We all hate failure – as we very well should, in my opinion. However, I also believe that people tend to mistake learning for failure the vast majority of the time.

I have fallen into the trap of thinking that I have been experiencing failure this year because of my disappointing finishes, but in reality, I have been learning. Now that I'm at the halfway point of my season I think it's time to reflect on what's happened so far, although, honestly, I don’t really like to even think about it.

First Semester

At the risk of sounding overconfident, at the beginning of the year I honestly believed that I should have no problem making enough money throughout the year to make a profit from tournament-fishing. In fact, at the risk of sounding even more overconfident, I envisioned myself cashing a check in every event I fished. I guess that’s the kind of confidence that you need in this sport.

Well, that was how I felt before I went to Okeechobee to fish a BFL and the EverStart to begin the season.

Even though I ended up cashing checks in each of those events, I left the Sunshine State with a strong feeling of disappointment. The feeling had less to do with the overall finishes (7th and 38th) than wity my execution.

In the BFL I lost two fish in the 6-pound range, and in the EverStart I lost three brutes that combined would have weighed close to 24 pounds. Those bites represented the biggest fish of each competition day – and I lost them.



Now that three EverStarts and two PAA events are over, that feeling of disappointment still remains because my execution has left an empty space on my mantel and in my wallet.

“Cry me a river” comes to mind.

Control

I have never been a big fan of talking too much about a lost fish or two. Everyone has lost-fish issues in tournament fishing, and frankly no one really cares. But man, this season has been brutal!

The only event at which I didn’t lose anything that would have helped was Lake Guntersville, while every other event this year I have lost both my daily kicker fish as well as other keepers every day of every event. It has been about as stressful and disheartening as it can get.

Now, with that being said, I wont go as far as guessing where I would've ended up in each event because that would be a moot argument and a waste of time. I will, however, say that I have learned how to cope with such losses, which I feel is even more valuable than the fish I lost, in a long-term sense.

It is valuable because I am going to be dealing with lost opportunities throughout my career, and learning how to manage my own thoughts and emotions after such ordeals is going to be very important. And to be honest, up until now, I have managed them poorly, which only made matters worse and continued the trend.

It continued all the way through my last event, the PAA Series event on Ft. Loudon/Tellico a couple weeks ago. It wasn’t until I got home and reflected upon the season as a whole that I began to realize that I just need to chill out and remember that my job is to worry about all the controllable aspects of tournament fishing and avoid the worry, regret and disappointment associated with the uncontrollable factors.

Needless to say, that realization has revitalized my eagerness to get to the next event.

Coming Up

Now that I have finished the majority of my scheduled events, I 'll head to Alaska soon for my annual guide work at the Baranof Wilderness Lodge. Following my trip up to The Last Frontier, I'll be coming back to a whole slew of local and regional BFL events and the final two PAA events on Table Rock and Grand Lake.

I'm very excited about the last few events because the late summer and fall fishing has always been my favorite time of the year, and I usually seem to do real well. Also, Table Rock and Grand are both lakes I know little about, although I have fished Table Rock briefly. They are both going to be great events.

I'm also excited because I'll be laying the foundation for my 2014 season as well, working to expand my already great list of sponsors, and getting in another boat for next season! Though this can be a very tough time, trying to iron out all these details before the first events in January, I really do enjoy it once I get the ball rolling a little bit. But I still have a bit of time before that all comes around.

Anyways, I hope that everyone has a great summer, and I will have even more limited Internet access this summer. So I hope, but am not sure, that I can send everyone an update from the wilderness. I will try.

Catch some bass for me!

(Miles "Sonar" Burghoff, a 2012 graduate of the University of Central Florida and the winner of the 2011 BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship, chronicles his quest toward becoming a tour-level angler in his Sonar Sound-Off column. To visit his website, click here. You can also visit him on Facebook and Twitter.)