Last fall I pre-fished Wed. half a day Fri. and half a day on Sat never did catch a keeper and Sunday tournament day weighed in 17.36. Good enough for 5th. Just put my head down Sunday morning and went fishing!!!!!!!!

Going to fish it regardless of practice, had a great practice on Ivie and fell flat during the tournament. You can't always depend on prefish to tell you how tournament day will go.

answering the "sticking" question, yes weekend before.

Bill Dee where can I find this "Hitchhiker" sounds interesting.

Bass Pro sells them

Just like with any sport, if you're head is not in it (i.e. bad pre-fish) they day of the event, you are not doing yourself any favors. I have had bad practices but did well on tourny day. Once I had a bad practice for a Rayburn Fed Tourny, not to mention that I had been laid off after 9 years the week before. I can say in humility I threw a hissy fit the day of the tournament when I wasn't getting bit. Then at 1:30 I had a 9.03# big bass in the boat. I felt a little better after that.

When I used to play a lot of golf and had a bad day at the range or at the range warming up, I played better. I think my expectations were lower so I kept it simple and played it safe.

I guess what I'm saying is grind it out and learn, go back to basics, and keep it simple when practice or the day of the tourny is not going right. Can't never could...

I usually spend all my prefishing eliminating water and then when the tourney starts I eliminate some more.

If its lakes that I fish alot, I usually go out a few days ahead fish some spots and leave no matter what I do, If its a lake I have never been on I look for areas that hold fish on my favorite lakes. I may wet a line just to see if and what they may bite, but I try not to set the hook. But then again my best tournaments have been on lakes I have never been on, went fishing the tournament day and did well, I didn't have any pre notions on how they were biting. Relax and fish.

Its not always about the money, its about the excitement of competition, meeting people and fishing in general. Also, If its a series, there are points involved just for fishing. Even if you couldn't find what you wanted in practice don't mean something good can't happen on tournament day.

Something about a pot and a kettle comes to mind......