Felix77

Sounds to me like the clear thing is to expect to pay 50/50 for tournament fees, gas (truck, boat) and hotel if necessary. As for maintenance on the boat there is a really big grey area which can only be covered through good old fashioned communication. I can see both sides of the coin. 1 - A dedicated partner who essentially spends as much time in the water as the boater even though they don't own the boat. I can see a case for some reasonable sharing of expenses when it comes to maintenance. 2 - A boater who spends much more time on the water without his tournament partner. I can see the argument against.

Yesterday I participated in my first NY State Federation tournament on Chautauqua Lake. Prior to the event I met my boater to discuss the plans for the day and he said without a doubt we will be fishing docks the entire day. Nothing more, nothing less. With that said my preparation for the night was easy. 1 rod, 1 senko and I was good to go. Of course I had other rigs set up and prepared just in case things changed but this was going to be my rod of the day. Before this event I have had little opportunity to fish docks so skipping was not my forte. What made things worse were the conditions. On and off wind, rain, along with on/off sun/clouds. At times it made it impossible to even skip without a big bow forming in your line. Some lessons from yesterday which I felt compelled to share with my fellow co-anglers. 1 – Docks are NOT easy to share with the boater. Generally the angle the boater needs to run the trolling motor leaves you fishing “sloppy seconds” on docks he already fished. Especially in weather which is forcing him to keep the trolling motor constantly running. You need to have that expectation going in or you will get frustrated quickly doing this all day. 2 – Take every opportunity to hit a dock your boater is not fishing. This does NOT mean cast it over his head to one ahead of him. Keep alert and there are hidden gems which he is not fishing. An example: At one point my boater was committed to a particular dock. Something which had worked for him in practice. He ended up nosing the boat in to fish it making it inaccessible to me. I peered to the right and there was another dock which stuck out further. One pitch right in front of the dock landed me my biggest Largemouth. 3 – Always try to fish something different than the boater. My boater was fishing a 5” black/blue senko wacky all day. I made it a point to fish everything but a 5” black/blue senko wacky. I fished other colors in the same size, downsized to a 4” and even upsized to a jumbo. The different color landed me my first two. The smaller one landed me my second and at the end of the day the jumbo landed me my last two which included a nice smallmouth close to 3lbs. Most of these were places he had fished just prior. 4 – You will LOSE hooks and lots of them. To get the lure where the fish are you need to skip and pitch to places which can and will hang you up. I must have lost at least 18 hooks. Partly because I sucked at skipping and pitching and partly because of the weather. I am sure it was more the weather. LOL J 5 – Control your nerves. In weather like today it was difficult conditions for everyone. At one point I was so frustrated I had to stop fishing, eat something and reset my mind to get through the day. Between not catching fish, the rain, the wind, feeling “back boated” and losing hooks left and right I was overwhelmed and extremely frustrated. That “reset” was important to get me back in the game. By the end of the day I had a half-way decent skip and reverse skip cast added to my arsenal. My boater was fantastic. He taught me a ton about skipping docks. Explained exactly what he was looking for and how he fished them. I learned a ton from him and thanked him for the day. So how did I do … I ended up placing in the money (13th out of 100 co-anglers). Not too shabby for my first State Federation tournament.

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Happy Fathers Day guys. I spent it fishing my first NY State Federation tournament on Chautauqua Lake.

Already been covered by the above post 1 - shake it well 2 - apply liberally 3 - let it sit if possible. I spray on the night before I fish. Awesome product!

My 3 favorites 1 - Senko 2 - Spinnerbait 3 - Horny Toad

What was the argument against helping with repairs? Curious.

All, Currently I fish tournaments as a coangler in leagues with a random draw. In those events its courtesy (in my opinion) to give some cash to the boater to offset some of the gas expensed on the boat. In a team type league you are with the same person for each event so I suspect things are different. What is your opinion on team leagues in terms of expenses?

IMO CPR (catch, photo and release) on Lunkers is the way to go. Take extra pictures and get a replica made from them. Let the big one make other potential big ones.

I agree 110%. As an IT professional I am involved in a lot of forums for one reason or another for work. For leisure I am a part of only a few ... None compare to this site!

I rig it with the tail away from the hook. Just a preference.

x2 - I prefer the shorter rods. My jig rod is 6'9"

I would go with a Spinnerbait next. That way you have both a finesse and power method under your belt.

Heal up ... the fish will be waiting!

LOL. Had that happen to me with a subwoofer. I never said anything because I didn't think anyone would believe me. Pickerel are dumb!

I am a huge fan of the Max series of reels. I own 4 silver and one Pro. I use them for my tournaments and they hold up very well under the constant demands I put on it.

I vote for the 6'6" MH. It's what I started with before adding to my collection.

I'm down to test. I use wacky all the time. Really psyched about this product.

I am happy for Tebow. He is a competitor. It will be interesting to see what happens.

I have one tacklebag which holds 4 3600's and a separate bag for soft plastics. So far that had done very well for me. I am considering upgrading to a bag which holds 4 3700's just to consolidate my soft baits and plano 3600's.

Crazy ... I saw your group launch from where I was fishing and didn't know it. Small bassresource.com world.

This explains a TON! I was on Champlain this weekend. It seemed like anything I threw at them wasn't right or at the right time. Caught one on a spinnerbait and another on a senko and that was it! They ignored my soft jerkbaits, tubes, swim jig, drop shot. It was the most frustrating fishing I have experienced to date. Now don't get me wrong it was a fun challenge which kicked my BUTT and wore me out mentally. I am just trying to learn what I could have done differently for the next time. SO far based on the posts I missed on a few opportunities 1 - Suspending Jerkbaits (pointers and such) 2 - Jig. I should have tried dragging a Football jig around. 3 - Learn to fish in current from the back of the boat. This means heavy weight an adjusted setup or a combination of the two. I could not feel bottom no matter what I tried. Thanks for all your feedback. Great as always!

Very sad to hear ... RIP

Thanks all ... I used your advice on Saturday and it worked out extremely well. It was cloudy all day with rain on and off. Caught some nice fish! Appreciate your help.

I was fishing in waters that were 6-10 feet deep.