Good to know. Thanks for the input fellas. I'll likely only be able to get on the lake exactly a week before the tourney and I figure, and some of you confirmed, it would be ok to just go stick em in advance.

I�m from Louisiana so I catch and filet the biggest 5 fish I can the day before so I can see what they are eating.


In all seriousness, I could be wrong, but my thoughts have always been there are fish throughout the lake. So I�m scouting for a pattern, not a spot. 1 fish is luck, 2 is maybe a pattern. I move to similar area and try to duplicate.

My wife says I just prefish so I will get another day or so to go fishing and it never does me any good because I catch then in practice but not on tourney day. I'm beginning to think she may be onto something!

For me it depends on the size of the lake and how much practice time I have. If it's a new lake to me, I want to see all of it or as much as possible the first day. If there is part of the lake that looks like what I like to fish, I break that part down further. If it's a big lake like Rayburn or T-Bend I will do some map study and pick out a section of the lake and break the lake down that way. A lot of times I will throw something I can see like a swim bait or a buzz bait, which usually catch a little better fish, (with hooks bent down) to make the fish show themselves but not get stuck. If that doesn't work I'll slow down and will throw something like a senko that fish will hold onto and try to get a look at them without sticking them.

I rarely prefish, I do a lot of graphing and map homework. I'm familiar with most of the lakes I fish anyways so I graph looking for fish or brush most of the day. If I do prefish, I stick one or two fish and leave. I do not fish the day before unless I have to.

If I'm not familiar with the lake I'll go out the week before and run trails to spots and fish a little.

Some guys I know say they "have" to pre fish. but I'm not to concerned with it because each day is different. Just show up and go fishing.

I typically pre-fish the week before a tournament, I work during the week so pre-fishing the day before usually is not happening. When I pre-fish I start by reading reports, then I study the navionics webapp to look at the area on my computer, then look at it on google earth. I pick my spots based on the time of year, weather, water temperature. I usually have a good idea once I hit the water, and then I cover water quickly. I usually have several places I want to look at as well as places I have fished before. If I catch several in one spot I will leave and check the other spots. I always look for someplace new because you never know when you find that honeyhole that no one knows about.