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Coming from a non tourney guy, let me ask those of you that fish tournies...when you pre-fish, you are trying to establish patterns and fish locations. Locations I understand, but patterns change by the hour. (locations too) So, for instance, you find a pattern is crankbaits on weedlines on practice day, but a few days later, tournament day, weather, etc. it all changes. Besides establishing possible or probable locations, why is pre-fishing so important? If it's a new lake, I get it. If everything changes so rapidly day to day or hour to hour, how does pre-fishing help? Fishing conditions change so quickly. Also, do you guys stick the fish? Or just let them bite and not hook them? Forgive my ignorance, but it's something I've thought about for years. Thanks

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Good question.  I am not an expert by any means, but let me throw my 2 cents in.  the way pre-fishing is SUPPOSED to work, is you should be looking for "areas" where the fish should be.  The "Patterns" come from figuring out what the fish are doing in or around the "areas"  .  You are right about patterns, they change quickly depending on conditions such as wind, temp, sunlight, cold front , and fishing pressure.  

 

With that being said, I have had multiple.....pre-fish days that resulted in a lot of confidence and good results, but come tournament day....I was unable to follow through and figure them out.  The 2% of the guys that win 98% of the money around here....are the guys that can adapt and figure out what the right things to do are when it counts.  Guys like myself, get hung up on "spots" instead of patterns...or wait way too long to make a change...or aren't smart enough to know what to do differently when the fish aren't biting.  Experience, an open mind, and flexibility are key factors in fishing tournaments.

 

There are a lot of guys ( some on this site) that do not even pre-fish and still come out in the money or on the top of the leaderboards.  My opinion is that some people take pre-fishing too seriously and some not seriously enough.  For me , I like to look at the conditions such as water level, temperature, and clarity.....and try to figure out what stage the fish are in during practice....and then guess what they will be doing the following week o whenever the tournament is.  Catching fish or not during practice is a bonus and helps with confidence, but the fish may not be there the next time YOU are.  I know that a few years ago, a certain team did not pre-fish at the Championship and won it.  Their EXPERIENCE was worth more than practice.

 

Every Lake and River are different.  Just as every tourney fisherman has different opinions on it.  

 

JEff

I look at prefishing as just one more tool.  I'm new to the tournament thing and quite frankly prefishing is just another reason to go fishing for me.  I agree with everything Jeff just said.  I personally try to learn something every time I go out and I'm slow accumulating a nice size notebook...I've already benefited from doing this and over the last couple years I'm quicker to find the fish and quicker to find the pattern.  It's not really prefishing for me, it's another day to learn something......That being said I'll probably not even do the tournament thing next year.

Jerry,

 

There is a great article on this very subject in the latest issue of Bass angler magazine.   You should subscribe to that magazine....there are some good pearls in there and a ton of info for NW bodies of water. 

 

What I took from the article and from what I've seen while backseating guys who are pre-fishing, is that many of them will "shake off" largemouth within a week or two of the tourney, and I think most guys have a tendancy to be willing to stick smallmouth here in the NW for several pretty obvious reasons.

 

I would think there are examples out there in which someone got onto a great pre fish pattern, and the same pattern existed come tourney day and it paid off.  Or I would think that the pattern you get on during pre fish may not be the same one you get on during a tourney, but yet the pre fish pattern gave you clues as to how to get on the pattern you unlocked during tourney time.

 

Or quite simply you are fishing a smallmouth lake, that has a few toad largies in it, so during your prefish you go and find a couple good kickers and shake them off.  They very well may be resident fish that arent' going anywhere.....and now you feel like after your smallmouth limit is filled, you can go hunting in an area you have knowledge and big fish confidence in.  

 

Pre fishing is, I think, more of an art than a science, and The name of the lake, the time of the year, and weather, and most importantly experience on that lake, are going to dictate how people organize their pre fish.  There is no broad brush you can't paint for all pre fish outings.

If we were talking about a tournament that allowed you to be on the lake the day before the event then I think practice time is very valuable. I would also not stick my fish regardless of the species.

 

 Most of the tournaments we fish do not allow us to be on the water the day before. In this case the practice time for me would establish a starting point. I wouldn't necessarily expect the fish to be EXACTLY whare they were the week prior but if I caught them the week prior then theoretically I could follow them from that point. I am still learning every time out and my practice time is always valuable even if it is unproductive that day.

 

Last weekend I fished a tournament and fished all brand new water. I spent time in practice looking for good small mouth and it was a total failure. During the process I found a little pocket that had some decent LM in it but I had never seen the spot before. I ran out of practice time and decided the my first stop the day of the tournament would be that little LM pocket and from there I found more of it and it worked out asside from a couple lost fish during the tournament. Every spot I fished that first day was  brand new to me except for the first one. So in the end all the pre-fish time simply eliminated water but had I not been able to eliminate all that water and find 3 decent fish I would have been in serious trouble.

Jerry , This is a good topic IMO so thanks for asking bro  !!

I have struggled with the pre fishing theory over the past couple of years myself and as of today im still torn on the subject jerry. lol 

During every pre fish on the different lakes my partner and i seem to do very well locating fish and establishing a solid pattern . With that being said , come tourney morning we have found that 90% of the time we have had to make a major adjustments and in some cases we have had to start from scratch during the event .

So , Did pre fishing help or hurt us overall ? well that is a tuff question depending on the angler IMO . The more and more i think about all the reasons that i pre fish i honestly feel like its based soley around my "confidence" more so then anything else .

I havent grown a sac big enough to just show up to NWBass event and drop my entry fee knowing i havent been on that body of water since the prior year .As a matter of fact i told my tourney partner earlier this year that i will not fish a tourney unless we practice first . Like Jeff mentioned aboved , there are guys that fish NWbass that dont pre fish and still do well so go figure man ..haha 

 

Dez "The Rookie"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The best 2 pre fisherman I have ever met are Jon Sessler and Brian Reimers.  Man could they catch 'em in practice!

I think Josh and Jake did a great job of explaining the main principles of pre-fish. One thing I will add in regards to prefish is that it doesn't always pay off during the tournament, but what it does that can really help is provide precious time on a particular body of water during a particular time of year and under specific types of conditions. Once you add up your experience from pre-fish and tournament day over even a couple of years you can compile a great wealth of information if you have a good way of recording it for future reference.

In a nutshell, take notes on every fishing trip, even if your not a tournament angler. It will help your fishing success!   

A lot of the tournaments are on bodies of water that you have fished many tournaments. For example I have fished 3 tournaments on Potholes this year, and 3 on Moses. So you already have an idea of how to catch them on that body of water, to add most guys have many hours already on those bodies of water. In some ways prefishing is done a year or two before a tournament. For example Potholes changes so much week to week due to the water dropping that happens on the lake. Last weekend for the tournament I fished I went off last years experience not the day of fishing I did a week and half before the tournament. After a while you have a pretty good idea of where and how to catch them. The week before you might go out and check to see if your idea works. Additionally you are moving around a lot. It doesn't due you a lot of good finding every fish. Just getting an idea for what is going on.

 

In terms of sticking them. You might stick one or two to get an idea for size, but sticking them is not a smart idea in my opinion. Get an idea how to catch them and leave them.

Great replies. Thanks to all
I never had the need to prefish. Mostly because I had to fish where ever the boater I drew wanted to fish. Most of the time I did good, so did my boater. I am not sure if it was because they prefished or not. I never really asked. I liked to think it was because I would make suggestions through out the day that would sometimes work. I never really told any of them this; but, I only suggested fishing areas I had seen other guys fish before.
Make a quick, tight circular motions when you stir the pot, that works best.

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