Luck or Instinct? It's all about the decisions you make

Yesterday I fished the third BFL Gator Division event of the year on the Harris Chain in central Florida.  Going into the event I was in 7th place in the points and Harris was the one event on the schedule I worried about most.  Something about this place, but it's always pretty tough on me. I have now only had a limit once in four tournament days on the chain.  I ended up in 15th and moved up to 2nd in the points, right where I want to be; within distance of making it back-to-back AOY titles coming into Toho then on my home lake Okeechobee.

The day started off pretty slow but at around 9:00, I caught two small keepers on a Get Five Lures Dinero in the Blackout color. I fished it with a small 1/8 oz Eco Pro Tungsten weight.  These two fish really motivated me.  Once I knew I had some points in the event, I could focus on getting some more fish.  At around 10, my partner mentioned that we were getting close to some submerged eel grass and that he didn't know exactly where it was.  I said "I'm going to start throwing a crankbait until I find the grass."  On my first cast with the crankbait and I had a 5lber in the boat.  Wow, what timing.  I threw that crank like crazy and never got another bite.  I ended up with my fourth fish with about 15 minutes to go.  One more fish and I would have easily made the top 10, but oh well, a check and great points was fine with me.  It was a pretty funny bag I weighed in with a 5 lb fish and three tiny keepers.  The weigh master even said "Awww, how cute!  You caught mama and her three little babies"  It was really funny, but I'll take it any time on Harris.

The reason I titled this post luck or instinct is because of how this BFL season has gone for me.  

• At the first event on Okeechobee I switched to a trick worm and caught a 5lb fish on my first cast with it.  Timing, luck or just instinct?  I don't know.
• At the second event, I didn't catch my fish until the last cast of the day.  Luck or persistence?
• And then yesterday, catching a fish that was the majority of my weight on my first cast with a crankbait.  Was that luck or instinct?

Fishing is an interesting sport and it all boils down to timing, luck and the decisions you make.