tournament question

[Andy Halford]

I am a new comer to bass tournaments.  I was wondering if anyone had any advice on what cover or where to fish if I have not had time to pre fish the water I am having the tournament on....      Thanks for any help and if I possibly win the tournament I'll give most credit to you.. Ha ha!

[thetr20one]

Welcome. I think most guys would agree that you need to provide more lake and conditions details!

[ba7ss3in]

Welcome, find a map

[jrhennecke]

Welcome!

[Grey Wolf]

WELCOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you fish better then you explain things.

[BASS fisherman]

The answer to your question would fill a whole book.

Basically it depends on the season, water temperatures, water clarity, moon phase, how pressured the waterway is etc........

Check out the articles on the site here.  You will find hundreds of great articles with really helpful information.

http://www.bassresource.com/fish/bass_fishing_articles.html

[BassinAssassin171]

Welcome! Yeah, and like previously said, that could fill a book... but I would start off new waters with fish finder baits, stuff to cover a lot of water with like lipless cranks or spinnerbaits.  I would also suggest taking your question over to the Tournament Talk section and see if anyone there can more accurately answer you

[Zel]

I've recently seen or heard something mentioned (not sure if it was here), but looking back I would have to agree. It went something like this (as best as I can recollect). When fishing a new lake, find conditions (structure, points, weeds, depth, clarity) in the new lake that are similar to lakes you fish and are comfortable with, and duplicate them with lures you are confident in. It's worked in tournaments for me.

Oh yeah... WELCOME!

[Bassnbrett101]

ditto, fish what your comfortable with

[WRB]

Every once in awhile a tournament fisherman will contact me to help them with the subject question of where to start to fish because they never have fished a particlar lake before and don't have the time to pre fish.

1. The fisrt thing you need is a good topo map or electronic GPS Navonics map. Then you need to survey the lake via sat maps.

2. To determine where you plan to study the map, you need to know the seasonal period the bass are in on that particular lake.

3. You need to determine what classification the lake is and the map should help to solve that issue.

4. You should try to determine what the primary prey source is and the lake classification and regional location should help.

5. The type of bass the lake has; LMB, FLMB, spotted or smallmouth bass. The regional and lake classification information should help with that.

If the question was asked today, the seasonal period would depend on the lake location; more than likely pre-spawn, spawn or post spawn periods. This would allow you to focus on where the spawning flats are located and the likely staging areas near those flats. The bass should be located either on the first deep breakline or up on the spawning flats. Study the maps, the sat over head views, starting on the northwest central area of the lake and work towards the areas that should be wind protected with access from deeper to shallower water.

Each seasonal period has it's specific migration zones and prey preferences. This is the reason why you need to learn about seasonal periods, before you can become a successful tournament angler.

Fishing skills require knowledge along with the lure presentations, tackle and lure selection to catch bass consistantly.

WRB

[D.Cox]

Welcome. Fish the bait that you have confidence in.

[fishfordollars]

Welcome. Get a map. Study it, find the water that fishes to your strengths and get after it.

[fishizzle]

Find an area that is similar to an area on a lake you know well and fish your strength

[WTRDOG]

Depending on the time of the year you can't go wrong fishing points on the lake with a deep diving crank or a heavy spinnerbait.

[XcoM274]

Man that's quite a question. Look shallow this time of year and depending on where you are you should look for beds. You can't go wrong fishing soft plastics slow and steady. Send a jig or dropshot and you will eventually catch fish. The trick would be locating likely areas with a map and starting there when you actually go fishing.