This season has seen me go through many lifestyle changes – an increase in my workload, along with increased personal and professional responsibilities. To say that I have some work ahead of me to make adjustments in order to balance my priorities for next season would be a pretty big understatement.

I’ve been extremely fortunate this year to continue my very rewarding relationship with my now-fiancée Katie, as well as landing some paid positions in the industry with companies that I truly enjoy working with. However, with my increased commitment to my relationship and my sponsors, my time on the water has been reduced greatly and my progress has grown notably stale – at least in my personal assessment.

The final Bassmaster Southern Open on Lake Norman will mark a period of refocused determination to get back to my (positive) progress as an evolving tournament angler.

No Time to Waste

The business side of the sport – working with the Shimano Experience Team, Navionics and other sponsors – is a somewhat obvious cause for my spending fewer days on the water. It takes much more work on solid ground than people might think to provide real value to sponsors. Often I’m on the road (without the Nitro in tow), and I also log more hours than I’d like to admit in front of the computer screen instead of behind the chart-plotter screen.

This, of course, is a necessary part of being a professional. If you want to make a full living in this industry, these off-the-water hours are going to add up. It’s just the way it is.

The sponsor obligations by themselves are easily manageable when it comes to getting enough time on the water, but the hard part for me this year is the fact that when I’m not working with sponsors or fishing a tournament, I’m flying home to be with Katie in California, where I just haven’t had the resources to go fishing during my stints in the Golden State. No boat, no float!

Of course, this isn’t Katie’s fault and it's sacrifice that's well worth it, since our relationship is at the top of my priority list. It’s just another reality that, while she’s going to school in Cali, I need to learn how to adjust so I can be my best on and off the water.

Balancing the Beam

My biggest adjustment for 2015 will be moving my fishing headquarters out of Guntersville, Ala. I've decided to move full-time to California until Katie wraps up school. It’s not ideal, but it's a much better alternative than flying cross-country every few weeks and still not getting any water time.

As far as tournaments go, if the Elites aren’t in the cards for me after Norman, I'm going to hold off on the Bassmaster Opens until 2016, and instead put a large amount of my focus on the bigger events on the West Coast, such as the U.S. Open and the Western Rayovacs. It was a tough decision because I want to make the Elites sooner rather than later, but it's important for me to keep an emphasis on having a successful wedding and making good on my business responsibilities as well as getting more time on the water.

As soon as Katie is finished with her education and we take care of some other family responsibilities, we'll be free to locate to an area that's more logistically reasonable.

Finishing Strong

Norman is important to me on many levels.

First, I want to end the season with a strong showing. Second, it’s an important event because I still have an opportunity to make the Classic, as well as still having an outside (but possible) chance of making the Elite series for next year.

It is also an important event because I love early fall fishing – especially in North Carolina, where it can be extremely challenging, but techniques that I enjoy can dominate.

Norman, along with many other lakes in North Carolina, is a lake that I like to refer to as a “work ethic” fishery – where the hardest- (and smartest-) working anglers usually take the trophy home and tournaments are rarely won off of a single, isolated area with a mega-school of fish. ,It’s a one-here one-there type of fishing that I really love.

Finally, its an important event because for the first time this year I will actually get more than a day to prep my equipment, which is a luxury I haven’t been afforded since the season openers in January when I won $11,000 in my first two events.

Heck, it’s important just because it’s exciting to go fishing, too!

No Slowing Down

Though the changes that I'm making for the next couple years are somewhat drastic in some respects, they're not being made to ease off the throttle, but rather to push harder and shift it into an even higher gear.

My resolve and determination is as strong as ever and I’m going to see to it that I continue to make decisions that strengthen the foundations of all my priorities together: More time on the water, more time with my family and more time with my sponsors is the only way for me to keep moving forward.

(Miles "Sonar" Burghoff 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.