I have a bass tournament coming up on July 7th.  The tournament is a FLW BFL Great Lakes Division and will be on the Mississippi (La Crosse, Wisconsin), I will be a co-angler.  I plan on pre-fishing but are there any other tips anybody has so I may be better prepared.

get ready to fish some milfoil slop!

get ready to fish some milfoil slop!

You guys already have milfoil slop? The grasses have been really slow to grow in this year down in these parts.

 

@CDMeyer... since you're the co-angler I would focus on finesse presentations and try to get the fish that the boater misses   But seriously I'm not familiar with the area that you're fishing, so I don't know about patterns. Nor do I know the fishing style of your boater. I'd seriously focus on slower moving smaller baits if it were me though.

The biggest mistake I usually made during tournaments was to read too much past information on the lake. Not saying not to do that, but keep in mind that the past is the past. What worked last year/month/week may not get a bite this week.

Get on Google earth and look over every inch of the area you'll be fishing. I've found some great spots doing this that I would have never known existed. Stuff like offshore humps, long shallow points, hidden ponds connected to the lake, inflow areas, all stuff you can sometimes see from the overhead pictures. 

You guys already have milfoil slop? The grasses have been really slow to grow in this year down in these parts.

 

Not quite yet, but by july 7th there will be. And LaCrosse is the best milfoil slop fishin you can find. Just get your punchin rig and a frog ready and go to work.