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Thread: HOW DO YOU PREFISH FOR UPCOMING TOURANMENT

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    Default HOW DO YOU PREFISH FOR UPCOMING TOURANMENT


    DO U FISH MANY PLACES,HOW LONG TO A PLACE, MANY KIND OF WAYS PER TIME OF YEAR,MAPS AND SEARCH WITH UNIT.WHAT KIND OF AREA ARE U LOOKING FOR AND SO ON,WANT TO SEE WHAT I MIGHT BE MISSING
    God Demonstrated his love for us. Romans 5:8

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    I look forward to the responses, as I am struggling with the best way. I study a contour map, use Google Earth, and then basically wander blindly! I am only familiar with 2 lakes and we fish these plus 4 that I'm not, and this is my first year. Love it, but always feel unprepared.

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    I don't $$ tournament fish ... but, if I did :

    What I'd likely do is study a topo map of the lake - find areas that closely resemble areas of lakes I'm familiar with - use the methods I know best, that work around the depths or cover present, that's most likely to present my bait to the fish in accordance with the prevailing season or water conditions. And I wouldn't try and cover the whole lake ... just a few likely looking areas, not too far from the launch site ... so as to have as much time to set up and fish as long as possible.

    Of course, I would do my "homework" ... checking online sources for recent reports, water levels and conditions, prevailing weather patterns and upcoming forecasts, layout of the lake on Google Earth (and check back through the history images), etc.

    And if possible, I'd pre-fish those chosen areas .... mostly scanning the areas, and only actually "fishing" any particular spot just long enough to judge the mood of the fish. If I have more than one day to pre-fish, I'd milk run the same areas/spots just to see if the fish are still in the general areas (or the same spots), or if they've moved ... & where they've moved to (& why, if I can figure that out).

    ... cp
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    Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly, and Trust in our Creator who Loves us

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    I CATCH A LOT OF LB SIZE FISH BUT NEED BIGGER FISH,SO DO U CATCH A FEW FISH IN A AREA TO TRY DETERMINE THEIR SIZE AND MOVE TO NEXT PLACE TO NEXT PLACE AND SO ON,THEN HIT THOSE PLACES WHERE THEY SEEM TO BE BIGGER
    God Demonstrated his love for us. Romans 5:8

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    I am new to tournament fishing and am looking forward to the responses as well. I've been trying a few different things, mostly the things listed here.

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    Quote Originally Posted by genec View Post
    I CATCH A LOT OF LB SIZE FISH BUT NEED BIGGER FISH,SO DO U CATCH A FEW FISH IN A AREA TO TRY DETERMINE THEIR SIZE AND MOVE TO NEXT PLACE TO NEXT PLACE AND SO ON,THEN HIT THOSE PLACES WHERE THEY SEEM TO BE BIGGER
    When I was pre-fishing ... yes. But, that would likely depend on "when" the tournament was being held, since Crappie don't always run in big schools year around. I'd probably try and catch no more than 2 or 3 fish from an area, before moving on to another. I don't trust them to stay on any one piece of cover for several days in a row, so I'd be looking for what depth they were holding at, what type of cover (if any) they were holding on, and how much and how far they moved from one day to the next. I'd just be looking for some form of "pattern" they were following.
    And, of course, I'd be "noticing" how & where everyone else was fishing ... just to get a sense of what methods were being used the most and what pattern the most used method is best used for. Say, for instance, I see 10 boats ... and more than half of them are shooting docks in the creeks ... I wouldn't spend much time spider rigging minners out on the main lake channel (unless, of course, if I had been catching good fish & the dock shooters weren't !! )

    I've even known tournament anglers that cut off or bent down the hooks ... and just gauged an area by how many "hits" they got. Others have bent the barb down and played the fish until it got off on its own, or they didn't set the hook hard enough to stick the fish deep enough to hold them. True, they were mostly Bass anglers ... but, it wouldn't surprise me if some Crappie anglers did the same.

    ... cp

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    cp,when i use to bass fish i would do that but i need to know if that area has more larger fish in it and not just a bunch of adverage size ones,i can usually catch a bunch of adverage fish but looking for bigger ones
    God Demonstrated his love for us. Romans 5:8

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    Quote Originally Posted by genec View Post
    cp,when i use to bass fish i would do that but i need to know if that area has more larger fish in it and not just a bunch of adverage size ones,i can usually catch a bunch of adverage fish but looking for bigger ones
    .... yeah, I know, Gene ..... aren't we ALL !!

    If I knew a specific way to accomplish that, I might be more inclined to fish tournaments, myself !

    You would think that the "bigger" fish would school up in fairly loose schools, as opposed to the closer/tighter schools of smaller fish, simply because they have a little less to fear from predators (due to their size). And then there's times (I'm told) that the "bigger" (or "biggest") fish are loners for the most part

    Sorry I can't be of more help, but .... luck2ya !!

    ... cp

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    I am not a tourney person , but I do know when we find the real nice ones they are typically not in numbers .
    old submerged tree lines on old creek channels are a great place to look for the whopper crappie .
    crappie over 2 lbs seem to be kinda lonely . hope that helps ya ....
    sum kawl me tha outlaw ketchn whales

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