pro-ams

[walleyewacker]

Does it make sense to get into a pro-am on a body of water I am not familiar wiht? I want to start fishing competitively a little bit and I guess I have heard that its alright because you just go for the experience and fish along side the pro. But at the same time I am a little uncertain about putting money down on a lake that I know little about. I usually stick to home waters and go on big water trips a few times a year. I would like to hear from anyone who has done this and how it went.

[early007]

I am going to go as an AM for the first time this year as well. I am similar to you. I mostly fish my home waters. I think this will be a good way to get out of my rut and experience different techniques or just refine techniques I already am familiar with. I am looking forward to seeing how they read water. What do they look for on a piece of structure? I haven't done much trolling hopefully I'll do that for a day. It will be a good chance to ask questions. Most of the guys on tour now are pretty professional. I think the quality of the Pro Ams are top notch.

Jason

[walleyewacker]

Which one are you going to? I am opposite in the fact that most of what I do is pulling cranks. I was hoping an early tournament would have me on jigs or something.

[SpringerGuy]

Yes, you do want to go try a Pro/Am. It's better to fish new water. Besides that is the best way to learn. If you only fish your local water, you will fall into the same old rut. New water = new ideas = new presentations = fine tuning what you already know = go home and apply to your home water. The Pro will make almost every decision there is to make. You will just fish what he wants to do & and ask a lot of questions.

If you want to start fishing tournaments then most of them will be on water that you don't normaly fish. The more different water you can fish the more you will learn and the better angler you will become. Fishing tournaments, either a pro/am or a team event like the Minnesota Walleye Trail are great learning experinces. You just need to pay close attenion to what you and other boats and doing and just as importantly what there not doing.

Good Luck this summer!

------------------
Tom Miller
Tournament Director
Minnesota Walleye Trail
www.polebender.com

[Guest]

Walleyewacker,
If I remeber right, form an ealrier post you said you go to SDSU.
I fish tournies in MN and am looking to do some in SD this year.
E-mail me if you are interested in hooking up to fish some of these E. South Dakota lakes. [email protected]
I can give you some insight as to what tourny fishing is all about. Well, actually all you have to do is catch numbers of fish and big ones consistantly. Or at least be confident enough to think you can pull a nice limit of fish on the day of the tourny.

I would suggest getting in to a local fishing club for starters. This is what hooked me into competive fishing.

Pro-ams are great ways to learn new bodies of water. Although I have never done one.

The next best thing is to get on a amature circut. I fished MWT last year and had a blast. And learned more than I would have only fishing local/big water.

Hope this helps a little.
mw