Tournament Fishing

[berfish]

I will be joining the Team Bass Fishing Club this summer and I am new to the tournament scene. Anyone know some good things to have like rods reels and lures? How about acessories for boats? How often to prefish? Anything would be helpful. Thank you.
bf

[GullGuide]

Oh man, where to start?!?!
I guess I would try to focus on the presentations you are most comfortable with for starters. Tournament fishing is mostly a confidence thing. You need the confidence to stick what you know what works long enoug for it to pay off. When you get more used to fishing them, then you can worry about getting into switching lures every 10th cast For starters, do not go too light on your equipment. A medium/heavy rod, 6.5-7' and go with some type of super-line, whiplash would be my choice. Nothing is worse than loosing a big fish during a tournement because your line broke or your rod was too flimsy to pull it out of thick cover.
As for baits, I personally like to throw a "search" bait such as a spinnerbait, buzzbait or crankbait. By using these baits, I am searching out the more agressive fish.
If your partner is good at throwing a worm or a grub, have him/her back you up on misses or have them work the more subtle areas while you cover water.
Hope this helps a little and good luck.

------------------
>"////=<
Gull Guide Service
fishingminnesota.com/gullguide
Brainerd-Mille Lacs-Willmar
Bemidji-Ottertail

[berfish]

any information is good right now. Thanks alot. I will probably be asking more specific questions in a few weeks. Talk to you later. thanks again.
bf

[Rippinlip]

beerfish,
Like stated earlier where to start is the question. I like to pre-fish as much as possible, But not to disturb all the fish, hit several areas and see what is going on. I do agree with what was stated earlier, no matter what go with your confidence baits, my personal favorites are the jig-n-pig combo, plastic worms, and many different combo's of plastics. Remember to have fun and take in the conversations afterwards with all the other fisherpeople.

Good luck.
MARK

[GullGuide]

Beerfish,
I've thrown almost exclusively top-water for the last 3 years and I have done quite well. There are times though that I will use other presentations because of conditions, but I would say 75-80% of my casts are with topwater.

------------------
>"////=<
Gull Guide Service
fishingminnesota.com/gullguide
Brainerd-Mille Lacs-Willmar
Bemidji-Ottertail

[This message has been edited by GullGuide (edited 02-28-2002).]

[JoJo]

BeerFish, e-mail me please. I could be of some help.

JoJo

[guideman]

Hi BF,
Tournament fishing can be a lot of fun
and it is also a great way to learn.
Being successful at it, requires total
dedication to your craft.

Pre-fishing is very important, 3 days minimum for most tournament anglers.
Even the best of anglers may struggle when going cold to a strange body of water.

Have a plan when you go out to fish, I can't stress that enough. What happens if your #1 pattern fails, do you have a backup plan?

The guys that win tournaments, do well because they do all their homework. Every guy in the tournament can fish, or they wouldn't be there. Attention to detail will give you an edge and that may be, all you need.

The first thing you learn as a tourny
angler is that someone is always...on fish. You may get squat and think it's tough but there is someone else with a limit of 5 lb fish.

Locating fish is paramount, it won't matter if you have all the trick baits if you can't find the fish. Talk to the locals at the bait shops, they are your best way, to get up to date information.

Remember: People don't plan to fail, they just fail to plan!

------------------
Terry Sjoberg
Ace guide service.
Beautiful Lake Vermilion.
aceguideservice.com

[This message has been edited by guideman (edited 02-28-2002).]

[berfish]

Sounds good. I do have some confidence baits i like to throw, mostly plastics tubes, worms, and any Yamamoto soft bait. My partner likes to throw a lot of topwater. Do guys throw topwater in tournaments? I ask because the hooking percentage seems to be a lot lower with topwater lures.
bf

[berfish]

Thanks guys I'll keep everything you said in mind. I never even thought about asking bait shops for advice on where the fish are before a tournament. JoJo i couldn't find your address in your profile.
bf

[Guest]

Keys to statrting out in tourneys!!

(1) Don't quit your day job!!
(2) Get used to losing!!
(3) Be prepared to buy new equipment(you will break alot of of stuff!!
(4) Never think you're the only one that knows about a spot!!
(5) Never leave home without gas money to make it back!!
(6) Look into faces at the rules meeting to see who you think is a better fisherman!!
(7) Wonder whats makes you better than 95% of the guys at the meeting!!
(8) Realize when you get to your start spot and the fish aren't there, that they couldn't have gone far!!
(9) Don't start thinking of the money fish before it's in the net!!
(10) Switch attitude from telling the boys how well you did to, didn't catch any fish and probably won't weigh one in the tourney. (this throws them off your trail)!!
(11) Learn to change line every other week!!
(12) Get used to people fishing next to you when they find out you're in a tourney!!
(13) Have fun and know that once you've paid your dues you'll win a couple!!!!!!!

Good Luck!!

[Guest]

Lets look at this scenario.

You are about to prefish a tournament. You take all the information you have gathered and make a hypothesis before you go on the lake as to what pattern and area you will fish. You prefish the tournament for 3 days, you have 4 spots on the lake that you feel comfortable with and confident about. All these spots are similiar in depth and structure.

Day of the tournament, your 4 spots are someone elses spots. This is going to happen time and time again.

If there are alot of fish in certain areas, you are not going to be the only one that knows about it.

Look at it this way: A Crappie tournament is to be held in the spring. The majority of fisherman are going to the 3-6 foot depths in the reeds and up in the weeds. They catch some nice fish there and decent numbers of them.

There are only so many reed beds on the lake. And not every fish has moved shallow. There just isn't enough habitat to support every fish at once. So you fish the 6-12' foot range. These fish are harder to target, slower to bite, but have a better average size then the fish shallow.

You have 3 days to figure what triggers these fish and gets them to bite. And 3 days to find at least 4 spots to fish the tournament. And now, the same 3 days to find 4 back up spots to the 4 spots that will be taken on tournament day...And with that maybe you will have 1 spot left to fish once the tournament begins.

Now you have to outfish the other guys that have mastered these deeper water fish....May the best, or the luckiest in some cases, win.

This is a small example of the competition you will be up against.

Good luck to you, and have fun.

PCG

[JoJo]

Guess the e-mail didn't take when I edited my profile BeerFish. [email protected]

Jo

[Glenn_S]

Hey guys, lets not make this more than it is. It's not FLW or BASS.

Beerfish, the The Team Bass Club is NOT a major tournament series. You DO NOT need to prefish for 3 days before. The skill level runs from novice to semi-pro. It is a series of FUN tournaments. There is some money involved, but the mission of the club is to TEACH. You will learn more about tournament fishing, and how to adjust to the conditions. You will learn a lot, from many people in the club. JoJo(my wife) and I fished it for the first time last year. It was our first exposure to tournaments, and we loved it. Out of 60 teams, we placed 23rd. Not bad for the first year. We even cashed a check one week, placing 4th. It is a great club to be a part of.

Are you going to fish the entire series? Look for us at the first one, we have a green Crestliner 1750 Fish Hawk.

Glenn

[berfish]

imbass,
thank you for the reply. It is nice to know some of the people i will be fishing with. Unfortunatly I will not be at the first tournament because it is finals week for college. But I should be at the rest of them. I will be in a black and grey 17 foot nitro bass boat with my buddy(it is his boat). I heard this club is fun, i know a couple guys that fished it last year too. They all said it was a blast. Can't wait for open water. I am hoping i learn a lot so that will be nice if i do. I will be looking for you.
bf

[delmuts]

as you have read some of these people are very serious about thier fishing. use what information that applies to what you are doing, but mainly have fun! think spring!! del

[Glenn_S]

hey Beerfish!

Take note, there has been a schedule change for the first two Team Bass tournaments. They swapped Balsam and Wapogasset.

Glenn

[Guest]

BF- Congrats on going with Team Bass. They do an excellent job and the competition is stiff. If anyone doubts me go to Teambass.com and view there archives of what it takes to win and the average number of bass. Team Bass is a great starter circut as that the competition is high, the cost is low, and the events are many. Nice combo platter. Unfortunatly I will not be fishing it this year unless some rich individual wants a partner that can contribute.

Well let's see
1. No money
2. No boat.
3. And from my results last year, not a lot of fish either.

Not exactly a stellar resume for a fishing partner. Hense my advice

1. Go to win!
2. Don't drive yourself insane after the tournament asking yourself, what in the world just happened? "I didn't even catch a fish that measured even though in the past three years I have never spent that much time trying without success and this on a lake I know plus prefishing."

P.S. After that day on the water my team of psychiatrists still haven't figured out the right dose of medicine to dilute the blow to my ego.

[berfish]

Hey guys thanks for the tips. I did catch word of the schedule swap. Unfortunately I have school during the first tournament but i will make the rest. I actually just sent my application in today. My partner already sent his in. We will be at Balsm in a grey and black nitro bass boat. thanks again guys.
bf