James Smiley Fishing

Well today was a mile-marker day in my small fishing career; a day I wish didn’t happen but I know the events of today were for the best. 

I had to make a very hard call with a company I’ve been working with the past few months; today I decided to withdraw from working with them.  I think it’s appropriate to keep their name off this blog so I’ll do that.

Today I learned that no matter how great something looks on the outside, some things are just not meant to be.  A company that I once felt would one day be a big sponsor of mine is now seemingly distant; mostly due to differences of opinion and vision.

My heart has been set on attempting to be a touring bass professional on the Bassmaster Elite Series.  I’m long from that feat but at the same time I feel much closer to that reality than most who desire the same.  Raising money each year, representing sponsors (their brands, products, people, image, etc.), and fishing my heart out is what I’ve been fortunate enough to do the last four seasons (as well as work, be a father and husband, etc.).  I felt this new company would throttle the direction I was heading but it’s clear that that’s not the case.

I spoke with a tenured veteran in our sport this evening, a current Elite Series pro.  He gave me some good advice on how to handle this situation and stressed that I should keep looking upward and onward. 

“There are a million people and reasons why you could be side tracked” he said, “but the few that make it learn to successfully navigate the politics of this business and most importantly never lose focus on ‘on the water activities’ (practice, preparation, etc.).  Sponsors are a means to get you there and you are their means to ‘get them there as well’ (exposure).  If you ever get side tracked from that, no matter who the company, it’s probably not going to benefit either party in the long run. ”  Some pretty good advice I'd say...

I’m blessed to have friends for advice like that in tough times. 

To my friends at the small company I will not be doing official business with anymore, I sincerely wish them ALL the best and anything I can do to support them in the future I surely will do.

On a brighter note, I got some cool things brewing with Pure Fishing events coming up, Bass Pro Shops (videos and other stuff), and Toyota right now so I am excited about that.  I also got 8 tournaments comp’d for the 2010/2011 team tournament season (in SoCal) by another company so that’s a major blessing and I have a few big sponsorships in the wings for 2011 that might just come through if all the details work out so we’ll have to wait patiently and see what transpires in the next few months.  Oh yeah...and I pick up on Triton TR21 HP tomorrow from my friend's house so I'm blessed to still have a great boat.

Hopefully this helps someone out there when you go through tough times in life, family, business, or fishing.  Thanks for coming along on this journey.

I’m getting stuff ready for this tournament coming up on the Red River in Louisiana in late Oct.  I can’t believe I’m only 10 guys away from making the Bassmasters Classic.  Probably shouldn’t think about that though right….

I just got in a little bit of tackle I think I’ll need… I have almost everything I’ll need already.  The nice thing is the Red fishes real simple.  Jigs, Craws, Spinnerbaits, Buzzbatis, Square-bill cranks…8 out of 10 tournaments there are won on these baits so it’s more about finding the best locations vs. finding the best baits.  (man…it’s the opposite here in Socal, but that’s a story for another day).

Here's a punch skirt I made for the Red if I find clearer water...(from the Do-It Molds skirt system)

I’ve scheduled myself to pre-fish Sept 25^th – Oct 2^nd and then again Oct 9^th – Oct 15^th.  I’m working out the logistics (practice boat, travel, place to stay, travel partner maybe, etc.) so we’ll see how it all turns out.

I’m practicing w/o any local help which is what I almost always do.  I’m not a big info guy…I know exactly what I want to do there in late Oct so I’m not really interested how other guys will be catching fish.

We’ll see how it turns out.  I hear it’s a real fun experience.  I talked yesterday w/ the guy who represented CA last year at this event (my buddy Nick Woods) and he gave me some good insight as to how the event is run so that was helpful.

I’m excited.  Thanks for reading.