Tournament Troubles

Well first of all I would like to thank everyone who reads/posts information on this site. That is why I visit this site on a daily basis . I feel like I am somewhat inexperienced compared to many of you since I am only 22 and have only been fishing in tournaments for three years.

I wanted to ask some of you guys what you would do in this situation. I have a tournament on Balsam Lake next weekend, and while prefishing this past weekend I found two schools of fish. The areas were both weed flats that had some other form of cover on them to go along with it. One had a ton of docks and scattered rock and the other had docks and lilly pads mixed in. In these two areas I caught probably 50 bass all between 13-15 inches. The only problem was I had only one keeper , and the majority of the fish were 13.75 inches.

With that in mind, I tried points with weeds and deeper weedlines with nothing to show for it. I fished a tournament in the spring on this lake and caught 2 4.5 lbers, so I know there are good fish in the lake. I was wondering what some of you experienced bass fisherman would do in this situation. Do I try completly different areas, different techniques (caught most on a swim jig), go shallower or deeper? Any help would be greatly appreciated. If any of you have been on the lake, and could point me in the right direction that would be a big help.

Thanks for the advice and good luck on the water.

Personally, I’d try a different area. If you caught that many fish, it’s not likely that a different technique would pull in that many more big fish. When I fish tournaments, I like to look for places that nobody fishes. In effect, you want a place that “sucks”. If nobody fishes it, the little critters get a chance to grow bigger. And you don’t need to catch fifty fish a day, just a limit. I’d be looking for deep fish and very shallow fish that others would bypass. Good luck!

That last post was classic ” I am a river fishermen only” answer you could get. This time of year it is classic “FALL” pattern transition. The bigger fish will be in this area likily for the same reasons the smaller ones are using it. First look for the deepest / sharpest / break to deep water in the area or directly ajacent. What you are looking for is the sweet spot in this area. Its obvious the fish are using it if what you say is true about the schools you found. Fisrt of all the bigger fish will use the best available feeding edge and the other areas will be used by the smaller fish. So look for that STEEP break and then look for how the fish would push up on it to feed. They will push the prey against these edges and load up different times during the day. Like any lake guy, the morning bite is the best. So look for the deep edge to feed against and next for the flat directly on the travel route and fish this. Use baits like a spook in the morning and / or other baits you are confident in catching big fish. Running around the lake when you don’t know what you should be looking for is pointless. If you can email me a map and the area you are looking at I will be able to point out the best traditional spot according to photo period for this time of year.
jc

Ottobass32

Ben,

How’s it going bud? Glad to see you made it back on!! If you have nothing else going , don’t leave the fish you’re on. Do like JC advised and if you still can’t get the big ones to pan out, start pounding the hell out of those shorts and try to squeeze out some keepers.

You know Lake Onalaska well, JC’s post is a prime example of the dredge hole. You’re familiar w/the drop off there? It’s a very similar example/Pattern…

Good Luck….

Ottobass,
a few things to check/consider b/4 hand. Weather, wind, last tournies held, water clarity, follow the birds (herons, gulls) they will show you where the baitfish are.
Like JC said, fish related ares with shallow to deep water access, creek channels, dredges, drops etc. Weed beds, hit the edges. Throw something different, go large, if nothing, downsize till you find the key. I will go up to a mag worm in my fav. color and then downsize if that fails. I don’t like fishing a 4″ worm, but there is a Marine Cololnel in our club that fishes alot of finesse and he took honors this year. Its late in the season and the bass have seen thousands of lures/baits, might consider throwing a changeup or offering a different size. Most people here throw a 3/8 oz buzzbait, I like to switch to a 1/4 oz for something diff.
Throw shallow cranks where you would a spinnerbait, esp. in standing timber if present. A ghost shad colored Manns baby minus has been good for me in Ia and Mo.
Remember what you were doing when you catch a fish, I’ve caught bass reeling a lizard back to the boat for another cast, are they suspended? If it bolts out of cover or hits and then dives deep. They bolt out if other fish are present. Fish the bare banks related to deep water, often overlooked. Rat-l-trap some weeds/weed lines. Jig fishing, try a jig without a rattle or a tube or spider jig, bass become accustomed to rattles as the season progresses. Boat docks more than not hold bass, the older the better b/c they have more algae, more algae = more baitfish. 2 weeks ago in Mo they were feeding primarily on crawdads, so last week in a T in Ia. I concentrated primarily with crawdad imitators (gene larews salt craws) and did well. Check your livewell after you catch a couple or look down their mouth when you catch a fish and see what its last meal was, check its head looking for scratches if they have been rooting in the rocks for crawdads.
Start with what you have confidence in, if you think there should be bass there and they are not hitting, try something different, but don’t spend too much time, the clock is ticking, move on. Waiting to trailer your boat, fish around the landing, might be some fish there holding from another tournament release.?
I try and rig up about 6-7 rods the night b/4 with what “should work”, ranging from shallow to deep, considering the lake and weather etc. and throw a variety and let the fish tell you what they want. Good luck
J

Maybe it’s just because I fish highly presured water but I woul opt for the docks and pads. I would throw a tube on a 3/0 hook with only the wieght of a rattle as far under the docks and in the hardest places on the docks to hit. If I could get behind the docks and cast out I would. It takes a while to hit bottom. In most cases it will still have an air bubble in it when it hits bottom. If you squeeze the rod handle a few times that bubble will break free (trigger strick) If that doesn’t do it drag it out trying to get it hung on something. If you do slowly shake it hoping that it does not pop right off (rattle). Do not pass on the pontoons.

Going between the docks make sure to hit the isolated patches of pads. Tubes or swim jigs.

Up north bass will get real shalow.

Let us know how it goes.

For those of you wondering about the bite this weekend here is the report. Balsam Lake got hit by that real bad storm on Thursday night, so it affected the bite a little. We ended up in seventh place out of 30 boats, so thats not too bad. Everyone was fishing deep weedlines except for us. We found the early pattern…real shallow pads with deep water close by. I ended up catching the second biggest bass of the tournament (4.03 largie). We ended up with a limit of 5 fish for 10.75. The winning weights were 14.98 with a five pounder as big bass. A lot of blanks this weekend. What really sucks was that we were just under a pound from getting 4th place, and we had the fish bite to get third. I lost two pigs on a horny toad. I love that bait, but the strike to hook to land ratio is terrible for me. Do you have any suggestions. Thanks for all the input from you guys over the last week becasue it was really helpful.

Ben