Just curious, whats everyones game plan (besides go where the fish are biting) when the tournys starts at 6:00 am?

 

I see lots go straight for shallow water docks or shallow water stumps, and then I see others posting up at points.

 

I used to go into transition flats then work deeper as day goes on, but then I again I never was a season champion. ha

 

My gameplan is usually in place the night before based on prefishing.

While I'm prefishing I look to establish a pattern or areas that are holding fish.

Sometimes the pattern can be running docks, fishing points, flipping bushes or cranking transition areas.

If I can establish a pattern then I'll target the very best spot to catch the largest fish in that pattern first thing in the morning.

 

If I cannot determine a pattern, I try to find areas where I have caught multiple fish but haven't narrowed down a location or technique. Then I will try to break down these areas that are holding fish to become more efficient.

 

Sometimes all my prefishing does is established where they are not. hahahahaa

 

Some guys try to catch 5 quick ones and then spend the rest of the day trying to catch a kicker.

I do the opposite as there have been several times I cashed a check by throwing a spinning rod the last hour to catch 2 small ones to fill my limit. I've also only weighed in 3 fish before too, so its still a gamble

 

 

7 minutes ago, BassNJake said:

Sometimes all my prefishing does is established where they are not. hahahahaa

 

Ha, sometimes all my tourny fishing establishes where they are not.  

In money events on   large reservoir's tried to get a practice day or two in and try to find a spot that held fish , shallow or deep . In my early club days and usually on small waters , I mainly went shallow junk fishing . Put my trolling motor down and leave it down .

Last season and this season has been a big change for me. I work Tuesday through Saturday now and don't get a lot if any practice time for events. What I do now is wing it so to speak. I wait until everyone else is gone before I run and usually I stay close to the ramp. I do this because the waters near me are heavily pressured with tournaments and all the fish are released in the same area. Ill do this and just troll shallow water maybe hit a spot I see in the distance and so forth. No real planning ?. And actually I have been more successful this way. I won our last event and top 3 in our AOY race without prefishing a single event. I think it keeps me from over thinking everything.

1 hour ago, Chance_Taker4 said:

Last season and this season has been a big change for me. I work Tuesday through Saturday now and don't get a lot if any practice time for events. What I do now is wing it so to speak. I wait until everyone else is gone before I run and usually I stay close to the ramp. I do this because the waters near me are heavily pressured with tournaments and all the fish are released in the same area. Ill do this and just troll shallow water maybe hit a spot I see in the distance and so forth. No real planning ?. And actually I have been more successful this way. I won our last event and top 3 in our AOY race without prefishing a single event. I think it keeps me from over thinking everything.

1st and 2nd place in my last tourney never went further than 300 yards from where we launched. 

1 minute ago, Smalls said:

1st and 2nd place in my last tourney never went further than 300 yards from where we launched. 

Produces big bags and saves you a boat load (pun intended) because your not running all over the place wasting gas.

1 minute ago, Chance_Taker4 said:

Produces big bags and saves you a boat load (pun intended) because your not running all over the place wasting gas.

Worse... I’m a kayaker. I almost paddled the entire lake that day and never caught a limit. One of em said he caught almost 15 fish pitching 1 (ONE!) flooded tree. 

25 minutes ago, Smalls said:

Worse... I’m a kayaker. I almost paddled the entire lake that day and never caught a limit. One of em said he caught almost 15 fish pitching 1 (ONE!) flooded tree. 

This past event I won. I was about 200 yards from the launch and repeatedly trolled the same 50 yards bank flipping the same 3/8oz jig for 7 hours and weighed in a 12lb bag to win. Never cranked the outboard.  

1 hour ago, Chance_Taker4 said:

This past event I won. I was about 200 yards from the launch and repeatedly trolled the same 50 yards bank flipping the same 3/8oz jig for 7 hours and weighed in a 12lb bag to win. Never cranked the outboard.  

That’s awesome. I bet you could make a whole tank last all season and still kill it in the derbs