New to the site and tournament world

[Stephen Gallmeyer]

Morning everyone, I've bass fished for awhile now but mostly bank fishing in ponds or renting a boat on chickahominy lake. I was looking to get into tournament fishing and a forum on bass pro's site said join my local bass club but I'm not sure how to go about it so I was looking for a direction to go. Thank you in advance

[SWVABass]

Search your state bass nation, they usually have info about clubs somewhere on there. That’s if you want to go with BASS.

 

as far as flw associates clubs and tournaments I can’t help you there. Sorry.

[Fishes in trees]

To find out about local clubs, your quickest option, imo, is to go to the best tackle shop in your region and inquire.  They ought to know.  A cautionary tale, some local clubs are kinda inbred, in that they might want your tournament donations, but they don't particularly want you.   I've had that experience, fishing lakes that were extremely familiar to everyone but me, and guys, not necessarily steering you wrong, but definitely not steering you right in terms of what to bring and how to approach a given lake.  As a rookie fishing out of a bass boat and fishing in the back of the boat, it left a sour taste in my mouth on the subject of local bass clubs.   I had an unpleasant couple of years, I would venture that there are clubs out there that don't treat rookies that way.

 

An option is doing BFL as a co-angler.   I learned more in one season fishing BFL than I did fishing a local club for 3 years.   There is a lot more information out there now than there was in 1990.  A lot of my learning was trial & error, until I met an up and coming regional pro who readily shared information about conditions, gear to bring, everything about the tournament scene.

 

The best information that I can offer about co-angler tournament fishing is buy a good rain suit and get a life jacket that fits.  Pretty much everything else is very regional and I don't know much about fishing in Virginia.

[Troy85]

Facebook is a good place to check.  You can do group searches for Bass groups in your area.  Such as " Virginia Bass fishing".  Join those groups and post questions about local clubs or tournaments. 

 

A lot of areas will do Evening tournaments in the spring and summer.  Around here they are mostly on Wednesday or Thursday evenings, blastoff at 5pm.  Could be different where you live, but around here most of the evening tournaments are open to anyone.  A lot of guys that fish them are also in clubs.  Its a good way to get acquainted with some of the club guys before committing. 

[redux]

I did a BFL a few weeks back and I learned a ton about the tournament world. Not much about fishing, per se, but a lot about tournaments and tournament anglers--the lifestyle, the mind set, losing the winning fish, the bitter face of defeat, missing the check you need to pay your bills...the stuff you only learn in the real world by failing or seeing someone fail right on front of you.

 

I went in with no goals of even catching a fish. I just wanted to learn so the entire experience was a huge win for me. Think about getting into tournaments as a learning experience first and a chance to win money and/or bragging rights as a second or third goal. Personally, I think of fishing as a way to become a better person by facing down adversity not as a way to earn a pay check or an ego stroke. Anyway...

 

I got in late in the season so I only have 1 more BFL for '19 and I am already planning to register for all of '20 when it opens.

[TOXIC]

Give Hookers Bait and tackle a call they run a trail in your backyard.  

 

https://www.hookerbaitandtackle.com/