What is the first thing you do when you get to the lake? Probably go straight to the bank or at least to your favorite spot and start chunking something that worked in that spot at some time or other. How often do you get skunked or catch a few tight eyes? Do you stop to consider why you don't catch fish on a regular basis or don't ever catch quaility strings of fish.

Most fishermen I know don't have any idea why they catch so few fish. What would you rather do, fish 5 times and catch few or no fish each time spending all your days on the water chunking and winding or spend 2 of those 5 days looking and figureing out where , on what, how deep etc. The fish are and actually catching fish the other 3 days. Think about it, how much time do you actually spend trying to find fish? I'm not talking about moving from one bankline or tree line to the other in search of the secret spot, but actually searching out areas that hold quality fish on a regular basis.

The guy that wins or consistantly places high in all your local tourney's knows that time spent looking at his map and depth finder is the most important time on the water. When I win or place in a tourny I usually don't do it the day of the tourny, I win on my search days if I have properly prepared for a tourny. The day of the tourny is the easy part if you know where the fish are and what presentation, bait, color ect.

You can catch fish as well as the next guy if you are ON fish. The consistant winner simply knows where the fish are becuase he spent time looking for rather than just trying to catch fish. Take time to look at your map and select a few areas; then drop the trolling motor, look for structure changes such as weed lines dropping into deeper water, a stump field on a point, or bends in a creek that swing close to shore.

You know the drill, you read all the Magazine articles and listen to all the talk about structure and cover. Next time you go to the lake spend a couple hours in the morning fishing your favorite spot then take the rest of the day to find fish for your next tourny, then you can be the one that stands at the winner's circle with the check. winning isn't everything but it sure is fun, give it a try and see. Your fishin buddy , papa especially Trophy-sized Bass Fishing.

papa