Everyone likes to catch fish, but if you are fishing tournaments my best tip for you to get a check is to swing for the fences more often, and pre-fish whenever you can.   Be realistic, if 1st place pays out 400 bucks and you are investing 100 for entry fees and gas, then pre-fishing might be a waste of money.

I see a lot of guys in my ABA districts investing tons of cash in lures and gas pre-fishing multiple times, if the lake is nearby my house, and it will only cost me 20 bucks or less to get there I will pre-fish for a 20 boater or less tournament 1 time, unless I don’t know the lake really well, then I wont waste the gas.  For example, I am ahead of my expenses so far this year, with 3 payouts out of 6 tournaments.  I’ve taken about $1,200 in winnings in the last 2 months and had $600 in expenses, not counting my boat payment.

How did I do it you ask?  I went for five big bites for half of the day.   What I mean is, I capitalized on bigger bites in the morning using Spooks, big jigs, big spinnerbaits, buzzbaits, frogs and Matt Lure Swimbaits.   I usually went like this for the first 3 hours and if I had no bites then I would throw a shaky head or a small crankbait like a shad rap or bandit 100 until the last hour.   The last hour I would go back to the big baits and big fish areas and swing for the fences again and if during the day I find a solid pattern, then I stick with that pattern until I have a limit, then upgrade my bait size and stay with the pattern depending on the weight in the boat.

Of course every day is a little different, but here is an example... I have won with only 2 fish on a slot lake by throwing a big jig all day. It was hard watching all the guys around me catching 12 inch bass while I was not getting bit as often, and when I did it was usually a slot fish 14-18.  But, I stuck with it and with an hour and a half to go I was so tempted to switch to targeting the 12 inch fish as I only had a 13 1/2 in the boat, but just as I was thinking that, BAM got a kicker over 4 1/2 in the boat and won 2nd place Big Bass honors and got 1^st.   This game plan was worth over $400.

Think about it next time you are in a tournament or even if you just want to catch a big bass!