your first experiences

[BassNub]

If you don't mind sharing your feelings about when you first entered or started the think about entering a tournament

I myself is thinking about entering into one but I'm a bit less confident about myself and a bit scared. Not sure of what I'm really scared of but just that feeling of being scared. I don't know a few people says that I just need a push.

My confident for myself to place fish in a tournament is very low because I've never really fished on a boat, just rentals.

anything helps thanks!

[Olebiker]

You have probably heard it before, but I will tell you again: Join a club. Join a club that accepts non-boaters and tell the guys what your situation is. You will be peasantly surprised at how generous most club fishermen are.

Also, read this article: http://ezinearticles.com/?Tournament-Bass-Fishing,-Is-it-for-You?&id=628703. I found it very helpul.

[zbass]

If you think it would be fun, then it will be. Don,t get too worked up over it. You may psych yourself out before you get there.

My first tourny didn't start great. Just bought a boat the year before in the fall, then joined a club. the very first tourny I planned to fish was 1.5 hrs from the house. Got all geeked up the night before, everything was ready. Didn't sleep the night before. Left early, got ready to start the boat to take it off the trailer, NO KEYS!!!!!! :'( Didn't have a spare either.

Now it is a memory and we can laugh about it. At the time you could fry and egg on my head I was sooooo pis@#$@!

It'll be good if you enjoy fishing and remeber that that is all it is. Just fishing.

[fishfordollars]

Join a club and go have fun. Most clubs have more boaters than nonboaters so you should have no problem securing a ride each month. Another thing, don't pair up with just one member. The more members you fish with the more you will learn. After the first 6 months or so you will have an idea as to who you would prefer to fish with and then you can start thinking about pairing up for the next year if it is allowed.

Enjoy.

[BassNub]

thanks alot guys, i think that is just what i need, to join a club. thanks guys

[anglerEd]

Go for it man. My nerves were a wreck in my first tournament, but I had a lot built up in my mind just as you have. I fished hard for yaers before I went for it, and probably should have got involved earlier. Fishing is its own enjoyment, but the addition of competition is a whole new kind of fun. I have never had the back of boat club experience, but I am sure you will enjoy and learn from it.

[bedman]

I'm a big advocate of club fishing.  It's not so much the tournament setting, but getting to know the guys and learning new things that I enjoy most.  I had the same anxious feelings that kept me from joining for years, but once I met a few people and fished a few tournaments, things became a lot of fun.  Have fun and just enjoy each day on the water.

Bass clubs are a lot like other social circles too.  There's a lot of people in the group that you will seldom talk to or fish with, but there will be 2 or 3 guys that you will get to know really well and become good friends with.  This is the real joy of bass club membership.

[roadwarrior]

Not everyone would agree. My only tournament wasn't for money,

but I guess it wasn't for fun either. If you are a non-boater you are

at the mercy of the boater. My experience was neither enjoyable

or acceptable. Once was enough, I never went back.

>

[Bass Dude]

Just one more in agreement.  Join a club first.  You can get out at taste tournament fishing at a very low cost.  Plus, the guys in the clubs usually have a ton of local knowledge so you can really get a lot of info on how to fish your local waters.  Then there are the other guys that can simply flat out catch fish anywhere, you can learn even more from these guys.

I haven't had any experiences so bad that it turned me off of tournies, but you do get some annoying people in your boat.  It's not as bad when you're the boater though.   There are jerks everywhere and tournies are no exception >!!!   On the flip side, I have met a couple guys that I still keep in touch with from tournaments past.  

[MDbassinmike]

I was in a club for a number of years as a non-boater.  Nearly everyone in our club was a lot of fun to fish with.  However, like the previous poster said...there are exceptions.  I guess you got to take the bad with the good.

I really didn't have a problem as a non-boater though because we had a rule that for half of the day the non-boater got to choose the fishing hole and got to run the trolling motor, and believe me there were times when I took advantage of that rule.

I was in the club for six years and I qualified for our state tournament every year I fished, and for the most part it was at these state tournaments that I had the most rude boaters.  Attend a club meeting or two before you fish to see if you get along with the group, if not find another one and attend their meetings.

And then just fish and have fun.

[flippincrazy]

its fun, just keep it fun, local club is probably the way to go

[FD.]

Here is my first

I can still smell the 2 stroke burning in the morning air.

Join a club

fish as a non-boater

take 3 rods

your 6 favorite lures

a camera

life jacket

lunch

and have fun

Don't worry about catching fish, just enjoy the moment. There will be plenty of time to obsess over 14 rods, a wheelbarrow full of lures and whether or not your boater was a moron while you are getting ready for your 2nd tourney.

[fourbizz]

It just happened.

Buddy called 3 days beforehand and askedme to fish one with him cause his other buddy backed out. I said sure. Went down the day before and prefished. The event was pretty fun, 82 teams, and we won. Pretty cool experience.

Tournaments are like that "other" experience when you are a young teenager. You build it up in your head as some huge deal, then it finally happens and you realize that although pretty fun and awesome, it probably got built up too much ;D

[Pitchinkid]

Man its a blast. The first tournament i fished was a Sportmart tournament called the Trail of Dreams. I think i slept 10 mintues the night before,i was so excited. I had a 84 Glassport w a 50 HP evinrude on the back, in "beautiful" Brown and tan glitter. lol  It floated, that's what i liked about it. There were 50 some boats in the tournament, we 16th coming out. When they said 16, we took off, shortly after we could still hear 17, zoooooooooooooom, 18, zoooooooooooooooom, 19 zoooooooooooooooom, lol it was amusing. Neither me or my partner have ever fished the lake before, we  caught around 30-40 fish, we weighed in 2. i have never seen that many 11" fish in my life. we ended up finishing 8th and out of the money, but it was definitely an awesome experience that i learned a lot from. I guess all i got to say is don't get caught up in fishing against the clock or others, just go out and fish the way you usually do as if its just another day of fishing.

[Olebiker]

Tournaments are like that "other" experience when you are a young teenager. You build it up in your head as some huge deal, then it finally happens and you realize that although pretty fun and awesome, it probably got built up too much ;D

Kinda like our honeymoon.