I'm starting a workingman's this year. Should be an easy way to get started.

Win the lottery!

Welllll............you've come to the right place. Get a pad of paper out son, I'm gonna share ALLLL the knowledge I've learned after 30 years of tourney fishing. Brace yourself, this stuff is like GOLD!!!!

- Learn a solid 15-20 excuses
- Never understate or estimate the size of the hard bite that you swung and missed on
- Know that you'll average 15-80 pounds on the day BEFORE the tourney, expect 3-9 day of
- Know that the 7 rigs that you set up the night before will all be cut off by 9am
- Go ahead and sit down to enjoy lunch........seriously.........it's the best part of your day!!!
- Find a partner that is also a shrink, child counselor, or motivational speaker, it'll help.
- Remove all knives and other sharp things from the boat for personal protection
- Get a REALLY fancy gps/sonar set up to mark all the spots they were biting in practice
- Order extra withdrawal slips from your bank.............won't need any deposit slips
- Make lots of $20 side bets with friends in the event. Then, make sure you have exactly $20 X (amount of friends in event) in your wallet
- Don't worry what to stock up on, regardless, they'll be on the one that you only have ONE bait left in the bag!!

Oh............and seriously, have fun. If you can do it for the competition and realize that it's an amazing combo of luck, skill and knowledge and a real long shot for anyone to win any tourney, you'll be fine. The moment you decide you have to win to enjoy it, you're doomed to have a bad day. I'm ate up with fishing tourneys. LOVE the competition. Almost never win, but simply love em! Good luck out there!!! Wanna bet $20??

Haha that helps a lot i appreciate it!!

Join a good bass club and fish with as many different anglers as possible. Try to fish with anglers that have different strengths such as a shallow water guy, deep structure guy and so on. If you decide you like it and want to make the next step then fish a local trail or the B.A.S.S. opens as a co-angler. You will be amazed how much you can learn by listening and watching seasoned tournament anglers. Good luck!

Any recommendations on a good club for beginners in Dallas that doesn't meet on Thursday nights?

Derick, fish the working mans on the lakes you know to get your feet wet into tournament fishing and to get your confidence up.

Always read the rules. Then read them again.
Realize that winning is many times luck. Placing in the money consistently takes skill. Skill is developed by an intelligent use of time on the water.

Good luck.

There is a Bass Club in Burleson, think its $200/yr and that covers all tourney fee's for the whole year, thinking about looking into it myself.

Working man's tournaments on Lake Arlington, Thursday nights.

Read Yancey's post. Then read it again. It can't be more right on. If you have a competitive side, tournament fishing is addictive. Find a Club that has fun and shares information and experience. HAVE FUN! If you aren't, it's just not worth it.

Hey bud, here is my 2cents on this.

#1 no matter how big the tourney is, never let them take the fun out of it!

#2 fish hard, respect fellow fishermans space and remember that u can't win them all.

#3 don't let the stress get to u

Bass Champs

3 good fish = a new Ford Truck

They evened the playing field and made it very fair for everyone.

Kind of wealth redistribution in fishing.


GO 3 or GO HOME!

Definetely start with a local club. Would strongly recommend fishing is a non-boater for at least 3-4 tournaments so you learn the ropes. A lot of guys always anxious to run their own boat but you can learn so much fishing with different guys each time. Take advantage of all the knowledge your club's boaters have to offer. Learn as much as you can.

Catch a limit. Let the rest take care of itself.