So You Want to Fish Crappie Tournaments!!! By Bernard Williams

About 12 years ago I asked myself that same question. I’d been to weigh-ins for bass and crappie tournaments. I even watched several blast-offs. I’d convinced myself that I knew enough about crappie fishing at my home lake, Barnett Reservoir near Jackson, to compete with the big boys. At that time I was in my early 40’s and had grown up fishing Barnett and the spillway area. I knew the locations of the honey holes, the good ditches, and the river channel. I knew where the fish spawned and where they were in the summer months.

I quickly learned that I needed a lot more than just a fancy boat and lots of tackle. I needed some courage, determination, fortitude, and some common sense to be successful. The weather can be a factor in tournament fishing; I’ve only seen one called off because of bad weather. You’ve got to have a competitive nature, love of the sport and a little luck.

The addicting or fun parts of the tournament fishing experience in my opinion are as followed:

• Start-Time – All the boats headed out of the chute at the same time gives me an awesome rush.
• Catching the last fish of a Limit – Catching that 7^th fish of my weigh-in limit does something mentally for me. It releases me from the self-inflicted pressure I’ve placed upon myself. If I catch it early in the day, it’s even better; now I’m ready to look for a kicker to replace the smaller fish in the limit.
• Catching a Fish near one of my competitors – I love long-line trolling; it allows me to cover lots of water and present my bait to a lot of fish. When fish are active it’s an ideal way to catch them. When they’re less active or not feeding, it gives a you chance to trigger reaction bites. I love to pull by one of my competitors and see a pole or two hook onto a huge slab. I try not to notice them but they know I’m gloating.
• Making the run back to the dock after stop-fishing time – I love seeing boats coming in at the end of the day. They all seem to have fished the last second and now they’re racing for the boat dock.
• Hearing the weigh-master call your team number – I get goose bumps when I grab that basket and start my trot to the scales, especially if I got a good bag of fish.
• Sitting in the hot-seat – Some tournaments make the leaders sit up front in seats we call the hot-seat. You sit there until someone weighs a bigger bag than you. Seeing that scale go above your weight and then come back down and settle a few hundreds of a pound below your weight cause tremendous anxiety.
• Hearing your name and partner called as the winners – The best feeling in tournament fishing is hearing your name announced as the winner for that day. Talking about cloud-nine, it’s one of most satisfying feelings that a tournament fisherman can encounter.
• Holding the fish up while your photo is taken – Standing there with two fish in your hand preparing for you photograph is another awesome feeling. Pushing those slabs as close to the camera as possible to make them look as big as possible, feels great. “Grip & Grin”
• Picking up that winning check – I say I don’t fish for the money, that’s somewhat true. I hear others saying the same thing, but I’ve never seen anyone give the check back. So that tells you that statement is simply not true.
• Making friends – I’ve met lots of people fishing. I’ve gained tremendous knowledge from the friends I’ve met out on the water. In order to make friends you’ve got to be friendly. I have to say it this way, tournament fishing has changed my life for the better.

Now that we’re clear on what I love and enjoy about tournament fishing, here are a few of the things I don’t like about tournament fishing:

• Not being able to sleep the night before – For some reason I have a hard time getting a good night’s sleep before a tournament. I’m constantly going over and over in my mind what strategies I plan to use.
• Forgetting something – I’ve experienced this several times. Getting out on the lake and remembering you left half your poles in the hotel.
• Having competitors follow you around – I guess this is a part of competitive fishing. I’ve heard horror stories about boat nearly colliding trying to get to the same location. Another disgusting aspect is when another competitor tries to fish pole tip to pole tip around you.
• Seeing that huge fish come loose inches from the net – Watching a fish come unhooked before you can get the net under it is a sickening feeling. I’ve seen times I’ve almost cried.
• You partner wants to move and you don’t – Every team that’s ever fished has experienced this occurrence. It’s unavoidable; you just have to work things out with a give and take attitude.
• Having boat trouble – This is a phenomena that’s going to happen. It’s almost unavoidable. You eliminate some this by have your boat services properly. I’ve experience watching a trolling motor board burn completely burn up as soon as I put it in the water. It’s why I take two motors to the tournament.
• Seeing a fellow competitor act in an unsportsmanlike manner – Fishing of any type is supposed to be fun; seeing fellow competitors cussing, fussing, and even confronting each other discourages me to the fullest. It doesn’t set a good example for younger fishermen or our kids. Plowing thru a fishing spot out on the lake when you can go a safe distance around other fishermen shows immaturity and poor conduct.
• Not congratulating the winners – To be a good winner you have to be a good loser. Believe me when I say, losing is no fun. I hate it, but I accept it as part of the game. I know my day is coming. I enjoy telling my competitors “Congratulations / Good Job”.

I’ve discussed the pros and cons of tournament fishing. The good things out weigh the bad by far. One thing I didn’t mention is the fact that I’ve met friends that I will have the rest of my life. The kind of friends that will offer a hand when you’re broke down; give you anything they got including the shirt off their back. It’s become a like a family, and I’m here to tell you that families have disagreements.

My advice to anyone considering becoming a tournament fisherman is to start out with a small family oriented organization. Start with a fruit-jar group such as Crappie.com or a club like Magnolia Crappie Club. They’re both family oriented and the least expensive; once you have a grasp of the aspects you can then consider moving up to the national level.

I advise against starting tournament fishing to win money. Jim McKay, one of the first professional bass fishermen in MS told me at my second tournament, “Bernard, if you’re in this to win money, you better off going to McDonald’s and getting you a part-time job.” Jim was right then and today.

So if you’re contemplating tournament fishing, go ahead, try it. It may or may not be for you. You never know until you try it. One thing I can guarantee you is, not only will you learn a lot about fishing; you build memories that will last forever. By Bernard Williams, Magnolia Crappie Club