Regardless of whether you are a bass club tournament fisherman or if you are Roland Nixon, if you could select the body of water for your upcoming tourney would it be:
(a) a natural lake?
(b) a reservoir or dammed river?
(c) a river (or creek)?
JoeMo

My choice would be a tidal river. The tides predict the fishing, making it easier to locate bass. Also, when you find fish, they will normally bite during the same tide come tournament day. I have places on the Hudson and Potomac Rivers that I know I can catch quality bass at a certain tide. Its a nice feeling to know when you pull up on a piece of cover that a bass or more, are present and ready to feed. If I had my choice, it would be to compete in a tournament trail with nothing but tidal rivers in the schedule.

Although I fish primarily a river system my choice would have to be a dammed river system. The fish seem to be patterned easier than on a river system such as the Ohio. With a river system it is changing continuously and makes it hard to pattern fish from year to year, and even week to week for that matter with the changing conditions. The fish seem to grow a little bigger in a lake than in a river too.

Joe,you did not say if I could pick the weather, so I would say Tidal river's are far more consistant than any other body of water. I would pick a Tidal river and have flood in the middle of the tournament and at the launch site at that time. I could run down and fish incoming all the way up and than run back on outgoing and have an hour to travel or eat lunch (ha, ha, ha,)in the middle of the day. Good Bassin Dan bass

Tim, Brian, Dan- My experience on tidal water is minimal. Two Club tournaments on Wappingers Creek. Did real well in both, flippin' water chestnuts. But, not because of science. Also a decent day on the Hudson with a NY Pro and another 2 hrs. there before my other boater's electric motor died.
As to dammed rivers, I won't mention rivers on LI (creeks or streams are better definitions) but I believe the St. Lawrence qualifies as such. I enjoyed every day I spent there, backseat or no backseat. And then there was the Rodman Pool.
Thanks for your comments. It is great to put all this in the back of your mind hoping you'll get to use it someday.
Do we have anymore comments. Let's hear it!
Good Fishing, JoeMo

I would pick a reservoir. Some kind of lake with a dam. The opportunity for Smallmouth, Largemouth and spotted bass exists in most impoundments. This enables all fishermen to have an opportunity to use the skills where they are good. Also, the depths and techniques can varry more in a reservoir.

Most reservoirs have a river/current at the shallow end. Most reservoirs also have areas that are like a natural lake.

God Bless You,
Hugh Crumpler III

Hugh- Welcome to the BassinUSA Pro Staff and Message Boards.
Thanks for posting your vote for fishing reservoirs. You make a compelling case for them.
You also mentioned Spotted Bass in your post.
Are there Spots in any Florida lakes? I "winter" over in Ft. Myers every year and would like to try my hand at Spotted Bass before long.
Good Fishing, JoeMo

tidal rivers are feast and famine. the wrong tide or some wind can make the hudson unfishable. but on the other hand it is great fishing a spot when the tide is outgoing and the fish stack up.

hmmm i still go with rivers in general, i fish the mohawk river as well as the hudson and have found that current has a magic effect on smallmouth hawgs. if you can understand current you can usually do good on these waters, understand the tide and you can excel on the hudson.

sorry to get off topic but joe mo, i have been contemplating making the long run from the roundout creek to the wappingers creek.i figured i could get away from alot of other tx guys and fish a few spots on the river on the way down. whats your thoughts on the wappingers, i was going to pre-fish it a couple times in the next couple weeks.

Paradise Blue- As I said in my old post, my experience is minimal in tidal waters, plus I had top notch boaters in both the Hudson and St.Lawrence rivers. The credit has to go to them. Also, my 2 club wins in Wappingers were too many years ago to be relevant. I'm sure the waters are changed since then. Also, you could get trapped in Wappingers back then if you had a pro-rigged bassboat (if you were up in Wappingers past the RR bridge and the tide came in). Whether that is still true I couldn't say.

What I would say is try it in practice. If it pays off, you're a hero. If not, don't say I promised bass there.

Thanks for posting. And let us know how you made out (after the T is held, of course)
JoeMo