Here in Iowa I seem to catch in a 8 hour day, around a average 12-14. Then a tournament happens on that same lake reaching around 18 lbs. I've fished only big baits to small baits. Graphed a great amount. So what am I missing? I know the top replies will be time on the water and I'm working on that.

Besides that what are some of your go to's to help you get over that hump?

 

More map study? 

More graphing?

What's the size of "kicker" fish in your area?

What lake is it?

You’re averaging 12-14 on a lake where tournaments are won with 18.   That’s pretty good.

In my area tournaments are won with 17-20 and I average about 3, so I’m missing it too 

What I've found is the smaller fish are easier to catch.  They don't have years of experience dealing with fishing pressure and recognizing lures behind them.  I do a lot of bank beating, and this is usually good for numbers, but so does everyone else in my area.  So the size of the fish you can find there usually aren't as good.  1-3 lbs on average.  My biggest fish have come from deeper waters way off the bank.  But I find it a lot harder to find and catch fish in deeper water, so I don't do it as often.  It's a lot easier to target a laydown you can see on the bank than a small rock pile on a point in the middle of the lake that you can only graph.  

 

So for me, to catch the big girls usually means giving up what's easy, and doing what's hard.  Not only that, but being good at doing what's hard.  Finding the fish that most other anglers pass up.  Because years of being passed up is what enables them to grow to those big sizes. 

If you asking how come you can’t catch 4 more lbs than your average on a certain day….

 

You didn’t fish where a few of the bigger ones were…

Or, your timing was off when you went where you were…

Or, You made the wrong bait choice for a bigger one to hit…

 

Point is averaging less than a pound a fish of a 5 bag weight on a specific outing can be anything. 

Just as your average or lower may win on certain days. 
 

I think you did a good job. 

 

 

 

Mike

 

You are only considering the winning bag average.  Look at what the whole field averaged on a tournament, and I'm sure you will find you are doing better than you thought.

A "spoonplugger" would inch out a tad bit deeper for those bigger bites. Outside of the spawn, those bigger fish don't like to move as much as the smaller ones, and prefer to stay a little closer to their "preferred depth"

 

There's always the exception though 

A “spoonplugger” trolls the lures and is DQ’d.

Average the top 10 in the tournaments, that is your target weight to earn a check.

How many man hours do you spend on the water to gain knowledge of the rhythm of your lakes and location of the bass over 4 lbs.  15 lb limit of 5 bass puts you in the top 10 outside the spawn cycle.

Lures that catch larger+sizecbass undervthecpressure of a tournament are the lures you are skilled using.

Tom

 

 

42 minutes ago, WRB said:

A “spoonplugger” trolls the lures and is DQ’d.

Maybe.. I never quite finished the book so I must have missed the trolling part... and my understanding of the word was what Google shows when "what is a spoonplugger" is typed in:  "Spoonplugging was the word that was coined by Buck Perry to describe the basic knowledge needed to become a successful fisherman. It means being at the right place at the right time, presenting your lures in the right manner to arrive at the fish consistently." ?‍♂️

If it truly does mean trolling then I'm dropping it from my vocab though... I had no idea

Buck Perry is known as the father of structure fishing and developed his theories by observation trolling lures. Perry developed a system of trolling metal spoon plugs that ran a specific depth. He created for several terms like “migration” meaning bass move or migrate along “structure breaks”.

If you interpret structure fishing as a “Spoonplugger” then it has some creedance.

Buck Perry down played the use of sonar and promoted his Spoon Plugs as the tool to locate bass, that is when he lost me. This was in ‘68 when sonar units were becoming popular and trolling wasn’t.

Trolling was very popular during early decades of bass fishing prior to modern tournament bass fishing that outlawed trolling.

Tom

Tournaments aren't won with average bags, they're won with the best bag.

 

If you average 12-14 and need 18 to win, you are a big kicker, or a couple better than average fish away. if anything, maybe spend a little more time specifically looking for that big bite or two, but don't mess up what's working trying to get a winning weight every time, you are doing good.