How do yall "prefish" without killing your tournament day bite?

I've heard of people straightening hooks, or removing trebles. I let a fish run with a plastic and hope they let go. You will want to pull in a fish in each area to see quality. Always leave them biting. Just use it to find areas and tactics, then move on. It has worked for me only if the weather is consistent. The changes between my practice days and the tournaments for me lately have killed my mojo!

Don't win practice.

Do more looking than fishing.

well put

I think it also depends on what you are fishing. When you are beating the bank you probably don't want to do much fishing because you could catch the few fish that are present. I think you can fish a little more when you find a school in deeper water or fish holding to certain structure.

I do a lot of looking and very little fishing while practicing, especially if it's water I know.


Like Fouz said, winning practice doesn't pay well...

I struggle with this , I still have to check if they're there , when people say more looking than fishing are you just looking at what you think will produce and graph? I don't win practice or day of so idk

Graph, look at water quality, temperature and fish a little and get a bite or two and build confidence the fish are there. Move on to other areas and repeat. It's boring and frustrating sometimes.

also you have weather. look for area to get you out of high winds coming from different directions

Practice fishing has never made sense to me. How effective is it when the variables are constantly changing? Its not like baseball where its the same all the time. Please explain!

I see it more of trying to find more areas that you will want to fish. Yes variables do change consistently but if you have say 50 different waypoints that you have marked good structure or schools on, youll have less water to eliminate when it comes to game time. They might not be there on the day you need them on but they should be fairly close and at least you wont be standing there not knowing where to go...

for me its to search out prime areas that have the potential to set up then learn the timing. or others sink brushpiles.

I "practiced" last year on sam rayburn for 16 days..... 8 weekends, Sat & Sun
came tournament time, didn't know where to fish or what to fish with.
I had lots of help,,,,,locals, guides, know-it-alls
but still no fish.
I quit "pre-tournament fishing" or practice. Now I just go fish where I know the fish should be.
if I still don't catch fish or enough to win,,,,,at least I did not spend all that time "practicing".
I stay at home and fish Lake Athens for practice,,,,,it is only 5 minutes from my garage door. It also keeps my spirits up.

Don't pratice where you already know your going to fish. Stay moving until you run into stretches with fish. Build on those areas on game day.