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Bass Tournament Preparation

by Kevin Patton

This 20-inch bass was caught from the end of a boat dock. It bit a black Uncle Josh Porker, nose hooked and fished weightless.

Tournament fishing can be a hair-pulling experience, but trying to pre-fish for a tournament can be even more frustrating.

Tony Lynn and I spend part of April 16 and 17 pre-fishing Spring Lake North for some friends who had an April 19 tournament at the lake.

My starting point for preparing for a tournament is to look at any fishing logs that I have kept about the lake. I'm looking for information such as fish locations and successful lures used during the same time frame as the tournament. Sifting through this information can at least give you some ideas.

I also refer to log entries for such things as wind direction and water temperature, figuring that the closer actual conditions can be duplicated, the more chance exists for repeated success.

Based largely on the wind direction, sky conditions, and time of year, I make a "game plan." It includes selecting lures, choosing spots to fish, and deciding in what order that I will fish those areas. Make a game plan, but keep it simple.

Tony caught this 18 1/2-inch bass using a black and blue Senko, Texas-rigged and fished weightless with a 1/0 hook.

Pre-tournament practice is the time to experiment, so that you don't spend your tournament day taking boat rides and constantly changing lures.

Of course, all the usual preparation of changing line on reels, sharpening hooks, checking the weather, and tying on your starting lures for the tournament are taken for granted.

There are different schools of thought about when you should pre-fish for a tournament. Some anglers will fish right up to the night before the tournament, while others like to give their areas at least a couple days rest before the competition.

I'm sure that both strategies have worked at times and both also have bombed. You'll just have to do what your experience dictates.

It is a cliche, but during practice you should fish at various depths and speeds. Experiment with the colors, sizes, and actions of your lures. The main thing is to have an open mind.

It is important to be honest about what pre-fishing tells you about how you should spend your tournament day.

Is there a weather change coming that will move the fish because of sky conditions and a shift in wind direction? A feeding bite can become a reaction bite and vice versa in a hurry.

This 18-inch keeper bit a brown jig and trailer. Slow-falling lures and vertical presentations caught fish on this sunny, calm day.

This was the scenario for our friends as a cold front was due to pass through the area on tournament day, while our pre-fishing days were totally different conditions. For them, the sky will darken, the wind will shift, and it will rain.

Whereas fishing during the practice days was generally slow, except for three nice keepers, the fish may become active during the passage of the front. Our slow presentations may be less efficient if bass become active and chase down lures.

If this happens, you don't need to totally abandon your successful pre-fishing areas. The fish may move, but probably not far. The mood of the bass may change, but modifying your presentation may still catch fish in the area.

Two of our keepers were caught on the very end of boat docks, with a black Uncle Josh Porker and a brown jig with brown craw trailer. Another keeper was caught on a black and blue Senko, fished with a 1/0 hook for a very slow fall. It was caught where a sea wall meets some shoreline rip rap.

If you like to fish at Spring Lake, these guys may object to your efforts to catch fish from their dock.

When we returned to where the two keepers were caught the first day, we failed to boat a fish the second day. Fishing was tough.

No two fish were caught with the same lure nor in the same area. With a weather change coming that would change conditions for the tournament, what should we tell our friends?

My advice was to fish in the general areas where the keepers were caught, using your six most productive lures for this lake during this time of year. My guess was that fish would become active and the slow presentations used in practice would be less productive than fishing with faster-moving search baits. If these areas do not produce, I told them to fish their best areas from past experience.

The main thing is don't just point your boat down a shoreline and fish. Use your previous experience on the lake, even if it means throwing practice out the window.

When pre-fishing is a contrast to tournament day, you may need to pick your best lures, your most productive areas, and just go fishing.

A free log book is available at: Fishing Log