Tournament situation

[ocf1]

Ok, here is the situation: You have 1 hour before weigh in and you only have 1 fish in the boat, it barely makes the 14" minimum length. You have never been to this lake before either. Its about 90 degrees F. outside, sunny, humid, the fish are holding tight to cover.

So guys what would you guys throw and where, what would you look for?

[Pherris]

Interesting question. I think you need to fish what your most confident in. For some it will be dock fishing for others it will be crankbait on deep structure, drop shotting, buzz bait the possibilities are endless. The key to getting ahead in a situation like this is YOU. Fishing is just as much a mental sport as it is a physical sport and if you are not 100% confident in what you are doing and what your are throwing you are lessoning the odds you will be successful. Find the situation you are most confident that you will boat fish and do it. Rick Clunn has said that the last 30 minutes of a tournament is dictated by attitude rather then presentation. Do what you do best!!

[Central Bassman]

Pherris-- I couldn’t have said it better myself… to me having confidents is everything!!!!

[ocf1]

Yes, that is exactly what i mean. what are Your strengths that you would use.

I would go to the docks because if i can't catch them anywhere else i know i can catch them there. Although, that was my down fall last tournament when It was almost impossible to fish the docks with the heavy weed cover, i panicked and didn't catch a single thing. Theres a good reason for ya'll to be comfortable with at least 2 tactics, this is going to be my deep fishing summer, when fishing im going to focus on deep water 90% of the time.

[Pherris]

Well for me and the situation you describe with the fish holding tight to cover I will fish docks. Generally weeds do not grow under the dock just around it so I would skip under it. If that did not start to produce quickly I would pull off to deep weed line and drop shot. I usually spend time pre fishing and will locate docks that have the deepest water near by. But because you are describing a 1 hour time crunch a deep running crank will allow me to cover the most water the fastest if I know of or have marked deep structure. It sounds like in your situation the weeds being what they were it may have hurt you mentally because of the frustration of the clock and limited opportunities because of time. I have tremendous confidence in the drop shot. Many people only fish this style vertically I fish it horizontally in water as shallow as 2 feet. Great way to work a break and a little faster fishing. But again there are many variables and I still vote for the mental game and fish the method YOU are most confident in.

OFC,

Are you fishing a tournament series?

[ole matty]

i wld look to weedlines with lipless crankbait or reg crankbait...

[JP Z]

I would hit the inside weedline....throwing a spinnerbait....and of course as I am working that, if the opportunity presents itself I will pitch at dock while moving down the weedline.

[ocf1]

pherris, no i dont fish a series. I fish my junior club though. We have 2 tourneys and then state. I would do other tourneys but i dont have a boat, nor can i operate a boat over 25 horsepower...

[lookincalifornia]

in all my years of shore fishing during teh hottest months i have concluded that you can find big fish in the muck during hot days. the thick stuff provides shade and the oxygen given off also helps cool the water. often times, you need to make alot of fan casts to get the fish to hit.

i find that a frog is a meal of opprotunity not nessecity. if you can put one right on them, they should bite. they will, however, not chase down a frog in the slop when it is hot. they seem to know that there will be another froggie along shortly. you gotta fish em slowly, so i don't think you would get your limit in an hour, but you should get a couple of quality fish

[MVBASSER]

funny you post this because i just fished a tournament on Koronis last weekend with those exact (almost exact) conditions. I caught a 2.5 pound largemouth right away then couldnt catch anything else. I fished a drop shot. I missed 3 nice smallies right at the boat (all over 2 pounds). Later i heard that most people caught their fish under docks. I was fishing deep weeds with little success.

[bassNspear]

since i only have one fish in the only boat, and i have only have 30 mins left, i would coever alot of water, with ither cranks, spinnerbaits or buzzy

[pascooter94]

I also fished the koronis tournament and all of our fish were from the slop and my big smallmouth 3.51 came form the outside edge of the pads then hit the docks and culled the small lg mouth, to me i think that it was super bad out on the lake that day,did you fish green? we did not with the wind they were talking we left that night.