How do yall prepare for tournaments.  I have one tonight from 6-10pm.  The tourny's are held every other Thursday..  This is how I prepare.

!st.    I put in a good action movie and crank up the surround sound that bounces off the tile like a rubber ball.

2nd.  I crank the A/C down to 72 and turn lights off.

3rd.   I make a sandwich,get chips,soda and all my tackle/rods and sit in front of the t.v.

4th.   I rig my rods and eat. I usually don't take more than 4 rods because it's dark out and hard to see them on the deck.

5th.   After rigging and eating I relocate to the garage and crank the stereo to Bocephus and load the boat with my gear and cooler of food.

6th.  Then the last hour before I leave I turn down the surround sound, lay on the couch and close my eyes.  I try to picture the bass eating my plugs/worms and practice setting the hook.  I try and vision the crowd cheering and chanting my name as I weigh in my catch.

7th. I get up, visit the "THRONE" one more time and out the door I go.

How do yall prepare?      

Man you need HELP. ;D

  This is how I prepare.

!st. I put in a good action movie and crank up the surround sound that bounces off the tile like a rubber ball.

2nd. I crank the A/C down to 72 and turn lights off.

3rd. I make a sandwich,get chips,soda and all my tackle/rods and sit in front of the t.v.

4th. I rig my rods and eat. I usually don't take more than 4 rods because it's dark out and hard to see them on the deck.

5th. After rigging and eating I relocate to the garage and crank the stereo to Bocephus and load the boat with my gear and cooler of food.

6th. Then the last hour before I leave I turn down the surround sound, lay on the couch and close my eyes. I try to picture the bass eating my plugs/worms and practice setting the hook. I try and vision the crowd cheering and chanting my name as I weigh in my catch.

7th. I get up, visit the "THRONE" one more time and out the door I go.

No kidding?

I used to spend several hours the week or few days before a tournament getting ready. Rigging up rods, makeing sure the right lures are packed for this tournament, and going over the boat/trailer. like I said it would take several hours, maybe all day if I had alot to do.

That was when I was single, now with wife, kid on the way, dog, house, more work, I might get an hour or so the night before a tournament, sometime I don't. and ussialy on the way to the touranemt I cranks some of my favorate tunes and try to relax and get everything about life out of my head, and think about one thing, catching bass. I haven't been able to relax and get everything off of mymind lately, and it has shown. i am having the worse year I have ever had in my club, number of tournaments are down. so last tournament I sat down and tried to relax and think "fishing". It worked, came in second( my rider came in first) got on the fish really good. Hopefully I can keep this up and get back in the top guys in my club. a little late, but hopefully not to late this year.

I have a saying on my wall in my garage. I should read it more often. It says "Failure to prepare, is prepaireng to fail"

How do yall prepare for tournaments. I have one tonight from 6-10pm. The tourny's are held every other Thursday.. This is how I prepare.

!st. I put in a good action movie and crank up the surround sound that bounces off the tile like a rubber ball.

2nd. I crank the A/C down to 72 and turn lights off.

3rd. I make a sandwich,get chips,soda and all my tackle/rods and sit in front of the t.v.

4th. I rig my rods and eat. I usually don't take more than 4 rods because it's dark out and hard to see them on the deck.

5th. After rigging and eating I relocate to the garage and crank the stereo to Bocephus and load the boat with my gear and cooler of food.

6th. Then the last hour before I leave I turn down the surround sound, lay on the couch and close my eyes. I try to picture the bass eating my plugs/worms and practice setting the hook. I try and vision the crowd cheering and chanting my name as I weigh in my catch.

7th. I get up, visit the "THRONE" one more time and out the door I go.

How do yall prepare?      

Wow, no kidding?

My preparation, the day before the T, I check the weather forcast first. Then it's off to my boat garage where I rig my rods and and organize my tackle according to the forecasted conditons and past experience on the body of water I'm going to.  Next, make sure boat is in order. That's bout it................

I used to spend several hours the week or few days before a tournament getting ready. Rigging up rods, makeing sure the right lures are packed for this tournament, and going over the boat/trailer. like I said it would take several hours, maybe all day if I had alot to do.

That was when I was single, now with wife, kid on the way, dog, house, more work, I might get an hour or so the night before a tournament, sometime I don't. and ussialy on the way to the touranemt I cranks some of my favorate tunes and try to relax and get everything about life out of my head, and think about one thing, catching bass. I haven't been able to relax and get everything off of mymind lately, and it has shown. i am having the worse year I have ever had in my club, number of tournaments are down. so last tournament I sat down and tried to relax and think "fishing". It worked, came in second( my rider came in first) got on the fish really good. Hopefully I can keep this up and get back in the top guys in my club. a little late, but hopefully not to late this year.

I have a saying on my wall in my garage. I should read it more often. It says "Failure to prepare, is prepaireng to fail"

Keep at it man, you know I'll pass on ANY current info to help ya out, always prepare and expect to succeed!

Best advice I can give is to study the wind for a week out.      I am firm believer that winds positions bait fish, and bait fish position the bass.

Knowing the prevailing winds if any, what storms are approaching helps me make mental notes as to "WHAT IFS"....What if it rains, what if a cold front passes?

Looking at maps, and having your tackle ready to go.    Having confidence in your approach goes a long way.      

I start doing small things weeks out, clipping line ties off all cranks and such.     Cleaning reels, checking eyes for dirt build up and cleaning them with Q-tips are just a few small things I do ever so often.

I don't wait to the last minute to re-string, clean reels and such, that makes for a long night, and

half of being prepared and ready is to get the proper rest the night before.

Hookem

Matt

Besides the research on weather, pre-fishing, etc., I normally take an hour to prep rods and boat. If it takes longer than an hour, it does. I don't leave anything to chance. By this time of year though, most things except for minimal boat maintenance and rod preparation are already done.

my tournament preparing starts well into a month or serveal months before my 1st tournament i start by putting on my fav group called 6th hour (local heavy metal christian band) then break out the topo maps i study them extisively then i'll have a buddy who has a boat take me on the lake i'll compaire the lake with the topo map to see how the enivirenment has changed. then i'll check out the hatch and look at migeration patterns as im checking everything out. i do mean researching it ( im a research geek so its no pressure to me) i8'll also watch how conditions change through out the day which will effect how i will fish. i'll also do some prefishing.

then its off to the local tackle shops i'll talk to the people there fishermen who are locals as well as the tackle owners them selves this also provideds a wealth of informantion. then i look for those old barber shops that always have s few old men hanging around i'll get a hair cut and start talking fishing its not uncommon here in the south to find an oldtimer whose fished the lake all his life, heres where i buy him a cup of cooffee and a game of checkers as we talk fish.

as the tournament approaches i check my fishing lines ,change lines as necsary, as i check out the weather i dicide what im going to bring since im a co angler im limited so i bring one tackle bag with and a fishing vest full of tackle so if conditions change suddenly im prepared to meet them.

i have my to go to lures tied on my rods that i'll start with, of course this may change once i talk to the boat owner he may have a differnt plan for fishing worse yet he may not even know what he's doing and i end up playing teacher and educator as well as menoter which is fine , on the other hand i may get the drawing of someone who actually knows what he he doing and we can intelligently discuss the game plan for the day, and work things out so that we both have a great tournament, if done right 2 guys can easily find a pattern and both of us get a limit in the boat and he can win as a boater and i win as a co angler, since i compete againist other co anglers the boat owner i will hope realizes im not competeing againist him, and we end up with a great day on the water.

one other thing ive had my dad hire guides to take us out we'll mark thhe spots via hand held gps. the reason why is many tournament anglers do the same thing and know those sposts them selves so those are spots to avoid and its better to come up with your own spots which does avoid trouble.