Page 54 - Lady Bass Digital Magazine May 2023 Revised

How Many is Too Many?

By Cheryl Bowden

Many moons ago when I started fish-

ing competitively, I naturally set
goals for myself. Before I get into
the goals, let me give you some back-
ground. I grew up fishing, but not
bass fishing. I fished farm ponds for
bluegill and catfish for fun. On occa-
sion, I would go with my Dad on his
commercial fishing trips and I would
fish from the bank. I was on the bank

of Lake Texarkana (Now Lake Wright
Patman). I was throwing a very shal-
low diving blue and chrome square
bill and a bass exploded out of the
water to hit it and I of course jerk-
ed...before the bass hit it. That
set off my fascination with bass, but
nothing happened with it until I was
an adult.

I started bass fishing in the mid to late 1990’s when I ran into a guide,

who happened to be the parent of a couple of young ladies I had coached.
After that trip, I got the bug! I joined a club and later fished as a
co-angler in the WBFA. During that time I met Brian Elder at Bass Pro
Shops in Garland, Texas and an instant friendship was formed. He taught me
so much and encouraged me to set goals and develop my skills and to even-
tually move to the boater side of the Women’s Bass Tour.

My base goal seemed reasonable and doable at the time. It was to learn one
new technique and do it well each year. On one hand it was challenging and

exciting all at the same time, especially when I had success. On the other
hand, the other hand, it became overwhelming and sometimes confusing.

There was nothing wrong with setting the initial goal of expanding my
skills and techniques. The mistake was not to reevaluate and recalibrate
that goal. That is where I am today. I have struggled in recent years be-
cause I in a sense have too many choices. You might ask, how can you have
too many choices? It becomes too many choices when you don’t lock in on
who you are and the true kind of angler you are. Think about it for a min-
ute. How do you describe yourself as an angler? Are you a power angler?

54 Lady Bass Anglers Association How Many is Too Many?