6:30 or 7:00 and stay until sundown or boredom, whichever comes first.

"Tonight is just not going to happen", I think to myself "and I'm going to miss out on another day of fishing." I had already promised to watch a movie with my daughter at some point, but that was planned for later.

My passion for bass fishing has steadily eclipsed my once equally fervent passion for mountain biking. The only drawback is that my eating habits haven't changed and though I don't spend my days on the water sitting still on a boat, I've been gradually suffering the physical consequences of the lack of exercise. The thought of me ending up short of breath and riddled with coronary disease like so many of my peers has motivated me to get back on the bike for a reasonable amount of time each day. Exercise is supposed to be tough and unpleasant, right? So with the pit of Hades breathing upon me, I hopped on my bike for a quick 10 miles. A good sweat breaks out within the first half mile and the wind tries its best to dry me out, but as the sweat keeps pouring out...I begin to feel cool and comfortable. By the end of my ride, I'm close to exhaustion but refreshed nonetheless. I put my gear away, hit the shower, and rehydrate.

My mind gravitates back to fishing. That's where my attention rests in my spare time these days. I see it as a duty to myself to get the most out of it while there's no snow on the ground, because once Jack Frost takes over...the Midwest bass lay dormant and trout become the main focus.

Thinking back to how miserable I was the last time I fished with the ambient temperatures in the high 90's, I recall the bite being really fun between 8:00-9:15 and I barely even thought about the hot coals I had walked on to reach that point of the evening. Instead of spending hours on the bank, I'm just going to hit the evening window before the sun goes down. I already had a great ride, spent some time with the family, and cooled down.

I headed toward one of my go-to lakes but as I passed one of the lakes that I rarely fish...I looked over and saw how the sun was casting shadows across the corner near some brush peeking through the surface of the rippling water. Something was telling me to forget "safe" and give it a try. I jammed on my brakes, pulled a U-turn, and pulled in to the gravel parking area. I had only packed a handful of lures due to my limited window. The fishing report says soft plastics in heavy cover are really hot right now, but that just tells me what everyone else is using and what the fish are growing accustomed to seeing all day long. In the effort of being different, I broke out a new yellow and white Bomber Square-A. I would usually go for my Baby Bass or Fire Tiger slam-dunk patterns, but I haven't used this one yet so I thought I'd give it a try...and I'm happy I did.

My first fish (and the best one for the evening) came within 4-5 casts. The little squarebill banged against the rocks and sticks violently and was snatched within 5 feet from the bank. I set the hook and secured my catch...a nice 20" largemouth. I had considered working the dam, but given the fact that I have done the opposite of everything I would normally do to this point...I moved away from the dam and worked the coves. My next little prize was ambitious to say the least. I had worked the little Bomber all the way to the edge of the bank and pulled it out of the water. When the lure was about 2" above the surface, a little sunfish startled me and jumped up out of the water and hung his lips on the front treble hook. I literally laughed out loud!

I was only there another 25 minutes or so, but I landed a couple more largemouth and came home refreshed instead of totally obliterated by the heat and still had time to catch that movie with my kiddo.

A nice midweek break in my own grueling pattern to best enjoy my passion.

I couldn't have said it better myself...

Just posting up a link about the heart and soul of bank fishing by some of the best in the business!


http://www.scout.com/outdoors/wired2fish/story/1467365-the-heart-of-a-bank-fisherman

Midwest Finesse...Tiny Trap's: The Ned Rig of Crankbaits

In the summertime when the weather is hot (Mungo Jerry) I can bass fish all day and sometimes come up completely empty. So frustrating to see some nice heavy cover and know deep down in your heart that there's got to be a nice fish in there hiding from the bright sun...but you throw the book at him and come up empty. It's like seeing a twenty dollar bill laying on the street and as you reach down to pick it up, a gust of wind blows it down the drain. I've come home a few times silently screaming..."Why am I doing this?!!" The summer of 2014 was really tough for me. My wife and kids had weekly Wednesday activities going on, so it had morphed from my mountain bike "ride night" into an almost guaranteed weekly evening of bass fishing. As the summer grew hotter, the bites grew thinner until finally I was considering myself fortunate to have caught just one or two fish in a 2-3 hour evening out.

I hopelessly chased the barometer, the water clarity, wind conditions, cloud cover and sun position fervently like an obsessed OCD crazed lunatic making spreadsheets and calendars of when the best possible bite would occur...but all of my studying and planning was as effective as a 3-legged dog trying to bury a bone on a frozen lake. I mean...that previous spring, I was catching 2-3 pound slimeballs on a regular basis...why must they be so tight-lipped over the summer?!

I read a story  centered around getting back to the roots of fishing and just having fun. These guys were talking about their childhood memories, glass rods, Zebco 202's and how stoked they were to just catch fish. Not big fish, not necessarily any specific species...but just have fun playing and reeling in fish. I took a step back and assessed my situation and realized that the very few bass that I was actually able to allure during the "tough bite" season, were the runts of the litter. They weren't even fun on a medium-heavy rod and a full-sized baitcaster. I thought to myself...wouldn't it be nice if I could throw tiny baits on light tackle so I can "bass fish" all summer long when the juicy toads seem to lay dormant, but still have a total blast like when I was a kid and catch all these little dinks, bluegill, sunfish, and crappie. At this point, I had never heard of the Ned Rig or Midwest Finesse fishing.

Excerpt from the In-Fisherman:

"In addition to [Chuck] Woods, Ray Fincke, Drew Reese, Dwight Keefer, Harold Ensley, Guido Hibdon, Ted Green, Virgil Ward and Bill Ward played a role in making Kansas City the epicenter of bass fishing in the 1960s and '70s, and finesse tackle and tactics are what these men liked to make and employ."

(More: http://www.in-fisherman.com/midwest-finesse/a-short-history-of-midwest-finesse-fishing-for-black-bass-1955-2013/#ixzz4BlRdkW3P)

Unbeknownst to me, I was inventing what had already been out there since the 1960's as a viable, bonafide tough-bite technique. I experimented with finesse worms bit in half (yup, I bite 'em!) with a #2 EWG hook. The action wasn't as fluid as I had hoped, but it did produce...and as a shorline angler, I could appreciate that it was weedless. I moved on to other scaled down baits like the 1/16oz Beetlespin, Strike King Bitsy Bug jigs, Wobblehead Lures Jr., the Tiny 'Trap by Bill Lewis Lures, and many others. All of the sudden, I was catching fish again and having a great time doing it. My favorites have really become the 1/16oz Beetlespin, Wobblehead Jr., 3" weightless Yamasenko, XTS Mini Hopper, Bomber Baby Square-A, and Rat-L-Trap's Tiny 'Trap. After finally studying the Ned Rig / Turd Rig / etc...I have employed the technique with some success. The drawback being the open hook can snag on all sorts of lovely things when throwing them from the bank. When shoreline fishing is all you have, the smaller 1/32oz jighead is usually a must which doesn't work well in the wind. I had communicated with Ned a few times regarding technique and setup and he explained that the general idea of the bait is to stay away from heavy cover. It's more of an open water bait and becomes more productive based on your retrieve technique.

Light Tackle Options

The lighter the bait, the more difficult it is to throw on baitcasting gear without becoming suicidal. You won't efficiently throw these baby lures on full size "man gear". Throwing a 1/32oz beetlespin on 15# line with your favorite casting reel is almost a direct invitation to a game of Duckett Golf but there are more options now than ever for nearly any mini-angler's budget seeking finesse tackle. No matter the hobby or passion, there's guaranteed to be a huge following complete with forums, chat groups, and articles to get lost in and rob you of your valuable time. Light tackle fishing is no different but beware...the BFS underworld or "Bait Finesse System" is a virtual vortex aimed directly at your wallet and has the capabilities of replacing time on the water with long hours of overtime at work just to afford the highly specialized gear. Since this is "Blue Collar Bankfishing", I'll stress that there are more budget friendly options that will get the job done almost as well as the alluring $1500 BFS rod and reel at 1/10 the cost.

Obviously, spinning gear is going to shine in most finesse situations unless you are like me...a died in the wool lover of finely tuned levelwind reels. If you love spinning gear, an inexpensive Light to Medium setup will only set you back a few bucks. I'm a total gearhead and bigtime baitcaster junkie. I like the spool control, accuracy, palming comfort...pretty much everything about them. I tried for a year to utilize a more budget-minded baitcaster like the Wally Marshall or CrappieMaxx models, but professional overrun became the norm. A used Daiwa Pixy is not terribly expensive and will chuck a Tiny 'Trap like it's a 1/2oz Rat-L-Trap. The key here is a super light, low capacity spool that will turn when you look at it cross-eyed and a magnetic braking system that is easy to fine-tune.

I've become a fan of the BPS MicroLITE series of rods because of their affordability and performance. Best bang-for-your-buck light tackle rods out there in my opinion. I've got a 9'6" ML with a Pfleuger Trion spooled with 4# line, and a 6' ML casting rod with a Daiwa PX68R that I found used from Japan. If you keep your eyes and ears open and watch the sales, you can BFS with the best of them for $150 or less.

More often than not, average sized fish will be your bread and butter with this style. Midwest Finesse (see "Ned Rig") style of fishing is kind of an open challenge to catch 100 fish of any size in an outing. The target isn't trophy bass but quantity. There is however the occasional fat-daddy on the end of the line. I've found that the Tiny 'Trap has given me larger fish on light line than other finesse baits that I frequently visit.

A report from my personal bests blog:

Last year, I snagged a 4-foot grass carp on 12lbs mono that I eventually lost. I fought that monster for an eternity and got his tail onto the bank...TOUCHING THE GRASS!! Then I reached down to try to lip him and he flopped his tail twice, broke my line and went on his merry way. Frustration set in and I considered calling it quits for the weekend, but I'm so very happy that I kept at it because the following morning I was completely blessed with a trophy-sized fish in the form of a 16" Crappie caught on light tackle and a Tiny Trap in the exact same place where I snagged the carp. The following week, I did the same thing in the same place and was rewarded with another beautiful crappie measuring 15". There's something magic about that little fishing hole for sure.

The same weekend yielded a new personal record for me on light tackle (at the time) by way of a 4lbs largemouth bass on 4lbs line. I was throwing a chrome / blue back bleeding Tiny 'Trap on 4lbs mono and an ultralight glass rod sporting a vintage 1980's Ryobi ultralight V-Mag 3 reel. This is not the most ideal casting combo for light baits due to the rudimentary design of the reel, but it will handle 1/8oz 'Traps just fine. Tiny Trap's are the virtual Ned Rig of crankbaits and seem to really pay out in that role. I recall this little future 5-pounder fighting me in and out of the weeds a couple times. I was beginning to wonder which of us would fail, but my line held firm and I kept a cool noodle and was rewarded with new line-class self respect.

Days later, I landed a beautiful 16" White Bass on a Pink / Black Tiny Trap in the same area as the 4lbs largemouth. This was my third Missouri Angler Award for 2015 and a real confidence booster in the capabilities of pink lures. I have since literally annihilated white bass on pink Tiny 'Traps.

I've read about anglers just "staying on the 'Trap" all day and they get fish. This often rings true with the Tiny 'Trap. I've caught everything from green sunfish to crappie to bluegill to bass on it and it just plain works. On the off day that the bite slows down or there are too many snags, there are plenty of other finesse presentations to try. The Tiny Trap has proven to catch fish for me when they're not hungry but also puts the big meat on the line, thus it is often going to be the first on my line. It's one of my light tackle bank fishing confidence baits and I can count on it to deliver smiles for miles.

My favorites:

Duckett Golf...how's your conduct?

I recall one day last year hammering away at some lily pads with a plastic worm. The topwater frog bite was nonexistent, so I would cast out to the end of the pads and walk the worm back toward me, shaking the pads and then dropping into and out of open holes on the journey back to my rod tip. It wasn't a exceedingly productive day with few fish, but still quite amusing nonetheless. I likened it to target practice and enjoyed honing my skills while the cool breeze brought the sunny day to level 11 on the fun scale. There was a good size fella across the cove from me wielding a stark white Duckett micro rod like a light saber and having about as much fun as a pregnant mom on a roller coaster. He appeared to be targeting some Midwest species of Flying Fish given the placement of his lures on the low-hanging branches in front of him. The guy finally decided that Duckett Golf was more his passion than fishing because he started practicing his chip shot with that poor little skinny Duckett micro. He laid into the surrounding waist-high native grass and weeds like a John Deere bush hog until his arms were tired all the while shouting obscenities and cursing the day fish were invented. It didn't take a perceptive person to know...it just wasn't his day. I'll admit that it also took my focus off of my trick worm target practice and made the cool breeze seem more like hot air.

This is supposed to be fun, not frustrating. Some days just aren't your day, be it fishing, driving, or surfing your favorite TV stations. It's not worth throwing a toddler sized tantrum and destroying nice equipment, all the while bringing other people down in the process. I believe how we conduct ourselves out on the water during adverse conditions provides a clear window into who we really are as people.

I was approached by a young kid one day that was throwing the wrong bait at the wrong time. He asked me what I was using, so I pulled my 2.5" coffee tube jig with jig spinner off the end of my line and gave it to him. "I make these myself and have a ton of them", I said as I handed it over. I never saw if it helped his cause, but seeing his smile when I gave him my favorite bait at the time really brought some camaraderie to the water that morning. 

I stopped & talked to a couple of kids that were having a rough day about a month ago. The one kid had just lost his new Excalibur squarebill and had no budget to buy new baits. After sharing this with me, I said "I just found an Excalibur squarebill a couple hours ago at a nearby lake, why don't you take it?" I really had to be persistent because nobody takes anything for free anymore. It's like they're afraid of nice people or something, but I finally talked him in to it and he was happy because it was the same size and color as the one he lost.

These are the positive experiences these kids need to be a part of, not watching uncle dad snap his rod in half like he struck out at the world series. I don't know if there's an actual bank fishing code of conduct documented, but I'm pretty sure Duckett Golf isn't in it.

Sometimes it's tough to be cool, I get it. You accidentally over-spooled your reel by 20 yards and now your trying to toss a weightless finesse worm with it into the wind. First a backlash, followed by a spontaneous accuracy issue because now you've got the brakes set so high that the bait is going where your spool commands it instead of your rod tip. The results often ending in fishing for woodpeckers.

Take a breath and a moment to get it figured out. Take a moment to pull some line off that spool & lose the amateur overrun. Move over to an area with fewer branches to throw under. Keep cool and enjoy the day. That's the most important part...enjoy the day, man! We all started this because it's fun to catch fish. If we routinely caught fish on every other cast, believe it or not...it wouldn't be as fun. This is why we celebrate so hard over a 5 pound largie. It's just difficult enough that consistent results reward the good student. Your catch rate goes up with time and effort, so don't get frustrated when the sun doesn't shine on you tomorrow. The clouds won't last forever.