Okay, I've recently started being a boat captain for my son(JR High/ High school tournament)and his friend. I've fished for plain fun before but have never fished any tournaments. It was more just a relaxing thing to do. My son loves to fish and has hopes to be a marine biologist. But now I would like to step up our game and I would like to learn how to scout out lakes and how to find fish to put my kids on.

Now I do not want to know any of your spots, but to be able to know where to focus my energy to learn would be great. I've been reading and watching videos for weeks. Which can be a very overwhelming amount of information. We have an older boat with some extremely old technology electronics (fishmark 320) that tell us how deep the water is but that is it! I do not trust what it says as for fish being there. LOL So I do not know if upgraded electronics are the first step.

Our first tournament was a couple weeks ago at Stillhouse Hollow. I caught two fish by 8 but that was it. My boys were not able to bring any fish to weight in. Any recommendations for articles to read or videos to watch to lessen my learning curve would be awesome. My goal is not to be a tournament contender but to be able to get my boys on fish so they enjoy the experience instead of getting skunked consistently. Thanks

Your starting to transition from summer to fall, fish are still majority deep with these temps we have still been having. A lot of fish are starting to get on the move, Fall fishing can be one of the best time of year to me. You are also getting into lakes turning over which can make fishing very tuff. When water temps start dropping waves of shad will start to move towards back of creeks and bass will fallow for a buffet line. Shad and craw baits is what I would focus on.

You are already behind the 8 ball without up-to-date electronics. You at least need to have a good sonar to determine if baitfish are in the area. If no bait, find another spot. Fish will most always congregate on ledges, creek mouths, or creek swings. Look where the bait sets up and then fish. IMO, SI and DI are vital to see exactly what's in those baitpods and subtlties such as rockpiles or trees, docks, etc... My most success has came from drastic drops in water depth, but there's a lot more to it than just that. It may be a good starting point for you. Throw what you have confidence in. Dead sticking and slow presentations are far better than constantly moving ones, too. Always try shallow bushes as well. Fish will move into very shallow stuff at times when you least expect them to. Work on flipping baits with precise accuracy, try to hit areas other fishermen can't hit. Bout all I know.....& GL!

Sent you a PM

A lot of good info on Bassresource.com

Make sure you have a good lake map. Using what you have learned from your 'studies', select several spots/areas to fish. It's hard to go wrong on points, main lake or secondary, depending on time of year. P_102

All good info here..

Keep it simple. It is easy to get out there and want to try the latest and greatest. Fish a Zoom Trick worm on a Texas Rig around anything. Shakey heads are hard to beat. As others said, electronics will help, they can be overwhelming.

You're definitely going to need better electronics and you're not going to like my next suggestion but hiring a guide you will learn more in one day than 6 months on your own. Now which guide is another quandary. The best in my opinion are at the big lakes, Fork, Rayburn and Toledo Bend. Since you're in Waxahachie Fork would be your best bet. When I first started being serious I hired a guide on Fork and was amazed at the techniques and methods he used to locate fish and have used them ever since. Best advice I can offer.

Do some homework before you even leave the house.
google maps and paper maps, have a game plan for areas of the lake you want to fish. Knowing the behavioral habits of bass during certain times of the year helps. and yes a good graph is a must but doesn't have to be a high dollar unit. something with good color 2d sonar and side/down imaging is a plus. and remember to not get caught up in all the information that is out there. the main thing to do is just like you stated earlier, Go fish for fun! just because you're fishing in a tournament doesn't mean you have to change the way you fish the only difference is a time limit and some money. good luck.

If you don't have great electronics fish shallow. John Cox can fish the FLW tour without a transducer on the boat. He fishes ridiculously shallow. He has won a ton of money fishing shallow.

A key is to find the bait. Fish are going to starve to death if they don't eat. Typically if the is bait the bass aren't far away. Good thing about shallow is you can see signs of bait around. Bass are structure oriented. Find bait near structure and it's likely to be a decent spot at times. I would cover a lot of ground throwing a shallow crank or square bill then work the productive looking areas with a soft plastic.

You can't be afraid to throw your bait around cover as that's were bass like to be. Making the right cast can be key. They often bite on a deflection which triggers a bite.

Typically about 95% of the lake can be unproductive water. Your looking for the other 5%.

Keep it simple the next couple months and throw something you have coincidence in. Squarebill in shad patterns, spinnerbaits, and bladed jigs is what I would focus on fall fishing t9 me is all about the shad. They will be on the move right now from main lakes to the backs of creeks, like mentioned earlier without electronics it's hard to fish anything off shore. Use what you can see, main lake and secondary points are always a good place to look. Personally I like points with alot of rock out of the bank. A squarebill or medium diving crankbait will let you know what the bottom is like further off the bank. Stick to smaller sizes to gain confidence and your going to be more likely to catch numbers a 1.5 size crankbait and 3/8ths spinnerbait or bladed jig. If your interested I would be happy to send a couple custom squarebills to try and help y'all get things going for the fall feed.

If your going to stay shallow this is great advice. Your looking for that little spot that's just different enough to hold fish. My opinion it's a waste of time to just go out there and pick a bank and start going just like every other boat out there. Your looking for creek bends close to the bank, little backwater ponds, bluff type banks, and grass or other vegetation. This time of year your really looking for shad. You should be able to see them popping the surface in the creeks if they're there. To be really competitive offshore save up some until next spring and get you a decent graph so when those fish go out for summer you can go locate them.

If you decide to hire a guide - James Biggs or Clark Rheem

I think this outstanding advice.

One thing to keep in mind is there are more that one kind of bait that fish feed on. Not all show up on a graph. I have graphs that need dialed in but the only thing I use them for is Mapping to get around the lake and depth. I need to get someone to help me get my graphs working so I can at least tell if baitfish are present, but I never fish deep.