managing time during tournaments

[Mobydick]

I have fished a few tourneys this year, and I think I need help managing my time. I feel like I am spending too much time with this lure and that lure and too much time in this spot and that spot, fishing rocks, or whatever the situation may be. Like the last tourney I did, during practice, I found fish on the current edges around larger rocks, on the up current side. During the tourney, I spent almost the entire day fishing these areas, and a few others. The fish just werent there. I knew that 3 of my 8 rods had something that would produce, a tube, rattletrap, and a senko. I made these rods top priority most of the day. How do you decide when to switch lures, how often if none of them are working? How do you decide where to fish, if you cannot find the fish, and how often do you switch to a different area, such as grass to rocks, shallow to deep, how much time do you spend on an area if it's not producing, but you feel it should? I just feel like I am making big mistakes in my time managing that is costing me in the long run. Thanks for any advice!

[Garnet]

Refer to Keeping a Log to help you make decisions.

Garnet

[Mobydick]

I look at my log before I go, but It seems that the presentations and areas are never the same.

[Garnet]

It's a never ending search, it's almost never the same as practice.

If conditions are near the same thats a start, you need to adjust. Sometimes you might change the rules maybe from trolling motor to drifting.

You might be fishing smallies in rivers and this time of year smallies make big moves so you make big moves.

It's called fishing and when you make the adjustments and do well it's great.

Garnet

[BillyBob]

Mobey, time on the water and experience are two things that give us all a better bag. But reading between the lines of your last tournament tells me that its probably your practice that tatooed you.

 Logging your practice isn't just where and how, but what time of day? sunny or cloudy? Windy or calm? Which way the wind is coming from and different patterns/bait, in a word RELATIONSHIPS. The more pieces of the puzzel you collect, the better picture you have!  

 I know its hard sometimes to ignore a good pattern and go looking for another, but you must. Winners go out on mulitple days with different weather for one reason, to match tournament conditions. Something as small as a wind direction change can matter. Theres books written on fronts, sun, clouds, structure, ect. and on tournament day you gotta be ready. Fish live in the water which is impacted by all this, and it in turn impacts them. The "where'd they go" is what perplexes most anglers and distinquishes the best from the rest!

 Sounds like your on the verge and with a little more water time you'll know what to do with your tournament time.

[Mobydick]

Mobey, time on the water and experience are two things that give us all a better bag. But reading between the lines of your last tournament tells me that its probably your practice that tatooed you.

Logging your practice isn't just where and how, but what time of day? sunny or cloudy? Windy or calm? Which way the wind is coming from and different patterns/bait, in a word RELATIONSHIPS. The more pieces of the puzzel you collect, the better picture you have!

I know its hard sometimes to ignore a good pattern and go looking for another, but you must. Winners go out on mulitple days with different weather for one reason, to match tournament conditions. Something as small as a wind direction change can matter. Theres books written on fronts, sun, clouds, structure, ect. and on tournament day you gotta be ready. Fish live in the water which is impacted by all this, and it in turn impacts them. The "where'd they go" is what perplexes most anglers and distinquishes the best from the rest!

Sounds like your on the verge and with a little more water time you'll know what to do with your tournament time.

Thanks! I dont think I was willing to switch patterns and places as often as I should to find the fish, but I think i'mm gonna do things a little different now.

[5bass]

When you build confidence in something during a practice period its very hard to pull anchor and move but it has to be done. Once you've established that the fish either are not there or are not biting, you HAVE to do something else. You can always come back and check your spots but finding something else is the most critical thing if you want to win a tournament.

If you found a bunch of fish in practice and you know they are still there, throw a reaction bait and make them bite. The reaction baits have a way of getting things going when the more subtle baits just aint cuttin' it. I'll give them a bunch of things to look at but if I go thru 7 or 8 different baits and get no bites, I'm out.  

Sometimes you just have to let your instincts take over when things aren't going the way you had it all planned out. Plans crumble, patterns crumble, fish get lockjaw, whatever it may be, you have to adjust to be successful. Fish live by instinct. Try to think like a fish when things get tough.  

[Tin]

Listen to your instincts, if you don't 9 times out of 10 you will be saying you should have after the T.

[Garnet]

When you start making the good decisions it will be easy. Or as previously said instinct will take over. The fish are giving you clues and those guys that are always cashing checks are making right adjustments.

Go back to your notes and read about how your days went and look for clues on adjustment you should have made and write that into your reports.

My notes go back to 1983 and I still read all of them at least once a year laugh and cry about the tourneys I gave away and still write should have done this notes.

Garnet

[fishfordollars]

Time on the water

Time on the water

Time on the water

Did you prefish?

When?

Did you get bit in the areas while prefishing?

Were you just fishing memories?

I will not stay if I am not getting bit. Time wise depends on my other areas that I located before the tournament(Prefish, Milk run).

Give us more info.

Were you fishing dock talk?

Were you fishing actual experiences?

Time between trips?

Did you prefish?

When?

Number of hours on the water prefishing?

[deadeye32.]

Like FiveBassLimit and a few others said confidence and instincts are huge.  I heard Gerald Swindle say this on a video and I totally agree, he said "the first second you begin to doubt your techniqe or spot, move".  If you dont feel like the next cast will be a fish, you are just wasting time in a spot.

[Mobydick]

Thanks guys!