BassNJake

Can you explain how a tournament angler is supposed to know what an unwritten rule is? There are plenty of issues with the written rules and how different people interpret those rules. How is an unwritten rule enforced? What is too close? to some it may be 2 cast lengths but is that 2 casts with a 1 ounce spook or a 1/4 ounce shakey head? How do you determine if it is a community hole? If 2 different people fish it on the same day does that constitute a community? Is it 3 or 5 , how can you tell how many people fished that area if you only check it out a couple times and no one was there? If I saw a guy fishing and area and 3 days later I decide to check the area out, I cant fish it because I didn't find it? That eliminates ever fishing a new lake as someone has had to of fished that lay down or that weed bed before me. To me there are no unwritten rules some situations are decided by your own moral compass

Black or white anytime, I let the fish tell me if they have a preference Sometimes you can start with the black one in the early morning and keep throwing it all day I tend to walk faster than others and really think its about the profile as seen from underwater and not so much the color. But then you have the days where they'll eat a bone one and nothing else So there's that aspect as well

I'm hanging onto summer for as long as I can I'd rather fish when its 90 than when its 40 When it gets colder I spend too much time watching my graphs looking for fish

I saw that Kurt Mitchell weighed 119+ lbs of fish yesterday in the championship event for FLW. They are using the catch, weigh , release format that MLF/BPT uses. He has a 56 lb lead over second place. Oh and he won last week while fishing the Toyota Series Northern Lake Erie event Since this is the BPT format, the weights will reset so not all good news for the guy running away in group A Also it is airing live at https://majorleaguefishing.com/event/tackle-warehouse-title-presented-by-toyota-sturgeon-bay-wi/#watch

Really hard to control boat position without a trolling motor. You could drop an anchor and fish all available locations, until you move to the next spot. This limits some of your options but will give you more than on the bank.

My kids have been going 1 day a week for August and will go twice a week in Sept. All the kids in the middle and high school have chromebooks, to do the homework during the week. They get assignments posted, but there are no virtual classes at home. Tennessee gonna Tennessee Sucks for my daughter as this is her senior year

Tournaments have rules, if the rules state you have to keep a certain distance then abide by the rules. If it is not clearly marked in the rules, then it is up to your own discretion as to how close you want to fish. Unwritten rules are rules that dont exist in tournaments. Sounds as if you want to fish closer but dont want to be "that guy", while the other fisherman has no problem being "that guy"

I tried the tournament game very hard for about 10 years. Fished as a co angler and pro in a few different BFL divisions so I could get experience on different types of lakes. Along with any local tournaments I could fish. Playing sports growing up taught me about work ethic and how it translates into greater success. The wrestling room opened my eyes to how far I could push my body under gruelling conditions. Practice, practice, practice there are skills that you can always get better at, there is always another bar to set. Knowing the seasonal patterns of bass and what the bass eat can lead you in the right direction. But that like saying to fish the points on Beaver lake or fish the weeds in Florida. TVA lakes have 3 distinct areas up river, mid lake and near the dam all three have a time where one is better than the others. Having the experience, using the knowledge already learned What I noticed all throughout my life are the people that are better at anything put in more effort and achieve results in a more efficient manner. The best guy working the grill, the best landscaper to the best pitcher on a team. They all have a set of skills that they continue to expand, while working tirelessly to try and perfect in the most efficient way. No excuses, no shoulda, coulda, woulda. They rely on their experience and their confidence to make decisions based on the current situation. Think Jacob Wheeler or Jordan Lee are "naturals" at fishing? That is a slap in the face to how hard these guys have worked starting at a very young age. I believe both of these guys had to have their parents drop them off at the lake to fish in their john boats because they were that young. My old coach used to always say he'd take 10 guys that worked hard over 10 guys that were "naturals" One of these groups will ask how they can get better, the other group would tell him how good they were.

Some really nice bags and people doing different things too John Cox fishing seawalls on the river and other guys fishing open water with nothing else in sight I miss that clear blue northern water. Seems like further south they have a different definition of clear water

How did I miss this thread?? I'm probably in the 75% range most of the time. Some days it seems like they dont eat it, they just slap at it. I have had a much better hook up ratio since I stopped making really long casts and use the alabama shake retrieve I am mainly shooting at specific targets and the shake allows the bait to stay in place longer Since my lake does not have weeds, I can use a rod with a softer tip which helps with the bama shake

Here is an example of how using Google Earth can find spots that other people will miss This gives you a head start before you ever hit the lake Some of the spots Edwin finds are little gold mines

It depends on where and what you are fishing for. When I lived in Ohio, I got schooled by a guy on Lake Erie using flouro when I was using mono of a lighter diameter I started using his equipment and was immediately catching fish I also know there are guys on here that have caught many,many fish when using mono on Lake Erie So my personal experience is why I use a flouro leader for applications like a dropshot Now living near Norris lake TN, the smallmouth often school up suspended in the water column One of the techniques they use is the "Damiki rig" which is also referred to as video game fishing You are watching your electronics looking for schools of fish 25-35 feet deep Then you drop your small jig head straight down just above the fish I use a braid to leader connection for this The braid keeps the line twists down and the flouro sinks so it helps drag the braid down I like the sensitivity of flouro vs mono If I lived in Florida, I'd fish straight braid for everything except maybe a crank bait

This guy has a huge set of.... What are insurance policies?

I've gotta toad of some sort and a stick worm bottom weighted when water temps 50+ Water temps 50 below- I've got a bunch of tiny stuff tied on and fish super slow

I check my line all the time. I trust in the knots I tie, so the weakest part of the chain is the line. Bass might not have musky like teeth but more like sandpaper. On the hookset more often than not the lines gonna rub on those teeth. Also casting into trees,bushes and around dock posts will shorten the life a lot quicker

Anybody watching this event? Lots to consider when deciding where to fish. Some guys ran to the Detroit river and then up into Lake St Clair This only left them 2:30-3 hours to fish Of course, Jacob Wheeler is in the race for first Everyone's trying to catch Justin Lucas and his maxscent flat worm

I fish a toad a lot and some days it just seems like they wanna slap the crap out of it but not really commit to eating it Because I dont fish around weeds I can switch to a popper usually allows me to hook up at a better rate during those days I have tried the popping frog but seems like when they slap at the toad they also slap at the popping frog

With as long as this is taking, the government or DMV must be involved

This ^^^ Some people are better at their jobs than others Sure 2 people may put in the same 8 hours but their production can be worlds apart Take the electronics away and give a guy the same equipment as Greg Hackney and have them both go flip bushes Guess whats gonna happen? Many people discount the skills that are developed over time Dont have side imaging or 360 view? Then you better become one of the best guys using traditional sonar I have spent upwards of 40 hours using google earth to locate different structure on a new lake Come tourney time, it almost feels like I was cheating when boat after boat drives right over the sunken bridge or the road bed sitting in 20 feet of water. Then I think anybody can use it but do they?

We have a ton of night tourneys here, so early mornings are good times to find things easily accessible

See to me we are talking about 2 different things. I gave very specific examples of pattern fishing. (docks, outside weed edges, inside channel swings) That is when you figure out the spot on the spot and you run to similar places on the lake fishing those distinct spots. The fish are around the deep docks, you determine this by prefishing aka practice days. During this time you cover water marking areas that you caught fish. Then you go back to these areas and fish them thoroughly to try and figure more things out. If you can figure out that the fish are around the docks and you can duplicate this on multiple areas of the lake. Now you have found a pattern. that is going to be the most efficient in regards to cast to catch ratio. So now there is no need to waste casts "saturating" an area, because based on prefishing you determined a specific pattern. If I have found that fish are holding under deeper water docks, why waste time casting to every target in the area especially the shallow ones? Also many times there are more than one pattern happening. Early in the year will find most guys fishing spawning bass while others are fishing for the prespawners in deeper water areas near the spawning flats. Right now at my lake there are multiple patterns, ledges that drop off into deeper water, deep brush piles and the shallow water shade pattern If I have to "saturate" an area, I'm not fishing a pattern- I'm fishing an area. If I am "saturating" an area I am also making many casts without catching fish. Most tourney guys are looking for active fish, not ones that are going to eat up their tourney time trying to make them bite When MLF rolled out their tourneys (BPT), you saw a lot more guys fishing an area for every fish Because they all counted. Once they changed to a minimum weight limit guys were "running and gunning" to their best spots and not "saturating" an area with casts to catch every one pound fish This has been the tourney conundrum for years, do I stay or do I go? Sometimes it will have to do with the individual person; a jig fisherman like Hackney is more prone to saturate an area because of how he chooses to fish. Someone else like KVD is going to be more likely to "run and gun" based on his style. So waste time by saturating an area with casts or waste time by running spot to spot? As far as the example @Jaderose gave, he saw a guy doing neither . That guy was just covering water. He wasnt thoroughly fishing an area and he wasn't running any type of pattern

Or you're pattern fishing. There are a lot of times when different patterns are productive. So you run 1 set of docks and gun your way over to the next set of docks. Docks can also be points, grass lines, break lines at a specific depth, laydowns, standing timber, stumps etc.... Most of my tourney success came when I could run a pattern. Then you form a milk run of these various spots and you continue to cycle through them Tournament guys do this all the time

We have a sign at my work that says: Rear entrance for employees only Aint that the truth

When I was a concrete finisher, I was always slapping on the bag balm on my cracked finger tips always seemed to help