Tournament Post Mortem

[FA18Drvr]

First tournament today. Pre-fished the lake and of course the conditions changed. Today the water temp was 1.5 to 2 degrees colder than practice at 59 today. 

 

Up off banks and cover spinners and chatter worked. Today was difficult to find the bite. With a frontal passage and cold front where would the bass be?

[Angry John]

Pushed back one stage.  If they were in the back of the cove now there at the first transition.  

[Catt]

I would have fished slower & tighter to cover ?

[senile1]

The bass have left the lake and are down at the local bar doing shots.

 

My apologies for not being helpful but I just couldn't resist, not to mention that the posts above pretty well covered it.

[WRB]

The surface water temps dropped from 61 to 59 and the conditions changed how?

Storm front, high wind, rain? 

The bass were more then likely pre spawn, you didn't mention any beds, so I would fish deeper breaks 15'-20' because that Is where normally fish during pre spawn.

It's frustrating trying to catch transition cruisers and try to avoid small males, I am looking for the fat girls.

Tom

[FA18Drvr]

Tom,

 

There was a weak cold front that pushed through Saturday night. Wind, rain and drop in both air temps and water temp. Saturday during practice the surface water temp was 61 and we caught fish in back of creeks in shallow water against banks and around laydowns. 

 

Sunday was cold and overcast. We ended up moving back to looking for fish off rocky secondary points at entrance to creeks. Found fish in 15 to 20 feet. Just wondering if we should have tried anything different. 

 

Ended up with a bag but only 6.65lbs. Bag in front of our weigh in was 15 plus. We caught our fish on spinner and swim baits. 

 

One thing I'm struggling with is if I see fish on graph should I keep changing presentation until we catch or just stick with baits that we caught on earlier?

 

DJ

[Angry John]

If you had a cold front downsize and fish slower.  If I can see them I'll dropshot.

[FA18Drvr]

7 minutes ago, Angry John said:

If you had a cold front downsize and fish slower.  If I can see them I'll dropshot.

Do you go to a spot and graph and if you see fish then stop and fish?

[Angry John]

Most of the lakes I fish we fished last season.  We have some spots picked out and we check those first.  If the are not playing then we motor around looking to see where they went.  If a cold front hits we look for the first dropout or deeper spot next to where we were catching them.  Most of the time their mood is off and they are a little harder to convince.  I will dropshot, downshot a 3 or 4" easy shiner, or drag a jig or carolina.  I start small and if I catch I will increase size depending on the quality of the fish.

[Catt]

Most generally under those conditions the bass will drop back 1 or 2 breaklines from where they were & hold tight to or in cover.

[WRB]

Agree with Catt, the shallow 3'-5' bass were probably in about 8' very tight to structure or in cover, just need to fish slow and put jigs or worm/craws on their nose. The 15'-20' bass were probably there before and after the front.

You found bass, just not the right size. Easy for me, I wasn't their! Tournaments are all about making decisions, sometimes we are right.

Tom