New to tournament fishing

[carfreac18]

Hey everyone, I started fishing a local tournament with a guy I work with this year. I have always fished ponds and I always catch stuff at ponds. now we moved to bigger lakes and I'm having a hard time catching anything. first tournament we brought in 5.82 lbs i believe it was, which was a decent bag compared to what everyone else got that night. now its been 3 straight weeks of blanks and I have thrown everything I know to throw and haven't caught a thing. 

So what I'm wondering is if you guys have any articles that will help with understanding bass (large and small mouth), as in what they do during certain weather conditions or water temps. I am willing to do as much research as I can to help myself get farther in this sport and I also do understand that a lot of this does come with experience but I want to do as much research as possible.

[Advantage]

7 minutes ago, carfreac18 said:

Hey everyone, I started fishing a local tournament with a guy I work with this year. I have always fished ponds and I always catch stuff at ponds. now we moved to bigger lakes and I'm having a hard time catching anything. first tournament we brought in 5.82 lbs i believe it was, which was a decent bag compared to what everyone else got that night. now its been 3 straight weeks of blanks and I have thrown everything I know to throw and haven't caught a thing. 

So what I'm wondering is if you guys have any articles that will help with understanding bass (large and small mouth), as in what they do during certain weather conditions or water temps. I am willing to do as much research as I can to help myself get farther in this sport and I also do understand that a lot of this does come with experience but I want to do as much research as possible.

If you're used to fishing ponds (that typically are private and not pressured much) and can catch fish almost on demand...prepare to be disappointed a lot on bigger public lakes. They get hammered all the time, and by knowledgeable fishermen. And the fish learn early to keep their mouths shut. 

That being said...go finesse when it gets tough. I.E.: spinning gear with light line (flurocarbon even) and light/small lures that others aren't throwing but still as natural as the clarity of the water allows.

[carfreac18]

the ponds i fish are very pressured public ponds, all strip mine ponds and I sometimes have to almost fight people off of the ponds I'm at, and I have been using small everything and haven't been able to get anything

[Bluebasser86]

http://www.bassresource.com/fishing-tournament-tips/

[Advantage]

9 hours ago, carfreac18 said:

the ponds i fish are very pressured public ponds, all strip mine ponds and I sometimes have to almost fight people off of the ponds I'm at, and I have been using small everything and haven't been able to get anything

Cool, just stick it out and don't give up! There are tons of good fishermen on this site and vast majority are very helpful. Most times I can catch fish but there are times when I get blanked...take last Thursday night's tourney for example, only had 2 bites and missed both! Skunked! Lol 

No one did extremely well but several were still able to get some and put something together. And I'll still do everything I can this week too to put fish in the boat. I'm nothing if not resilient! Lol 

Hang in there bud!