No way being smart - trust me , I hold this to heart.
Just when you think you have fish figured out ..............
You did good - 4th place is not bad - shame money stopped at 3rd though.
Had you gotten one more nice fish and been in the money - your plan would have been perfect.
Rough water in small boat is tough. I fished a fall MSSA once and had to pull everything in three times. We could only maintain boat speed going with the waves on that day. We'd troll 5 miles - pull it all in - run back 7 miles - put it all back over. Full spread - 22 rods.