Derek777
Well-known member
well, i fished my first real tournament on saturday on the northeast river in maryland. i had fished a couple of lunker tourneys at the nock before, but this was my first ever 'official' tournament where you had a five fish limit and a weigh in like the pros etc.
i fished this as a co angler/non boater, which means i was fishing off the back of a boat. i was lucky to have drawn a boater who was a really nice guy, and also was able to put us in a position to not only find the fish and catch them, but also to fish in an area where i wasnt handicapped by fishing spent water, like fishing docks, pilings etc afer he'd already cast to them.
we ended up in a large cove that was a huge weedbed that was just starting to really get thick. i used a ratl-trap and caught 4 of my 5 fish limit on the trap, catching every fish when ripping the trap from the weeds. antoher technique that used to catch my final limit fish was pitching finesse wieghted plastics to individual weed clumps. this is the techinique used by the guy who won the tournament. i weighed my 5 fish in at 12.17 lbs, and finished in 5th place out of 23. i was only .2 lbs out of the money.
i had a really good time, and came into the tournament with low expectations of a finishing place, but with confidence in my abilities, and with the attitude that if i caught fish it was a bonus, and that i wanted to learn and expand my abilities as an angler. i definitely did that, as my 'confidence' technique is basically finesse fishing, but i was forced by the situation i was presented with to 'power fish', something that i wasnt too experienced with, but definitely wanted to learn so i can expand my abilities as an angler.
as a coangler, you are quite limited in the amount of tackle you can bring, as storage is limited to usually a small compartment on the backs of the boats, so i was forced to be quite particular/selective about the tackle i brought, as well as the rods. i brought 5 rods, all of which could serve dual purposes. the rod i relied on most was my otterods custom rippin crankin rod, which was also brought for jerkbaits and light swimbaits.
anyways, i got a nice shot of me from the weigh in for my sponsors
FilthyFishermen Bait Company
CB's Hawg Sauce
Enhanced Concrete Design/Wagner Contractors
The Angling Center
i fished this as a co angler/non boater, which means i was fishing off the back of a boat. i was lucky to have drawn a boater who was a really nice guy, and also was able to put us in a position to not only find the fish and catch them, but also to fish in an area where i wasnt handicapped by fishing spent water, like fishing docks, pilings etc afer he'd already cast to them.
we ended up in a large cove that was a huge weedbed that was just starting to really get thick. i used a ratl-trap and caught 4 of my 5 fish limit on the trap, catching every fish when ripping the trap from the weeds. antoher technique that used to catch my final limit fish was pitching finesse wieghted plastics to individual weed clumps. this is the techinique used by the guy who won the tournament. i weighed my 5 fish in at 12.17 lbs, and finished in 5th place out of 23. i was only .2 lbs out of the money.
i had a really good time, and came into the tournament with low expectations of a finishing place, but with confidence in my abilities, and with the attitude that if i caught fish it was a bonus, and that i wanted to learn and expand my abilities as an angler. i definitely did that, as my 'confidence' technique is basically finesse fishing, but i was forced by the situation i was presented with to 'power fish', something that i wasnt too experienced with, but definitely wanted to learn so i can expand my abilities as an angler.
as a coangler, you are quite limited in the amount of tackle you can bring, as storage is limited to usually a small compartment on the backs of the boats, so i was forced to be quite particular/selective about the tackle i brought, as well as the rods. i brought 5 rods, all of which could serve dual purposes. the rod i relied on most was my otterods custom rippin crankin rod, which was also brought for jerkbaits and light swimbaits.
anyways, i got a nice shot of me from the weigh in for my sponsors
FilthyFishermen Bait Company
CB's Hawg Sauce
Enhanced Concrete Design/Wagner Contractors
The Angling Center
