Needemp

To be honest, I use to get burned out during the summer. Then I decided to fish competitively. That has changed my whole outlook. There was no real drive to get increasingly better because there was nothing to compare the day to. Now, even when I am not fishing a tourney or prefishing, I am working on adding techniques, presentations, concentration and patterns to my repertoire. That has been very satisfying and made my fishing feel worth while. Heck, I don't plan on stopping during the winter, either ;D

I know plenty of time has gone by since this post started. But I know what you are talking about. I have learned this year that you need to have some good spots that hold fish at specific times of the year. In the summer time, I find that prefishing can be a waste of time because the fish just flat out move around too much. They are here today and gone tommorrow. The most common thing I hear in all tourneys is "We caught them yesterday, but they were not there today." That is a very valuable lesson. For one thing, if you find them in prefishing, you convince yourself they should be there during your tournament. Then you spend all day fishing for fish that should be doing what you think they should be doing, and you are not 'listening' to the fish. I think that kind of thinking is a bad idea. What I want to do is find out what seasonal pattern they are on, and then what specific structure, cover and forage they are feeding on. Then come tourney day, if they are not where they were, I will look close by. But you have to be prepared to adjust everyday and even during the day.

We are about to have our end of the year meeting next week and I figured most clubs were just about wrapped up. So how did ya do? Did you meet your goals? Did you do better this year than last? What went right and what went wrong? Mine: This was my first year in any club or fishing any kind of tournament. It wasn't so bad for me, I guess. I sure wish I would have done better. We had 8 point tourneys. Basically I started out not knowing anybody and had to pair up with lesser experienced guys at first. But they were good guys. I caught the attention of some of the better fisherman in the club as a little time went by. I fished twice with last years AOY and twice with this years ROY, which he also finished 4th place in AOY. I also have been invited to fish next year with both of them and with this years 1st and 2nd place finishers in AOY. Here are some of my stats that I am proud of (but surprised by): 4th most fish caught all year 6th overall total weight 6th biggest one day stringer caught 17th in AOY (and that is without fishing or having caught fish in half the tourneys) One 1st place individual One 2nd place individual One 6th place individual One 1st place as a team Two 2nd place as a team I won the club classic. On top of that, I also won the MO Bass Resources tourney in April with 23.5lbs with an 8.3lb kicker. I really learned a lot and can't wait till next year.

If ya don't know how to catch fish, it don't matta how expensive yo' stuff is

X2

I like the structure. I wouldn't mind if I had to fish another tourney there. It's the same guy. He owns Gregory's Resort. Real nice guy and he has a couple of other inventions that should be huge.

I had a five fish limit at 11lbs. It was a tough weekend. We met the guy who invented the Parasite Wieght system and he had a client on a guided trip. He told his wife that they were not doing too well, either. But that is the way I like it. I like when the fishing is tough. I think that gives me a slight edge. Thanks for your help, again. I got the goal but you guys get the assist ;D I have to be honest, it's not a great looking lake (above the water) but there is plenty of cover and structure. I think Shelbyville is one of those lakes that is not going to produce a bunch of big bass very often. But to me that's fine. The object of a tournament is to beat the rest of the field on that given day with all the same elements considered. I don't care if I only have 7lbs and win. That meant I did better than the compitition. That's what I enjoy about it. But with any lake, a local that fishes it a lot is going to have heavier sacks. To us, our club that is, nobody fishes Shelbyville. A couple of guys have been there once or twice. That was only my 2nd time there and I enjoyed it.

Raul, your right. All I use is the RS so I wasn't even thinking of the other versions. Good call.

The glass ones are better in clearer water. They both are great baits for open water or digging in mud. But they do not deflect well and they get hung up if you are digging them and there is anything on the bottom. But if I am targeting schools of shad in open water, they are my go to crank.

I have the same problem. I'm pretty sure I will be fishing them starting in 3 weeks. I like them because they keep you fishing throughout the winter. To me that is huge. I don't care if I win or not, because the odds are really stacked against me, but you never know.

That cool for you guys. Hope it becomes huge. I would like to see a format that would crown the best "big bass" fisherman of the year. But like Matt said, it's definitely not my cup of tea! Now if they made it where it was the 5 biggest bass and had a 1st, 2nd, 3rd etc. then I would be interested, but I think they already have something similar to that : ...anyway, hope someone from this forum wins one of those tourneys.

True, Mattfly, shad can be easier, but there are times when imitating crawdads produce bigger bass. This is my preferred pattern. Also there are times that you find the shad but they are not as compressed together, indicating nothing is feeding on them. Yes there might be some bass close by in ambush, but that often times is more difficult for me. Don't get me wrong, I target shad when I need to, but the crawdad is my bread and butter.

I don't know if you found one yet or not, but St Charles has one. Club tourneys are going to take place on bigger reservoirs so distance isn't going to be that big of an issue. Only problem is the meetings will be around an hour from you :-/

Good reply WRB, but I think you described pretty much what we consider a pattern to be. At least Jaskoh and I. I can't speak for others but most answers seem to agree with that. And as for the row of boat docks, I agree. There are a lot of fisherman that fish every dock on a bank. That can be good if it falls in a pattern AND there is good structure and cover related to every dock, but I very rarely have seen that. In fact, when I fish docks, I rarely have more than 3 in a row. And true, they have to fit the criteria of a pattern otherwise I am looking elsewhere. Also check out a this topic dealing with spots and patterns. http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1193199836

It varies from time to time. Deep water is always a factor, wind comes into play, water clarity, shade and sunlight, bottom content and specific cover i.e. docks, buck brush, rocks, stumps, laydowns, standing timber, etc. I have had several times that there are 4 common traits and I have had other times that there are only 2. One definite ingredient 100% of the time, and this is huge, there has always been water present. I start there most of the time

First things first, well thought out Cart. For your questions specifically about me. At Shelbyville, a guy gave me a spot and told me to pull up about a long cast away from the shoreline and cast to the shore with a tube and work the area methodically. Before we even had a chance to fish that spot, we locked on to a pattern. We then began to look for specific areas and happened to end up at the location this guy told us about. It just so happened that it had the deep water, shade and willow reeds we were looking for. If this guy had never given me this spot, we would have fished it anyway because it was in our "scouting path". But because he had mentioned it was a good spot, we had confidence that the fish might be there. Like I said, we would have been there anyway. Now about Little Dixie, I enjoyed prefishing with you and yes I was aware of the only riprap or rocks on that lake because of it. But, honestly it only saved a few minutes of my time. The lake was small enough that you could tell where the rocks were and were not. That was my goal no matter what. Besides, that day we just ran the bank and I knew very little about what was going on. You knew the lake, but as a guy in the back of the boat I only had the depth finder and my eyes. You told me that several spots in that lake were good. The first point, the first big cove on the right, the dam, both sets of jetties and the cove just north of the west jetties. But that was all based on your experience years ago. Neither of us could rely on that. Things change and lakes change. To me, I went there with only three areas in mind. Really only two, because I knew how shallow the West jetties were. In my mind, Little Dixie is a bad example because it was prespawn and the text book areas were in plain sight for everyone to see. Besides I will go a little further, why did you not fish them? If you knew it was that good of a spot, and when I even called you on the water, why did you not spend the majority of the time over there? I give you some credit, but I don't think in fairness to me, that you can take the majority of the credit. I don't think it would have been hard to find those jetties. They kind of stuck out. Besides, I could have spent just as much time in the other areas you pointed out. I hope this clears up my side of it. I enjoy our time fishing together and I am enjoying this conversation. Thanks!

Good answer jaskoh, but I wouldn't use the word guilty. It does boil down to catching fish. Being a bass fisherman also means having lake fisherman qualities and vica versa. Same with a spot and pattern fisherman. Everyone here could label themselves all 4 at times. But what are we most of the time. That is my question (and you answered it). Thanks guys, some good posts so far.

Salt washes away. Plus, experiments at Pure Fishing revealed very little preference to salt unless it was prey salt. But salt does soften the plastic and help the hook move through it better. I have found no extra benefit from Yum scents. I use Yum Dingers and especially the Crawbugs (SHHHHH!) They do not hold on to them like Gulp! and Powerbait. Not even close. But they do work. Basically, it all comes down to you. Most lures work if in the right location and with the right presentation. Once the fish hits it, you have to set the hook the right way at the right time and you will catch fish. Use PB and Gulp! when you are new to fishing plastics, bass are hitting light or you're fishing in heavy wind. That gives you the extra edge. But once your comfortable with plastics and hook sets, you will catch fish on any product out there

I agree. In fact I don't like getting to much info about areas from locals. You have to trust what you know. In my classic this weekend I did have a guy from this forum go way out of his way to help me. I went to one of his spots, and it produced. Not in the way he told me to fish it, but according to the pattern that was working that day. I was thankful for his help, and I was able to apply my knowledge to that spot.

I like your answer. Well thought out, but I will disagree with you and here's why. The lake fisherman gets on his lake and just fishes. Puts the trolling motor on and with no real rhyme or reason just plugs away. Over time he discovers the hot spots on a lake. 90% of what he fishes is useless water, but he fishes it anyways. He works his way up to the spot that he catches fish on. Keep in mind that it is usually always bank beating and hitting visible cover. Now, take this guy and put him on new water and he will start fishing whatever looks good based on what is above the surface. Based on my experience, this has been most fisherman. Trust me my club is full of these guys. Now take a bass fisherman, he will study a map, know some good areas and have a game plan before he even gets on the water. He won't make his decisions based on what he sees above the water (except maybe bottom content and something else he can't ignore). That's why I think a bass fisherman can have success the day he walks on a lake, as where the lake fisherman has to basically luck into fish or go home empty handed. Here is where my opinion of a pattern fisherman differs from yours. A pattern fisherman is aware of a lot more spots. He has to be. Based on the 'bag of patterns' he has in his knowledge compartment, he has to be aware of as many spots on the lake that meet the criteria of each possible pattern. This sounds difficult and can be. But that is why he will do a ton of homework at home, and spend more time behind the wheel exploring spots than he will be fishing. Most guys that prefish, actually fish 95% of the time. If they catch fish, most of the time those fish won't be there come tourney time. That's why you discover the pattern so you have a blueprint for the rest of the lake. Spot fisherman have their spots, but if they discover a pattern, they usually don't have identical spots to duplicate catching more fish. Your last paragraph supports my theory. Yes the pro's bring what is needed to the table and that is why they can be successful till the last day. They are patterning fish. They know "bass", not just the lake. I don't know about you, but a lot I have learned from "A Day on the Lake" has taught me that these guys search for the pattern. They also catch quite a few big fish and have decent stringers. 95% of lake fisherman won't come close to that success given the same situation. Like you said, it takes talent and a lot of intensity. The lake fisherman knows the language and they know how to talk like a fisherman, but I have found that on the water they don't really understand it or they ignore it.

Something that I have determined this year was that there are several different types of fisherman. None necessarily better than another, but to each his own, and that makes us happy. For instance, there is what I refer to as "lake fisherman" and "bass fisherman". Lake fisherman will eventually pick apart a specific lake just by fishing it over and over. A lot of these guys are dominant on their bodies of water. But they couldn't go to a new body of water and have consistent success right away (for the most part). "Bass fisherman" on the other hand can do that. They are a student of the bass and are able to go almost anywhere new and figure the bass out. Of course there are always exceptions to any rule, bare that in mind. But then there is this that I recognized this year. There are "spot fisherman" and "pattern fisherman". A "spot fisherman" will always go to his hot spots all year long regardless of season, weather, clarity, etc. He has his spots that are good and that is where he will live and die. But the "pattern fisherman" gets on a body of water and tries to find the pattern, and fishes as many areas with the same characteristics as possible. For instance, he might discover that bass are holding in the early fall pattern of being in deep water, suspended high in the water column, holding right against the outside edge of a standing timber line butted right up against a tree. He then will visit 3, 4, 5, etc spots that fit those same characteristics. He thus finds a pattern and sticks to it all over the lake. My question, and hopefully this sparks some good discussion, what kind of fisherman are you? Lake, bass, spot and/or pattern fisherman and why?

I just won our Classic with the help of a custom made 3/8 Harsh Hedz jig and a new Strike King Rage Tail trailor. Very sweet combo. I flipped it up in some weeds on the shore.

This is my first year tourney fishing and I had 23.5lbs of LM here in MO. That included a 1.5 and a 2lbr that I couldn't cull

BWS tourney last weekend took only 12.08 to win. Are you fishing any this year Dink?

Thanks J. I told him that the night before. But I didn't say it was a rumor. I just mentioned it as a possibility. I don't know nuttin bout nuttin! They did fish the BWS last week so I am sure it is on.