This is just a general question open to everyone...

How is the tournament season going so far?

What tournaments have you competed in and how have you placed?

If you could change anything you did in a given tournament this season, what would you change and why?

Did anything you figured out last year contribute to your success or failure this year?

Is there anything you plan on changing before your next tournament?

Looking forward to hearing from everyone...

BC

Brendan
After having my 2nd knee surgery since last June, I was unable to fish the B.F.L. this season.
I had high expectations this year but there is always next year.

I have had the opportunity to fish a couple of our club tourneys where I finished second in both and enjoyed the time on the water.

I was just released today to start walking on my own (without crutchs)
Long rehab road ahead but I'll be able to fish some upcoming open tournaments on the River.

Want to wish everyone a safe and prosperous fishing season.

Keep chunkin and windin

River Rat I know your pain mine was my back. The surgery went fine and I have just got word that I can get in the boat and do some fishing myself. I hope that your recovery goes as good as mine has so far and hope that you can get back on the water soon.

As far as tournament standings I knew the surgery was going to take place and so I fished some team tournaments. We are in the top 20 right now with one more to go that I am not going to get to fish so hope Joe can pull us through. Couples tournament we are already in the championship so I will have two championship tournaments to fish at the end of the year. So things are going good for us. Looking forward to what the others are doing.
Conley

My season started with a bang and then the last 2 tournaments I have just done horrible.

I won the season opener and also got big bass.

Two weeks later I took 7th in a tournament near chicago.

Then came the 2 river touraments (I am a lake guy). I did terrible in both tournaments.

This weekend I have another tournament on the Mississippi River (unless it keeps rising). Hopefully I can pull it out of the gutter and start catching some fish again.


On a good note, I caught my biggest bass to date. It weighed in at 8 pounds 10 ounces. Which is pretty big for northern illinois. I caught it on a white spinnerbait coated in MegaStrike attractant.

JT Bagwell

Only had three tourneys so far this season, first one I blanked. One 12 inch smallie took the whole show. So I eaither came in second, or last depending on how you look at it.
Missed the second tourney due to boat problems, and the third I did a little better. 3 bass all day on one of my suspending baits, only one limit was caught. unofficial I am guessing 5th place, havent gotten my update yet. BFL starts june 7 in MD, with a club tourney in MA the day after. I am hoping for things to pick up. Goodluck to everyone.

Got an 87th (out of 157), not the best, I have two blanks, an 8th and a 5th, looks like I am headed in the right direction. Fishing Lake Okoboji (Iowa) next weekend (as a boater for the PVA, if there is anyone else close that is interested in a good experience and some good fishing, let me know).

I have a 6th, 23rd, and a 16th so far this season. I had hoped for better, but have learned some valuable lessons for the future. Like JT was talking about, some of my tournaments have been won up in the river of the res. were fishing. I need to become more confrontable doing this type of fishing.

Take Care - Roger

For those of you who are recuperating from surgery, we wish you all the best. Don't rush things. Take the safe path to recovery.

To those who don't believe they are doing well, be thankful you aren't this moderator.
In two tournaments, car trouble kept me out of one of them and "length problems" kept me off the scoreboard in the other. ("Length problems" means their tails were too close to their heads)

Those who are doing well: Keep up the good work. And don't forget to recycle that knowledge via our great message boards.

As to what I didn't do that contributed to my poor showing: My partner and I had intended to pre-fish Lake Lillinonah. We backed off because of bad weather. That was a mistake and it cost both of us.

I drew the same boater in our next T in June. We should do well, but then so should about 30 other guys. Dock Talk says get a limit and build on it. Others say go for the big ones early while they are still around. Both are good strategies if you can pull 'em off.

Just try to enjoy the day. Treat it as an adventure. You deserve it.

Bass Wishes to all. Joe

Thanks for the input guys...

So far this year, I'm off to a pretty good start:

Started out at the Bryan Kerchel Memorial Tournament (1 Day) on Candlewood Lake, CT and Finished 9th out of 90 teams.

Took a check for $400 and 2 Pinacle rods.

Next my partner and I fished the Candlewood Classic (2 Day) and finished 2nd out of a field of about 100 teams including some top northeast names like Terry Baksey, J.J. Zowlkowski, Art Singer, Lee Bailey Jr. and many others.

Took a check for $3,000

Congamond Lake, MA (2 Day club tournament) - 1st Place - (Check was too small to mention)

ABC Trial - Lake Lillinonah - (1 day)

11th Place (No check )

Big Water Bass Tournament (1 Day)

3rd Place - (Check was too small to mention)

If I could have done something different in a couple of these tournaments, it would have been:

Bryan Kerchel Trny- "I would not have left biting fish” Although the bite was slow, I was on quality fish and could have grinded my way into a higher finish.

Candlewood Classic - I again made the same mistake on day one leaving my primary area. I did realize this mistake after the first day and stayed put on day 2.

ABC Lillinonah - "I would have put a limit on the amount of time I spent working on bedding bass that were already spooky to begin with"

The one thing I learned not last year but many years ago is that every second counts. I make sure I fish to the last possible second and in 3 of the above tournaments, it paid off. I now always make sure to have my tournament clock set to the official time of the tournament committee.

Bren you broke the cardinal rule: Never leave biting fish....unless you already have a limit and need a kicker. The other exception is in a multi day tournament, don't dry up your spot on day 1

Had the limit. Had kickers, but needed more. That's where it gets kinda grey... when you are getting mixed sizes in the same area. One cast it's 2lbs, the next it's 4lbs. What to do? It's a judgement call at that point. I started counting the time between bites and it was about 33 minutes give or take a few. That only allows 14 fish in 8 hours if there are no "WHOOPS" in the equation. I was a bit conservative on day one with that same thought in mind... save some for tomorrow. I usually do a good job when it comes to that aspect. Sometimes you have to take those big chances to win though...

BTW - Nice to see you around, how's the new kid?

I just fished a tournament down in South Florida for a organization called S.A.F.E.R. out of 87 boats I finished 11. The difference from 2nd to 11th was 5 lbs. Not much for south Florida. This was the first tournament I fished since my son was born 3 months ago.

Nicely done Kevin... and congratulations on the birth of your son.

Brendan, I sure enjoyed reading these posts about tournaments. I haven't fished one yet, not health problems just too busy working with the youth club I started and playing music. I hope to get started very soon, I want to fish some of J.T. Bagwell's events on the Miss. river. Lakes are my strong point, but can mostly hold my own on rivers. Congrats to the winners, chin up to the also rans and God bless the new babies, future bass anglers! Johnnie

The regular season is over here. On the Texas 100 we finished in 35th Our goals were to reach the championship and finish in the top 20. We held it all year long till the last one. It was just a tough lake to fish.

In the CAST our last tournament is tomarrow the 21st. Missing the tournaments that I did really hurt us in the point standings but we did make the championship. Goal met there. Nest year will be the year we finish in the top 5 I just know it. That will be our goal.

Setting goals is the best thing you can do at the first of the year. This gives you a focal point for the year. If this is your first year to fish try to make your goals reachable goals. IF you set your self up to fail you will never gain the confidence need to continue. Example: Our #1 goal every year is to catch 5 fish in every tournament #2 make the championship. #3 cash a check in at least 2 events. #4 If number 3 is met 4 comes easy finish in the top 20. Which we almost met. I cant stress the importance of Goals and tring to reach those goals.

JoeMo asked that we put something down on what we would do to improve!
More Prefishing would be my #1 thing to do to improve our finish.
We finished in the top 40 with a 37 place improvement from last last year. The thing that hurts me the most is that I did not pre fish any of the lakes but one!!! I feel we could have finished alot better if we could have prefished more. We went to the lakes cold and just fished the basics. When all else fails go to the basics.

Well I've rambled enough. Good luck everyone. Feel free to contact me anytime if you have questions. I think sometime we fail to mention that enough.

I wanted to wait until I got a few under my belt this season-
How is the tournament season going so far? So far I've fished 6 events. I placed 3rd, 2nd and I won the last four weekends. Good for first overall in our angler of the year standings by over 23.25lbs on 2nd place. That's my goal, to be angler of the year. My gameplan is based on being consistent. If I can bring in a limit everytime, I know I'll be right up front come the end. 2 more qual's to go. We've alreadt qualified for the Classic. My partner and I are firing on all cylinders right now. Coasting to the finish.


If you could change anything you did in a given tournament this season, what would you change and why? Never leave biting fish and never prefish with someone who is also fishing in the tournament.

Did anything you figured out last year contribute to your success or failure this year? I've relied heavily on some handpoured baits and a few off colors of jigs that I discovered last season

Is there anything you plan on changing before your next tournament? This next tx will be the first event where I am really going to plan out a solid gameplan.

I fish in an open tournament every Thurs. night. We get around 30 to 35 boats. Last week my dad & I came in 2nd place with 12-2. Before last week, we hadn't been in the money for almost 5 weeks. We caught our fish on a 4" black french fry worm and a chrome/black rattle trap. We had our limit (5) in an hour & half but all were in the 2# range except a 4# my dad caught.

Tlaw, Congrats on the 2nd place finish!

My son Benjamin and I fish the Media Bass team circuit South La. div. We are currently ranked 7th overall in the division.

The Tournaments we didn't do well in was due mostly to not being able to pre-fish (prior commitments) we picked areas from reviewing maps. and only managed to catch some deformed fish, the ones with their heads to close to the tail.

The ones we did better in was due to finding new less pressured areas and trying new techniques on some old areas. I say areas instead of lake because I fish down here in the Louisiana Delta and there really isn't many specific lakes to bass fish just vast areas and bayous. A little interesting note Kevin Van Dam won the 2001 classic fishing many of the areas I fish.

What I would have done differently in some of those tournaments is: scout and pre-fish the areas to find the early and midday fish locations and secondly not leave biting fish.

Hope I wasn't too long winded. Thanks
Ray Roberts hawghooker@msn.com

Ray,

Thanks for the update and congrats on holding the 7th place spot. It must be a pretty good feeling knowing that Kevin Van Dam chose to fish the same area that you fish?

Pre-fishing or pre-scouting can absolutely make the difference between a good tournament and a bad one. Its tuff when you are competing against guys that have all the free time they need to practice and some of us are limited because of our work and other commitments.

Good luck with the rest of the season!

BC

Two qualifiers left in my club. This season we've already fished 6. I have 4 first place 1 second and 1 third place finish. 23 1/2lbs up on second for Angler of the Year. My partner and I are firing on all cylinders right now.

Craig keep up the momentum... you've got this season licked...

Bren, last wednesady I fished the wednesday hawg hunt here on the river,I had the winning fish at 2# 8 oz., but couldn't get back to the weigh in due to motor problems, the event wasw one by one fish weighing 1# nine oz. Yesterday, I went back to the same spot, cast the same lure (firetiger Fat-A) and am pretty sure I caught the same fish, I weighyed in a 2# 8 oz. bass and took first place. Should have been two ina row, but things happen. I'll have to find a different fish next week, we released them into the river proper, no telling where that fish went. Johnnie

Kelly and I finished 3rd at Eagle Mountain lake and got a check. We finished 15th for the year. That was worst than last year but considering that I missed a tournament the 0 really hurt us in the points.

Two championships to fish in Oct. So I am excited about that. Making that championship is our main goals.

Johnnie,

Interesting story. Equipment failure has accounted for 90% of the poor finishes I have had in tournaments. (Thankfully not too many) I can empathize with your situation.

Conley,

Good luck with your upcoming tournaments...

just to let everybody know our own ny pro staffer dan MCgarry won i think his 4th whaley lake night TX in a row. and also put a 7lb 1oz lgmouth on the scale. congrats to dan on a fine job. oh,and i took 4th not to bad. had great company on my boat i had our own joe mo with me that night. joe loved those salsa chips on the ride home.LOL

Been fishing Wednesday night tournaments with our bass club, have won the last two, going for a 3 peat. What I've learned that may help anglers who fish river backwaters etc and only have a short time (we fish 3 hours) is I do best by running and gunning individual spots. I have located several isolated logs, a single stump and fallen trees. I fish them very quickly with a Timber Tiger DC 2 crankbait or a Model A Firetiger crankbait. I will always have a jig or worm tied on in case of a missed strike. We are only allowed one fish and the average winner is ususally about four pounds, mostly a little less. Run and Gun. Johnnie

Ray, that is a horse anywhere...but especially the lake that you guys fished. Good job on 4th, how did Joe do? Dan still owes me a Mudbug!!!

I been fishing some Weds. night tournaments here too.
Now here is the problem two years in a row we have had a fish kill problem due to the golden algea. Most of you know that from questions I ask in the past. The lake has a 16" min. length.
Two weeks in a row now no fish have been weighed in. Well I'm getting tiered of it!!!! How in the world would you guy attack this lake.

Its a rive lake long and narrow with tons of boat docks and canals. Not much natral cover due to the lakes age. Grass has starting showing up but the fish are not in it.

Besides going to another lake what do you guys think? I sure would like to unlock somthing here and take advantage of these tough times (and make a little money lol).
Please guys give me some fresh Ideas here mine have all failed me.