Tournament Help

[jbsoonerfan]

Okay guys. I know some of you are successful tournament anglers so I have a few questions for you. First of all, this will be my third year fishing a tourney trail. My partner and I are great friends so we tend to try what ever works best. That being said, when you are fishing a tourney, are you and the other guy throwing different type of baits? For example...A spinner bait and a crank bait, or a jig and a worm? Also, are you fishing baits that require you to stay in one area for a long period of time...Soft plastic and jig? Do you mix and match.....soft plastic and lipless crank bait? Just trying to figure out a method to the madness. We usually tend to fish the same things at the same time due to how much water we are covering, but I am thinking maybe we need to change things up a little. I would appreciate any insight you guys could give me on how to attack a body of water with two people trying to land fish.

 

Thanks, JB

[WIGuide]

During a tourney I think the only time you should be throwing the same thing is if you've found a super strong pattern. Until then, I'd suggest throwing different baits. By doing so you're doubling your chances of finding what is going to work. If you both throw the same thing it's really no more productive than fishing by yourself. Normally, you only need to cover water until you find a decent pattern and then you can run that. If I'm fishing an area I know there's fish in, I'll slow down and fish it with a slower presentation. I've also found that if you let the person throwing the slower bait run the TM it works better then having the slower one in the back. If the slower presentation is in the front, the person throwing the faster bait can make multiple casts to a piece of cover or structure. If they're in front a lot of times they'll make a cast or two before moving on, meanwhile in the back the person using the slower presentation will get about 1 good cast if that. Hopefully this helps you out a little bit.

[1Boy1Girl]

My wife and I will almost always use different approaches.  More times than not it's a small change.  We change color and depth until the fish are found and that when we will usually use the same and saturate an area. Fish your strengths first and always!!!