Fishing Spots

[Doug Hodel]

Fishing tournaments is a lot of fun. I seem to always be able to find fish. However, it is never the right fish (meaning size). I always catch a good size bag during practice, but never when it counts.

Should I just be looking for the spots I want to fish and not fishing them?

I felt that I had the right areas to fish this last tournament even had a few blow ups that I felt were really good size fish; they just didn't get pinned.

What do other successful tournament anglers see in a spot that I may not?

Thanks for any input.

[Jason C.]

Hey Doug,
While prefishing are you setting the hook on all the fish? If so, dont! Sure set it on 2 or 3 but thats about it. After those two or three keep on fishing just shake them off or wait till they spit it. So that way you can get a feel of whats in the spot your at and you also dont presure your own water. Try this the next time your prefishing and see if this helps. I hope this helps. And good luck in the future.

[JT-Madera]

The first thing I would suggest is that you start using patterns and not ' spot's ' Establish patterns by that days conditions, because daily conditions dictate patterns..

Time on the water will really help you learn how to recognize patterns.. For example largemouth are very structure oriented..whereas smallies and spotted bass orient to structure based on hourly and daily conditions.. Spotted bass will move hundreds of yards because of changing conditions in a few minutes.

I was fishing Don Pedro very early one morning, before daybreak on a Saturday morning catching 2-3lb bass in a transition cut on the main lake.. A bass tournament started their blastoff from Flemming, which was a few miles away, but within my view...there were probably forty boats in the tournament.. I watched in amazement as the bass on my graph started moving out before the first boat coming my way even went by.. By the time the third boat passed my position they were 20 feet deeper and had moved out off a nearby point, suspended The bass moved so fast they were just streaks on my graph....I followed the bass out and watched as two different boats pulled into that cut trying to catch the bass that had been there, both left shortly with no bites..I kept an eye on those fish throughout the day, in the early afternoon they moved back into the cut and were catchable..

Now when I fish tournaments I start looking for "where" the pressured fish will move too, not where they were in prefish..Another thing about prefishing is that I never release fish I catch back into the water I intend to fish during the tournament..especially spotted bass...When I fished Stren as a Co-Angler I was dumbfounded when the Pro's I drew kept throwing the shorts back into the same water we were fishing...Most guys who have fished spotted bass for very long know that's a BIG no-no...nothing shuts down spotted bass faster than throwing caught fish back....I don't pretend to understand why, I just know it happens...I will move my boat out with my trolling motor and throw the bass out into open water rather than throwing them right under my boat...

Back to fishing spots, patterns can usually be fished all over a lake but a spot is just a spot...sometimes its good most times is isn't...Remember big fish usually stay away from bank runners..or they eat them

If I am catching one pound fish I leave and look for more isolated structure where a bigger bass will rule..one pound fish will get you points but no check You should read Gary Dobyns article about fishing chicken, it changed my life...

I never catch more than one fish from a 'spot', because I am more interested in the pattern, not the 'spot' I will try and find two or if possible three patterns for the lake, that day..Stop looking for numbers and start looking for size...I would settle for four good bites rather that twenty little bites...

JT-Madera

[Calistar]

JT,

Nice Post....very interesting.

[rmcollins3]

Ah yes, the ol' "whacked 'em in practice, but not in the tourney" scenario.

Just look at the NBW El Cap results from the May 7th tourney, and you'll see that the exact same thing happened to me and my partner. Only difference is I DID cut the hook after catching my third fish and still couldn't get a bite during the tourney.

It happens. Learn from it and move on. Easier said than done though.

[MIKE TREMONT]

That's the way I play golf. Practice tee can't miss, get on the course and it looks like I've never swung a club in my life.
I tried a different approach this year. When I prefished I went to new area's only to see what was there. If I caught fish I just added to places to stop during a tournament, but I wouldn't count on it if the event was the next day. Those spots have never paid off for me.
I'm no expert, but we did alright this year. I believe most of the success we had was due to more time on the water.
I'm going to try that approach at the Snag Proof this year. Every year for the last 3, we have found the quality we needed to win, but come time for the event, yea it's the practice tee all over again.
I'm curious to see how it goes.