Getting Started Tournament Fishing

Tournament fishing has grown massively in the past ten or so years. There are lots of different trails and they chase lots of different species. No matter what, there is probably a trail that fits your style. Now let’s say that you want to get started in competitive fishing tournaments. Start off by searching for clubs and tournament trails in your general area. Some trails have people fishing as partners and weighing in fish as a team, while other trails have people fishing solo. You can narrow down your search based upon whether you want to do teams or solo, if it even makes a difference to you. I personally would recommend just getting out on a trail before narrowing down whether you want to fish as a team or solo. Once you find a club or tournament trail that you think may be good for you, reach out to either the tournament director or even a fishing forum that may have information regarding their ability to get a non-boater paired up with a boater. Some tournament trails do this very well, while others are somewhat lacking in this area. Now that you have gotten signed up for your first tournament and paid any entrance fees there may be (this can widely vary from trail to trail), what should you bring to your first tournament? For non-boaters, I would recommend bringing around four to five rods. Assuming you can throw a baitcaster, I would recommend bringing one spinning rod and three to four baitcasting rods. When it comes to tackle, I would recommend going light on your first trip. Bring maybe a small tackle bag or a fishing backpack, with a bunch of soft plastics, terminal tackle, and hard baits. Perhaps most importantly among your gear is your PFD. You need to have a PFD with you. I would recommend packing your PFD first in order to not forget it. Also be sure to bring a snack with you, as you may get hungry during the tournament. Now that you are packed, remember that it is just a tournament. The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy your time on the water. As long as you relax and enjoy your time on the water, you’ll be alright.

#gethooked #louslures

Fishing the Fall Transition

Fall starts when the air and water temps start dropping from the summer's Mid 80's and 90's to the mid 70's. The days become shorter and there is less sun light. These are all triggers for the Bass to instinctively know the fall is here. The fish do the same thing every year. They go through the 3 stages of fall.

• Early Fall Patterns

• Mid Fall Patterns "The Feeding Frenzy"

• Late Fall transition - Fish heading to the Winter pattern

1. Early Fall Pattern:

Where are the bass at you ask? They start moving from deeper water. They are following the bait. Where the bait goes the Bass go. The bait is going to make a shallow movement upward towards creeks, pockets, shoals and humps. you want to look for the stopping places. These bass are going to stop on points, docks, lay-downs and even points of grass. Try tossing some cranks, jigs and even topwater.

2. Mid Fall Pattern: "The Feeding Frenzy"

Air and water temps are really starting to drop now. You are seeing 70's or even60's. Time to break out the hoodies and gaiters. Short days now have the bass following bait deep into the creeks, pockets, shoals, humps and flats. You should be able to grab them on spinner baits, cranks, top water. They are feasting now! But unfortunately this all comes to an end and goes into the 3rd transition. The most tricky of the 3 phases. Late fall!

3. Late Fall Transition: the water and air temps are dropping even more and the bass are heading out of the creeks and pockets and off the shoals and flats. WINTER is coming and the fish know it. This isn't sooo bad because guess what? They are coming back the same way they came in. They will stop at all the same points, lay-downs, docks and other cover they hit on the way in. The bass will not be feasting but most likely they will be all stacked up! If you find them it wont be hard to #GETHOOED. Then comes the winter pattern and I chase the big crappie and perch!

Crank Bait Fishing...

Crank baits happen to be one of my favorite ways to fish. Cranks baits are like a Rhino smashing through cover and rocks to create chaos and get that fish to bite. I like them because they are a great way to cover water and locate fish. Crank baits will dive any where from 1 - 20 feet. I personally like to fish the shallow ones and up to 10 feet deep. Here are a few...

1.5 & 2.5" Squarebills: Squarebill cranks are great for shallow water up to 5' deep. They get used with a variety of retrieves. You can burn them and get them to look like they are hunting through the rocks or give them a little reel, pause, reel technique. They will cover a lot of water and are a great fish locator.

Deep Divers: Deep Diving baits will range anywhere from 10 to 20 feet deep. I use these at the drop offs when the fish are suspended in deeper water and want to chase these off the ledges. Use these on them hot summer days when the bass are bidding down deep. You can also run them along or above the deep weeds.

Lipless: These lipless have a wide variety of ways you can use them. You can slow roll them, burn them fast, the yo-yo technique or pop them on and off the bottom. These baits produce many strikes on the move. These are another great bait to cover a bunch of water real fast. Be creative!