How do you prepare for a tourney?

[walleye king]

I am just curious how some of you experianced tourney fisher people's prepare for an upcoming tourney.

Michael

[hgmeyer]

Animal sacrifies and pagan rituals seem to help my performance...LOL

Seriously, details, pay attention to the smallest of details, have your gear in good shape and then develop a plan...

[Stacker1]

I am not sure of what aspect you are looking for, pre fish, night before, 5 months before, oir what? So I will say this.

Great question.

I will answer about the night before. After the rules meeting I like to clear my head of all thoughts about fishing. By this time I have decided where I am going and what I am doing and really do not care to hear much more. I take the confusion factor out. Sit down and have a nice meal, probably aint had one in a couple days, and relax my mind. If my mind is relaxed, I am relaxed and I am able to JUST GO FISHING IN THE BEST SPOTS I HAVE FOUND AND NOT WORRY ABOUT OTHER SPOTS. I won't be looking for new spots during the tourney anyhow.

[Chad]

Pre fishing...You need to figure out where the fish are, why they are there and try to figure out where they will be if things change. Cold front may push them deeper, etc....


ChadM

[Juls]

It's pretty simple really...

***Make lodging reservations months in advance....check
***Clean house before leaving....check
***Pack the usual clothes...warm weather and cold weather gear...check
***Grab the "kitchen box" (coffee pot, crock pot, toaster, skillet, etc.)...check
***Unload and reload the boats with the tackle used at a specific body of water...check
***Pay any bills on the desk before leaving town....check
***Tell neighbors what days we'll be gone, so they can get mail...check
***Pack the dog stuff....check
***Go to store for travel food and beverages....check
***Make sure the right chip is in the GPS and grab appropriate maps...check
***Cut the grass/weed gardens the night before we leave....check
***Get to bed early and pack trucks in the morning...check
***Leave at 8am to get through Chicago between rush hours...check
***Both jump in our own trucks and enjoy the QUIET rides....heheh

Get to destination and start fishing/searching. Engage locals in conversation. And, most important of all, keep your ears open and your mouth shut.
Oh, oh, oh...and most importantly, don't TRUST anything another competitor tells you regarding the fishing! Do your own thing.;)

Juls

[dutchboy]

Juls, I'm confused by this statement.......



Oh, oh, oh...and most importantly, don't TRUST anything another competitor tells you regarding the fishing!


You aren't saying that a person could get false information are you?
:shame: I've always trusted that anything I was told would be valuable info and was for my use. :duh: Maybe that's why I'm always getting skunked. :confused:

As for a serious response, just follow the leaders around you will find fish. :sorry:

[thump55]

There are a million things to do to prepare, but most important to me would be to have a prefishing plan. The more efficently you prefish, the better you will do on tournament day. Look at the weather, decide what spots to hit on what day, and do it. Trust yourself, don't be chasing bait shop stories. Have your gear ready and fish. Keep records of fish caught so you can fish more efficiently next year.

Dave S

[Juls]

Yep, Dave S. gave the best advice. That nailed it perfectly.

Juls
p.s. Dutchboy, heheh...yep, that's what I'm saying alright! ;)

[Burr]

Keep records of fish
>caught so you can fish more efficiently next year.

Although I'm sure these records would be well guarded - I'm going make a streach and say I don't think there are many pro's that actually document their days on the water.

Lots of them rely on memory, but I don't think there are a great deal that actually record information with either a pencil or a computer.

Maybe I'm wrong, JMHO. I do think it would improve your odds over the years.

[Lundman 1660]

If you are fishing with a partner make sure you are on the same page.If they do something you dont like, tell them!!!! Dont waste too much time in one spot if the fish arent there. Even if you caught them there pre-fishing.Most of all HAVE FUN!!!! Dont take it too hard if you dont cash checks. Fishing tournaments is a blast even if you dont get in the money. Although that makes it even better.

Have Fun and good luck!!!
Lundman

[Trent]

Not trying to start anything just letting you know that i have a log that is now 37 pages long. It is in as much detail as i needed to explain to myself, weather, water temp, time of year, size of fish how many fish, speed and presentation. All of this a running record of my tourny escapades good or bad. I use it all of the time and it does put me on the same fish on different bodies of water year after year. Try this and you will swear by it.

Trent

[ArtCo-Unlogged]

Don't be cheap. How so? A couple of years ago, my wife and I were fishing a two day tourney. Previous to fishing I checked everthing out, or so I thought. The main battery was three years old and I should have replaced it at the beginning of the year. Well cheapo me...the first day of the tourney after trolling for 5 hours with a couple of fish in the boat, the live well is running, and two locators, and the kicker motor at the time was a pull start with no juice going back to the main battery to keep it charged. Just for grins, I try to start the big motor, nada, dead. About this time my wife said we're snagged on the bottom, not so fast, fish on. I didn't have jumper cables so I proceed to yank one of the trolling batteries from the front and in doing so knock off the elbow from the front livewell and now water is pouring into the boat, in the mean time my wife is screaming..."it's a walleye and it's big. So with nothing working electrically, I grab a small cooler and start filling the rear livewell by hand and start removing the fish from the front livewell to the rear, and add some ice to boot. I cut the kicker motor and land a 9 pound plus wallaye while we are ankle deep in water. Then I go to the front of the boatand try to fix the broken livewell hose, all the while my wife is yelling at me for having an old battery at the same time my rear end is pointing skyward trying to fix this leak.. By the way, always carry a leatherman or three in the boat. After the leak is fixed. I change the battery, start the big motor up, get the rear livewell pumping, get the bilge going, bring in three tangled lines and head to the weigh-in site so I don't lose weight. But for the day, we did get big fish, 2nd place overall, and first for mixed couple. And, Me..... A verbal lashing from my wife for being so cheap.
Oh and another time before a tourney, I changed plugs but didn't try to start the boat until the first morning...Stupid, change the plugs and then put muffs on the motor and, make sure it starts in the driveway before you hit the water.

Carry tools, spare prop, parts, wire, fuses,jumper cables (8 bucks)livewell pumps, oil, voltage meter, oil, and lastly a little prayer once in a while....

Art

[Juls]

Hehehe...good advice told with a great story! Thanks for the laugh...:)

Juls

[ArtCo]

My very weathy Chinese friend would be offended if I called that episode a *&^%^&* fire drill. It was more like Moe, Larry, and Curly all wrapped up into one person....Me. By the way, you won't believe this but, a couple of months ago I told my wife, that I think Ranger's main battey is ready to go south and she said' Let go for a battery" like she didn't trust me or something. While getting the starting battery she asked" what about the trolling baterries"? Like a dummy I said'' Their fine"". I'll never learn. Man, if she's buying, I should have grabbed them just for grins......LOL

[Juls]

"Like a dummy I said'' Their fine"". I'll never learn. Man, if she's buying, I should have grabbed them just for grins......LOL"

Hehehe...I think maybe, just maybe (?), that might have sunk in now. Your wife sounds like a very smart woman.;)

Juls