Contrary to most people's opinions, fishing is a sport that can brutalize the body. Everything from highly rough boat rides to crazy weather conditions to poor eating habits can significantly negatively impact your overall performance. Unlike other sports where their elite athletes can bench press 500 pounds and have just 3% body fat, the upper echelon of Bass fishing doesn’t have many anglers that fit that profile. That doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t perform better if they were more physically fit.
I feel so much better when I am in shape. My level of alertness is much higher, and my body feels great. When I skip working out and eat junk food for a couple of months, my gut grows faster than a Florida strain largemouth, and my energy levels are horrible. I feel like a machine ready to catch bass when I am in shape.
The offseason is the perfect time to start getting your body ready to do battle with bass. Start by looking at your diet and figuring out what needs to go and stay. Look at portion size, meal frequency, and your horrible habits.
Start by getting rid of things that are the easiest to do without. It was pop (or soda, depending on what part of the world you are in), tortilla chips, and chocolate snack cakes. Making these minor changes can have positive effects right off the bat. I had a bad habit of drinking a Mountain Dew every day about mid-morning. It is loaded with sugar and is just not good for you. I replaced that with a drink called Emerge from Max Muscle Sports Nutrition. It still gives me the pick-me-up I need, but it also acts as a fat burner, appetite suppressant, etc. And because the cost per serving is less than a bottle of pop, it was a no-brainer to start fueling my body with something beneficial to me.
Another thing that I changed was the frequency of when I eat. Before, I would eat breakfast and not eat again until the afternoon. I would be starving by supper time. Now I eat more frequently, and I also have a couple of Max Muscle’s Triple Whey Protein shakes throughout the day. This will lessen the need for your body to store fat because it isn’t sure when you will feed it again.
Nutrition Coach Scott Herkes recommends that anglers eat more regularly. “Eat breakfast, a mid-morning snack, lunch, a mid-afternoon snack, dinner, and then something right at bedtime (like cottage cheese). Eat protein and carbs with each snack. Stop the sugary sweets and soda.” Herkes also encourages you to make sure the following foods are part of your everyday diet. “Lean meats, fish, fruits and vegetables, and nuts are all good sources of nutrition. Also, try to reduce simple sugars.”
Sometimes anglers get caught up in the assumption that certain things are good for us when they aren’t. Just because a label or an advertisement implies that something is healthy doesn’t mean they are. One such item that you regularly see while guys wait to take off in the morning before tournaments is fruit juice. I always grabbed a bottle of juice at the gas station on the way to the ramp but not anymore.
“Fruit juice has some good vitamin and phytonutrient content but is almost 100% sugar. It would be better to eat the raw fruit than drink it in juice form. The raw fruit has fiber and will break down slower and tend not to spike your blood sugar so fast,” Herkes explains.
Not eating healthy can have additional negative ramifications that may result in poor performance or worse, as detailed by Doctor JJ Patton, who also happens to be the Iowa State and BASS Nation Northern Division Champion and a Pro Staff member Dobyn’s rods and Brovarney baits.
Dr. Patton says, “Not having an adequate intake of food or water has the same effect on your body that not charging your batteries or filling your gas/oil tanks has on your boat. If you are dehydrated or have not taken in enough calories, mental acuity is reduced, and physically your body will fatigue, leading to physical and mental mistakes. This could greatly affect performance and lead to heartbreak and lost opportunities in the form of more missed bites and poor execution. If severe, you may become dizzy, light-headed, and unstable in the boat or onshore, which will be performance-robbing and maybe even dangerous.”
Eating healthy is only one piece of the puzzle. Exercising is another piece. Adding some form of daily exercise and stretching program to your lifestyle is extremely valuable for improving your ability to fish hard all day long. I utilize a few different programs that I select from, based on how much time I have in my schedule to work out that day. One is a short 10-minute program that is very intense, another is a 40-70 minute whole body beat down, and the others vary significantly in time and intensity. I get bored very quickly, so doing the same workout every day is impossible.
The most important thing is doing something physical to help your cardiovascular system and overall physical well-being. Don’t get carried away and do more than your body is ready for. If you have to, work your way into a more intense program to help reduce the risk of injury.
FLW Tour Pro and one of the all-around hottest fishing guides in Texas, Tom Redington, shared his insight on fitness.
“It takes a different set of muscles to fish than most regular physical activities. I guide a lot of guys who are in great shape - runners, athletes, etc. Almost all of them start stretching out their back and complain about lower back pain by about 2 PM if we're making a full day trip,” Redington explained. “I think that is partly to do with not standing up straight for many fishing methods. Especially when retrieving moving baits all day, like spinners or cranks with the rod pointed down, you bend forward. I rarely notice my back except when I've been off the water for a week or more after a vacation or holiday. When I start fishing daily, my back will kill me the afternoons of days 2 and 3, but the ole body adjusts to it by day 4. Unless you developed some bent back workout routine, I think only time on the water gets you in shape for regular fishing, just like basketball and football players can't truly get in-game shape without playing games.”
Tom continues to explain, “For tourney fishing, I've gotten serious about working out the past 15 months, doing sessions with a personal trainer, and working out regularly on my own between. While you don't need to bench press 350 lbs to cast a 1 lb rod and reel or set the hook on a 2 lb fish, building up your core muscles helps prevent injuries and fatigue. Most guys concentrate on big arms and chests to look good in the mirror, but abs, back, and leg muscles help the fisherman. We have to balance in choppy water on one foot while running the trolling motor, making crazy angle sidearm and backhand casts to get into the honey hole or bending down to pick up a different rod. Four-day tourneys with several days of practice are a grind, especially in the heat. Having a strong core plus good cardio conditioning pays off after a few days. You have the extra energy to keep pushing late in the day, plus you keep a better mental outlook because you feel fresher and stronger. Pros in fishing have also caught on to proper nutrition for fishing. With the competition at the pro level being stiffer than ever, guys are looking for every possible edge, and fitness and nutrition is an aspect that most are pursuing.”
As I said before, you don’t have to be ripped like a UFC fighter to be a bass angler, but the better your physical health, the better your body will perform on and off of the water. Even if you don’t have enough time in your busy schedule to go to the gym for two hours per night, there are plenty of workouts available online that you can perform while at home. I can’t stress enough that it is essential to keep active and not overload your body with junk food.
Treat your future habits as a lifestyle change and not just a fad diet or a temporary adjustment. It is so much easier to maintain a healthy body than getting a healthy body after abusing yours for so many years.
