prefishing

seeing how we are on the subject of fishing. I am not looking for how to prefish, but more along the line of how you go about prefishing. what lures to do you automatically tie on, how many rods do you take along? I am in the process of joining a bass club and got to go out prefishing for a tourney this sunday. it is a paper tourney, we only boated one fish, but we tossed a few different things until this one hit on a jig-n-pig. with the wind, we didnt get to cover alot of water, but slowed down and tried to pull some decent fish. I know that most of the other club members are heading to one area and will pretty much be fishing on top of eachother, just curious as to which you look for and what you have tied on for baits to prefish with at the start of the day.

thanks

shane

Right now I will have 3-4 rods and have a swim jig, lipless crank, tube, and a jig. These 4 baits are all I usually need to find and catch fish right now. It also changes with the time of the season. Jigs have been my best producer over the course of the year

I am in 1/2 agreement with wats here. Swim jigs and rattle-traps should be go to’s right now with the spawn wrapping up. the traps annoy the heck out of fish and also mimmick baitfish. These are a great search bait to find a school of post spawn fish. The swim jig works well as a search bait, but also a sunfish immitator. Some fish stage out of the spawn on weeds/sand transition lines, which are my favorite for smallie/largemouth mix, but some also stay shallow and take advantage of the bluegill spawn that usually happens after the bass spawn. Bass hang off the first ledge/break from bluegill spawning flats and pick them off. these breaks don’t need to be very deep. I find success in ditches that drop from 1-4 feet. Nothing seriously major depth change wise, but some seriously major groups of fish A couple other baits that should be in consideration are: a buzzbait, spook, fluke, and senko. I don’t do much bottom fishing stuff for post spawn fish. I have found most of my fish to either suspend or go topside at this time of year. Now, some of the fish are still on beds, but the ones that you should really be after, ESPECIALLY being a paper tourney, where weight doesn’t matter, go for the postspawn fish. I have caught some of my longest fish in postspawn. Too bad most of them only went 3.5-4.1 lbs for 20+”ers
hope this helps.

Oh yeah, I also don’t believe in this “don’t stick ’em 2 weeks before the tourney” crap. I lay off a few days before the tourney, but in reality, if you are on a real good spot, all those fish will be replenished daily. Some of them hang around, but these are transition/staging spots that fish stop by on their way to other areas. When I am just “fun fishing” I go out every day and pound the same areas just to get a rise. Every day, I don’t seem to notice any difference in numbers or size unless something ELSE changes..that could be flow, weedgrowth, air temp, water temp, cloud cover, barometer, etc. So go ahead and prefish up until a few days before the tournament. Just no need to load the boat on your spots, catch 1 or 2 so you know they are there and on to your other areas.

Good luck.

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I don’t do much bottom fishing stuff for post spawn fish.

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That may your problem finding bigger fish. Most guys I know typically head deeper and fish slower for post spawn Bass. Carolina and Texas Rigs to be more precise. Your “pushing 3lb fish” are more acitve fish that have the energy to chase swim jigs, traps and other baits that fish higher in the water column. Go out on Lake Onalaska now and you’ll find plenty of spots where the males are chasing and protecting beds and fry. Those big post spawn females don’t typically have the energy to chase faster moving baits. Slowing down, and offering a presentation that appeals to lazy female may yield you larger fish.

Case in point, the 2 fish in this pic were caught on a jig(non-swimming variety) and a Texas Rigged Berkley Power Worm. Both fished slowly on the bottom. The area was first fished with faster moving baits and those produced smaller fish.

The Bass in the foreground weighed 4.7lbs and the other weighed a hair under 4lbs. 3.8 or 3.9lbs, I can’t recall at the moment. You can see by the battle scars that these fish are post spawn.

Here’s the pic.

I’ve always lived/died with the philosophy that bigger fish will almost always have access to the ‘deeper’ water available in any system…and as there are not quite as many ‘bigger fish’ I try not to stick them too much ahead of the game…but it’s a fine line between getting bites and knowing how big they are if you don’t get them close enough to see…

spinnerbaits, jigs/tubes, senkos…scumfrogs…but then again, I’m fishing LMBs down here…

those are some nice fish. i don’t doubt at all that some of the big females are out deep, but I have caught multiple fish over 20″ and dozens over 18″ in the areas I speak of. If those are male post spawn fish, boy I would love to see the females they are with

Cade, how do you get to deep water from the banks??

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Cade, how do you get to deep water from the banks??

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Wading shoes.

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Cade, how do you get to deep water from the banks??

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Huh??

We should probably all watch ourselves- if Cade continues to fish and learn at the pace he is on he will be hoisting the hardware and laughing at our smaller than average sacks! Keep asking and learning Cade, I doubt any of us were perfect at your age.

Bassbaron, thats vey true! I wish I could get the hours on the water that Cade gets!!

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laughing at our smaller than average sacks!

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HEY! Speak for yourself on the size of your sack!!

Tracking bass you need to get a good map. First start looking at the map and figure out what kind of season we are in(pre-spawn,spawn,post-spawn etc. etc.) I then try and elimanate water before I go to the lake. I will circle spots I want to look at. Then when I hit the water I stick to my plan and go through the routine of fishing close and then moving out till I find the fish I am looking for. As far as baits, its what ever your confident in.

well right now i am mainly a top water pad and heavy cover fisherman. I am in the process of joining a bass club to learn some finesse techniques with pitching worms and jig-n-pigs. i know that in 10ft of water, you cant be working a scum or spro frog and getting the fish to bust the top of the water. that is why I am asking this question, I was just curious on how some of you guys that tourney fish cover water and elimnate water, and then what type of lures you use to pick them spots apart to find them qaulity fish.

thanks for all of the responses.

shane