"I contain multitudes . . ."

These words, by American poet Walt Whitman, might well be applied to bass fishing. One of my favorite things about the sport is its sheer variety and never-ending list of challenges and approaches to those challenges. Byron Velvick, who finished a very respectable 11th at Smith Mountain Lake on the latest stop of the Elite Series, wrote of the terrible weather for the Northern Open at Chesapeake Bay in Maryland April 16-18. Throw into the mix an ever-changing pattern of tidal shifts and cold weather and it's no wonder that '91Classic Champion Ken Cook (who won that Classic on that same body of water) skunked not one but two days of the tournament. This reminds that even to a seasoned professional angler there are times when the variable get the better of the fisherman.
If I had to name my biggest pet peeve that I feel is outsidemy realm of control (other than my inexperience), it'd have to be access to bodies of water. I suppose a lot can be done to change that, such as lobbying or even simply asking private landowners for access to waters bordering their land. But who hasn't felt the sting of envy or anger of a child on Christmas who didn't get what he asked for at the knowledge that no matter how great the fishing might be on Lake X he won't get a chance to fish it because there's no public access. I guess the remedy, if there is one--other than simply finding a different place to fish--is patience. That and persistence.