Your first goal on comp day would be to catch the bag limit. A bag limit is the maximum amount of fish you are allowed to weigh in during a competition. When you have “bag” your aim would be to “upgrade” your fish, thus you will be culling your smallest fish every time you catch a bigger fish.
Some fishing platforms only allow the angler to have a certain number of fish in their livewell at any given time, normally the bag limit. If the tournament you are fishing at has no such rule always be sure to keep a “spare” fish in your livewell as some fish just tend to be unable to cope with the stresses of being captured and eventual go belly up. The safe keeping of the fish is however of utmost importance. There are various ways in which you can ensure fish stay healthy during their stay in your livewell, be sure to familiarise yourself with techniques such as fizzing (emptying the fishes air bladder when caught in deep water) and how to safely remove gut hooks.
A dream day on the water would be to constantly catch big fish during your time on the water, although we all wish that was the case, that only happens once in a blue moon. So how does one go about establishing a pattern on which to constantly catch fish when the going gets tough? From personal experience we have determined that fishing with your confidence bait is key. Fishing with baits that you hardly fish with will just put you on the back foot. Persistence is a key factor that both aspiring and established anglers need. When the going gets tough and you’ve done all you can do with no success, go back to the basics.
Next we will be discussing how to fish the various types of structures.
Grassy areas normally hold good quality fish, especially in deeper water, when fishing deeper water a Texas style or Carolina style rigged plastic works best. The Carolina rig allows the plastic to move freely from your weight. When fishing grassy areas polarized sunglasses are critical as they will allow you to see pockets in the grass where the normally camp. When you find small pockets in the grass another effective way to fish that pocket is with a drop shot rig, as this allows the bait to sink directly in the middle of the pocket without getting stuck and places the bait is in the strike zone.
Reeds are probably one of our favourite types of structure. The best way to fish reeds are a Texas style rigged soft bait. This rig allows the angler to reach the open water pockets at the back of the reeds. Do not try to fish reeds from 20 odd metres away, rather get as close to the reeds as possible and pitch your baits into the reeds.
Bass Digest/February, 2014