Walleye question for you tournament guys

When fishing a tournament do you actively go looking for bites or do you grind out an area? What gives you more success? When do know when to make a move?

Maybe more specific questions will get you answers.

Everyone is looking for bites. Depending on what’s in the bag, timing, and spot, maybe just one!

Chip Leer has been doing a podcast with the winners of the NWT events this year. They discuss a lot of the details about the decisions they made and why they made them. I have found them interesting.

Ray Gylsen wrote:

When fishing a tournament do you actively go looking for bites or do you grind out an area? What gives you more success? When do know when to make a move?

Yes…Every scenario in a tournament situation is different. So depends on the situation you are in. Tough question to answer without a more specific question.
A lot will tell you that they have several spots to go to and have plan in mind before hand. I for one like to stick to my plan as close to possible but the bite will alter that at times.
Good podcast above. A couple of really good walleye fisherman there.

Ray Gylsen wrote:

When fishing a tournament do you actively go looking for bites or do you grind out an area? What gives you more success? When do know when to make a move?

Great questions and I agree that it’s a tough question to answer.

Food for thought-I hear many anglers talk about how well they did in prefishing, but not in the tournament. I’ve been there many times. Korey Sprengel talks about just going fishing and looking for the right conditions. Too often tournament anglers go chasing waypoints from the day before. Trust your electronics and find the fish on tournament day.

i don’t fish walleye tournaments but i fish ice tournaments.

Its completely different every time. We’ve lost tournaments because we moved looking for better fish and we’ve lost tournaments because we didn’t move and tried to just sort through what we were on top of.

Ripjiggen wrote:

A lot will tell you that they have several spots to go to and have plan in mind before hand. I for one like to stick to my plan as close to possible but the bite will alter that at times.

Agree with this comment. More pre-fishing hours the easier the decision. You will never have enough hours of pre-fishing. No matter what you choose to do, make sure you are giving it 100% attention on the spot you are on. It’s as much a mental grind as physical. Keep second guessing yourself and you will be doomed every time out.

Curious, what kind of tourneys are you fishing? Pro-Am? Weekend team events? Annual resort events? Events on your home water?

-J.

I have done only one walleye tournament. It was a lot of fun. Highs and lows in the same weekend. We were on fish the first day and nothing the second. Middle of the pack the first day and scrambled the second. The rest of the field did well the second. Being my first tournament I was curious how others handle most tournaments. Using your electronics is sound advice. Prefishing is very important. I got out three times with some success not very confident. Thanks for advice and experiences.

I am with Sprengel on fishing conditions. I wish I could get my partner (dad) to have that same mindset. He thinks to much about what happened in years past and thinks fish will be in the same spots. Not always the case. I like looking at water temps, time of the season, bait in the system is also another big one. Sometimes you have fly hatches and sometimes you don’t.

I also like what Fife said…. Trust your electronics. I really put my trust in my electronics this year and that helped me a lot. Years past I overlooked things and told myself what I wasn’t seeing was fish. This year I put trust in what I was looking at and that actually helped me pull off a 2nd on winnibigosh and 4th at the MN championship.

I do have waypoints that get me started for pre fishing but I keep notes and a log of how those spots are at certain times of the year. It helps me rule out ones that probably won’t need to be checked.

When all else fails in pre fishing which happened twice to me this season, just go out and have fun. Sometimes things change and you get super lucky.