I'm fortunate enough to have a good friend with a boat, so we fish most every weekend. I fish from the back of the boat, and I need some tips on what techniques to use when playing clean up after the angler in the front of the boat has already hit the cover when pitching and flipping. My friend usually hits the cover with a TX Rigged worm. Thanks for any insight.

when im in the back of the boat and we are flipping then ill just flip somethin different. If your friend is flipping a regular worm then flip a jig or creature bait or a beaver type bait. Also i try to hit the cover from different angles than my friend in the front hit. Sometimes the bass seeing the bait from a different vantage point can make em bite. This is just what works for me.

Try a different presentation.

I have a buddy that has fished 4 BassMaster Weekend Series events in Arkansas, as a co-angler, this year. He's got 2nd in two them throwing a drop shot from the back to the boat.

Try differant angles than the front guy is doing also if he is fishing toward the bank try the other side and pick up some of the outside fish.

I fish the used water also and catch all the ones my buddy up front misses.

I still have 2 LMB larger than him for this year.

Unless he is just stopping at every piece of cover throughly covering it there are still a lot of spots that he don't hit especially if the sun is shine and they are holding tight to the cover. he may hit only one side, or just the front of the cover...you may try the other side especially if it is the shady side.

Gosh, I hate to give this up, but, try pitching a spinnerbait and a crankbait and a frog behind him. A lot of times they will hit your faster moving lures vs his t-rig, just out of reaction. But, you will get hung up more than he does, so be prepared to break off a lot of lures. Be nice to your boat owner and don't ask him to turn around and get everything you hang up. Not cool. Braid helps. Don't be afraid to pitch a crankbait in deeper cover than he will pitch his worm.

This was my tactic for fishing behind a "True Flipping Master" for over 15 years. He didn't miss a single presentation to every single angle of the cover. Ever. I did really well fishing reaction-type baits behind him.

Have fun!

Before i got my boat i was in the same spot. I always treated this situation as from the console back was my water, and from the console forward was his. I would usually throw a c-rig behind him. When he could keep the boat parralel to to the cover if I would throw out of the back of the boat (ie toward the motor) at a greater angle I would have my lure in the productive zone for a longer period of time than my buddy. After a few trips of me catching more than him, he made note of this and we started trading off time on the TM.

We also had kind of an an unwritten rule that who ever was running the TM will spend a bit more effort making sure that both are in position for a good cast. Even if it means that you have to expend a bit more effort and have to fight the wind a little more which will give the guy in the back a bit of an advantage also as he only has to pay attention to fishing.

w

Yep. When I tournament fish with a friend in the back, I try to give him some angles, and some shots. I'll even tell him sometimes, "I'll take the right side of this bush" or tell him when I saw an angle or shot but didn't make the cast, so that he's got some fresh water to fish. If that's not the kind of boater you have driving, the other guys are right, throw something different and at different angles than the front man.

Very good advice above. If the front guy is considerate, you'll have plenty of new targets to flip at.

If your fishing as a non-boater in a tourny, pay close attention to where he/she puts the bait, in relation to the cover, present yours differently, different spot, different angle etc. As mentioned don't throw what the boater is throwing, different bait, different color.

I fish as a boater on the BWS, my first tourney this year I was pitching a jig and co was throwing a Senko. He had two fish before I ever got bit. Guess what, before the day was over we both had our limits on ...... Senko's ... just different colors. The fish were there they just didn't want a jig that day. I'm not too proud to change, lots times something different will pay dividends for both parties.

If it's your buddy and no tourney it you ought to be up on the front deck with him, especially fun, or practice fishing.

Just like has been said before throw something different somedays in the boat im throwing behind 2other people and still catch fish just by throwing something different than they are.

Fish out a little deeper.

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll try something completely different next time.

I fished as a non boater in tournaments years ago and the one thing I did was try to get as far back as I could in the boat and treat it as if I was out there by myself. Unless I was watching the guy to try to learn something I didn't even want to know what he was throwing or where. There were many times I would flip my old LFT CrawTube or some other bait and catch a fish and hear my partner say that he had just flipped in the same location as me without a bite. I didn't want what the other person did affect me at all. I wanted to throw what I had confidence in and into spots that I thought would hold a fish and not pass it up if I saw the other angler fish it. I wanted to have the confidence that I was throwing the right bait at the right spot and concentrate on getting a bite.