Run-n-Gun vs Camp

[MuskieFever]

When it comes to tournaments, what kind of style are you? I am in a circuit that is only 4 hour tournaments so I typically run n gun searching for aggressive fish. Lets hear it!

[Wayne Ek]

For me it's all about the time of year and what type of bite I've found during pre-fishing and how strong it was. In the spring I do more running & gunning. Once the summer patterns start to develop I rarely leave fish to find fish anymore. Doing that has cost me tournaments. The only time I run and gun during late summer is if there is a dock bite going, then I will run docks. That being said, if I have a really good bag of fish early in the tournament, I will run & gun any shallow structure (docks, laydowns, pads) looking for a bigger kicker fish. For the most part once the deep water bite starts in the summer I stay deep and just rotate between the best structure/cover I found during pre-fishing.

[Deitz Dittrich]

It depends on how confident I am in the spot.. and how many boats in the tournament. If there are a lot of boats, I will be more willing to camp. The only thing that will get me to move for sure will be weather changes or wind changes.

[TurnUpTheFishing]

Lots of factors but I prefer have a few good deep spots that I have confidence in and can camp. Seems every time Ive done well in a tournament has been through this route. My tourny partner and I usually do much better from mid season on when the fish move out deep. I dont think we've ever done well early season when its a boat parade up shallow.

[Superduty]

My general rules can best be summarized by knowing the seasonal patterns for the area.

Prespawn is probably time to camp.

Spawn and postspawn I run and gun.

Summer pattern period depends on the lake. (shallow vs deep bite)

Fall is when I pitch a jig shallow.

Late fall just before ice I will probably be camping on smallies!