Tournament pre fishing

[Amitch81]

When you guys are pre fishing how long do you work a spot until you move on? I've seen guys fish the same spot for hours on end whether they are catching fish or not! I will usually give an area 45mins to an hour then I'll move else where! If I know a spots been producing I'll usually start deep and work my way in shallow taking note of any details! If I start catching fish I'll usually head out pretty quick

[walleye101]

Most of the time the angler has already done his homework on what's going on. But it all depends on what kind of bite it is and if your going for size or just #s. for me it's prob not much more than 30min or less per area after using electronics to put you on top of the fish. Sometimes just following your instinct is all you need to do.

[Phil T]

Years ago, there was a PWT Tournament about 12 miles from my house. The pros were selling the experience of fishing from a pro boat for $200 and the customer telling the pros their favorite hot spots on the lake.
There's one born every minute.

[thump55]

It depends if you are looking for spots, or if you are trying to fine-tune your presentation.

Looking for spots you can zip through pretty quick. If you have decided you are going to fish an area and want to find the best way to fish it, then maybe you spend a little more time.

Or what you may have seen was a guy who pulls up and catches a big one, and then sticks around a bit to see if it was a fluke, or if there are more.

If you aren't familiar with the spot, you may have to take a little more time also.

[CMesserschmidt]

Depends on the situation for us or lake....


If it's our home lake (take Mille Lacs for instance) I will just hit my normal spots where I always catch fish. If I catch them, I take note of that spot but I will NOT spend a lot of time on the spot because I know they're there so why stir the area up. Obviously you can't make everyone leave but for me and my boat it's one less boat on the spot. I then move to another and keep bouncing around.

Lakes I don't know though (like this weekends event) I would actually try a spot that looks good. If I get a fish, I want to see one more soon after, if not I move again.

But I look around a lot to try to find fish. Not just fish on the graph, I want to see big marks for big fish then I try and work that fish to see what they're interested in to put together a plan... Pay attention to your surroundings. If people are pulling in fish try and get an eye on what they're using and try the same.

[jhunter1]

I don't fish tournaments but I work hard to find the biggest fish and where to catch them daily. On my body of water I first try to find where there are, once I do I will make a few passes and try to find what color and presentation works best. If the weather doesn't change much then the areas to find them won't either. Usually after a half hour on a spot I can figure things out. If you catch one that's a start but two or three then you are on the right track. Any more than that then you aren't helping yourself for the next day. No matter where you are it comes down to finding where the fish want to be and how to approach them. It might take 10 minutes or an hour but I don't get when you keep catching fish after fish.

[Amitch81]

The area where the tournament is I've fished s handful of times!! Going to fish for a few days before the tourney to get an idea where the fish are at! And also try and hunt for some new spots! There's going to be 200 teams so having and assortment of spots won't be s bad thing! As of right now the first half of next week is going to be WINDY with some rain so I'm hoping the weather man is wrong!!!