I’ve always been competitive and always wanted to fish bass tournaments. I’ve fished a few but due to Riley’s rodeo schedule that dream has taken a back seat. As she grows and moves on to her doing it on her own and chasing that World Championship dream, in the next few yrs I want to pursue this. For you guys that compete what should I do now to prepare. She is going to graduate in 3 yrs. I think I’m a pretty good fisherman but not near what some of you guys are. I’ve been a Striper guide and understand fishing. My question to y’all is what do I need to do in the next 3yrs to prepare and be ready to compete. Thks

Don’t try and do everything. Pick 6 techniques, get the right equipment and baits and learn them well. Understand in Texas you can catch a decent limit most days in under 8 feet of water. Make it fun and not work. Learn to practice correctly. Accept there are “bass pro joes” in every tournament, don’t be one. Oh and remember to have fun.

Also try joining a local club where you will be fishing with various boaters. You will learn a lot of techniques and baits.
The first bass club I was involved with was with a few young guns that eventually wanted to fish in the Bassmaster Classic. A lofty dream for sure. So when we started our club we joined the Bass Federation.

And because our members shared info a few made it to the Nationals and two actually got to the Classic 10 years later. That was 20 years ago and now I am in my 3rd and last bass club and I am still learning from the boaters and other co-anglers who choose to share.

I got started at 10 years old in the 90s fishing anglers choice East Texas division w/dad, he was fishing tournaments long before I could remember but when he would leave I would pitch a fit and my mom said hey you have to start taking this boy.Then I started fishing as a co- angler in the Anglers Choice pro-am that’s when I started to learn new techniques that probably where you should start first. Good luck your a striper guide it won’t take you long and you be on the pro side

Yep. Just takes a couple pockets full of money!!!

Working mans with my dad on lake Arlington & Eagle Mountain as a kid (12-14). Where I really got the fire was AFW Bass club fishing as a co angler at 15. I watched Bassmaster TV and saw Craig Schuff make the Classic & decided I wanted to do that!

Fished my first tournament in 78 just because I loved to fish and won it. (Still have the trophy in my office)
Loved to fish and my heroes had names like Clunn, Houston, Nixom and Martin. It took a long time to be able to afford a boat but started off fishing small opens, joined a club, stepped up to small circuits and then took a 10 year hiatus to raise my kids.... my nephew begged me to fish with him on a team circuit when my daughter was a senior in HS so I started up again.
Irony is that now I dont care how I finish, i just go to compete for the love of competition and hanging out with the friends I've made over the years. I cut my share of checks every year but dont get bothered when I dont . I spend a lot of time helping the HS program and truly enjoy watching the progression of these young anglers - on and off the water.
My dreams of turning "pro" left a long t I'll me ago and I'm good with that. It's a tough way to make a living.

back in early 70's,got invited to join a bass club in greenville,Ms.....didn't have a boat so went as no boater...first tourny,got drawn with guy who had a 14ft Terry bass boat with a 25 hp Johnson and motor guide trolling motor...I had a 5 1/2 ft true temper glass rod and red ambassador reel.....caught two 5 lb fish on nip i didee and came in 2nd plus had big fish......I think I won a $5.00 and $10.00 gift certificate to Krogers which sold fishing tackle at the time....

I enjoy old timers telling old stories like this could listen for days. I have heard many from some good fishermen and fair weather fishermen. Like old country music never gets old thanks.

I joined a bass club in Houston at about 25 with about 15-20 guys, and fished it for about 5 years. I fished as a non-boater and won a few tournaments over the years and learned a lot from those guys in the process. As soon as Red Man went to a angler/co-angler format I started fishing that as a co-angler. I did fairly well with 5 top 5 finishes in 20 tournaments, so I took $600 from a win as a co-angler, borrowed my dads Ranger and entered on the pro side of an Anglers Choice Pro/Am on my home lake Livingston. Won that one for 10k and contemplated going pro, but was offered a job working off shore for a lot of $$$ using my geology degree to pay off my student loans and start a nice life for our family.
Still fished a few tourneys as a co-angler because I never had time to take off to practice and fish tournaments. Stopped fishing tournaments all together a few years later after my traveling partner quit, it just wasn't as fun anymore.

The enter web killed them adult film business so I had to make a change.

Bass clubs have been mentioned a lot and I did that route a couple of decades ago and you will learn a lot, mainly on your own unless the club you join does team format and pairs you with some folks that are really good, its kind of iffy at best speaking from experience. I'm coming back now and changed direction. I'm fishing the amatuer/nonboater side of of tournaments like the ABA Opens and the MLF/BFL. They cost an annual membership fee of between $35 and $75 plus $100 per tournament to fish. It is customary to give the pro/boater you are paired with about $50 for his or her fuel but you don't have to, I do it. Odds are you'll get paired on a draw system with someone that is at least a middle of the road angler and knows some things and might even get paired with a sure enough tournament pro and you will learn far more a lot faster than just doing the club thing. You'll fish from the rear of the boat and only fish against the other amateur's/ non-boaters and might win some money and above all you'll get some very valuable education just by watching who ever is in the front of the boat. If you are clubbing and running your own rig this might actually be cheaper, especially if you plan on putting in practice time in a club tournament. To me this is like going on a guided trip but a lot cheaper. The other deal I'm looking into is being a marshall for BASS or MLF. I think most cost $100 per tournament and you WILL most definitely get an education. Even if you just want to butt heads with some club guys or just get more enjoyment out of a normal days fishing going this route will pay off.

I joined a bass club in the early 70's and in fact joined the morning of the tournament on Amistad lake.
Didn't have a clue where I was going or what I was doing, but did catch a 3.12 on a Heddon tiny torpedo. I think I had three lures, a Pico Pop topwater, the Heddon tiny torpedo, and a Pico Perch.
Fished club tournaments until around 1985 and decided it cost way too much money, and trying to raise a family while losing my job.
Fishing for fun was a lot cheaper and less stressful.

Back in the mid 80's I was living in north Louisiana and was just a fisherman, I fished recreationally to put food on the table. I had owned a couple of ragged out stick steer bass boats and was wanting to up grade to a new boat but something I could afford. I looked around for a while and found a Glasstream Stinger 140, a tiny high performance bass boat rated for 60 horsepower. you could buy one brand new for about $6200. I figured this would be a neat boat to fish out of and a lot of fun to drive so I drove down to the dealer and got an invoice to take to the bank. I got back home that afternoon and as soon as I hit the door my phone rang and it was one of my neighbors, I knew he had a 320V Ranger for sale that wasn't very old but I knew at the time it was way beyond my means to pay for such a boat and haven't even given it a thought about buying it. He asked me if I'd be interested in buying it and I told him no, I couldn't even begin to afford that at the time. He told me if you'll come look at it I'll make you a deal of a lifetime. It actually belonged to his son and his son had bought it and then got injured on his job and couldn't pay for it, so I wound up buying it for about half of what it was worth just to get them out from under it.
Long story short after I bought the Ranger, some guys I worked with belonged a pretty descent size bass club and they talked me into coming to fish one of their club tournaments on Lake Earling in Arkansas. I new almost nothing about bass fishing. Some of these guys were real "sticks" on this lake and frequently boated 25 pound stringers in these club tournaments and other tournaments on this lake.
The morning of the tournament rolled around and we hit the water in the middle of a snow storm and gale force winds and it was an extremely tough day. I think most of us fished that morning without a single bite, me included. The Ranger had flashers on it and I was still trying to sort them out and I was able to locate where two creeks came together in about 25 feet of water. I had a partner with me that day and we pulled out and threw toward the point that was formed by these two creeks with spinner baits, slow rolling them off the bottom. I boated two 3.5+ pounders at that point and never got another bite the rest of the day. We headed to the weigh in and I almost didn't bring my fish in but decided to just to see what they weighed. When I got out of the boat with the fish everyone at the weigh in sight was staring at me like I had two heads and I knew something was up I just didn't know what. A couple of guys asked me where I caught those fish and I told them, I put them on the scales and they weighed just a little over 7 pounds total. I wound up winning that tournament with just those two fish no one else had caught a thing. Needless to say I was hooked and have been ever since.

Honestly.... depends on the level you want to compete. If you’re talking about champs or TTT then I’d spend as much time as I could in next 3 years chasing the lakes they fish. Starting in January to summer. If you’re talking about opens and other national series.... your best bet is to travel some and check the area lakes out and start now and do LOTS of research and mapping from home. Some of those guys are just straight up hammers and some are just money pots that think they can fish. Talking for all around trails and derby’s. Next year I’m going to dabble in some bigger stuff and see what it’s all about but for now I’m just competing with locals. Problem with locals is the knowledge they have accumulated over the years and also to the tight lip groups that share info. The problem with national and traveling is the experience and time others have that allow them to pre fish and learn certain lakes when you’re at work and only get to use practice days. Good luck in your adventure, hope to see you out there one day