Tournament Mentality

Do you fish for a limit/check and then try to catch a kicker, or do you swing for the fences and go for just a few bites?

I know there are a lot of variables and it depends on many factors like how practice went, weather, time of year, knowledge of the lake, AOY points, etc., but where do you normally start?

I guess I keep it simple, I can go anywhere in the country and i want to catch the biggest fish in the body of water I'm on. Sometimes that's keepers like what the opens guys faced this fall, sometimes its 5lb or bigger like spring on rayburn. I do always want to bring in 5 but its pointless to bring in 5 dinks when it takes 15lbs to get a good check.

Usually; when i find numbers, they're small to medium fish that wont get you much of a check.

I'd try and have a couple spots that i felt would give me five or more quality bites over five or six hours.
You dont get extra credit for getting your sack in 10 minutes.
That being said, you need a couple of those numbers spots just in case you only get four good bites.
Never go to the scale without a limit.

I just go fish the way I like to fish.

Fish the day.

Just go fish and have fun, if it’s meant to be it’s just meant to be.

Fish for 5...then donkey hunt. This method has served me well over the years.

At the amateur level, about 3/4ths of the field "just go fishing".
Their entry fees make up the prize money for the other 1/4th.
Hopefully everybody has fun regardless of their finish.

Your "strategy" just depends on what your goal is.

There is usually a window for bites, and fishing for bites and then hawg hunting usually does not work, since that window of time is not that big usually. Lots of variables that go into where to start and when to leave, and which fish to chase.

Fish for winning fish.

I subscribe to the theory of catch your fish.....if they are good enough you get a check .......you need 5 to matter.... ut it depends on if you are fishing a series or a derby.....a bagel in A series can ruin the season.....with a derby swing for the fences

What is a Derby and a Bagel?

My success in pre-fishing will dictate my approach at times.

When i stopped fishing for a limit and started fishing for the big bite, I consistently began to cash checks in every event. I got way fewer bites, but got more of the right bites. Just my personal experience

I fish the best places I found prefishing, whatever they may be. I have read at least one guy who has won multiple BASS AOY titles say he doesn't know what "fishing for big fish" means.

I have found that the guys who have only one fish usually "swung for the fence" when asked. Same guys usually don't cash checks throughout the year. It's a fine excuse for not showing up with 5.

I have committed to areas where I knew that the bites were gonna be few but the possible return was going to be high and just embraced the suck when it didn't pan out. I've also reaped the benefits of the same scenario.
Mostly, I just go fish.

I go fishing that day and try and fish what the conditions are for the day . It sounds easier than it is to do.
Sometimes my ability to find and catch fish works out and I can make a check and sometimes it doesn't.

sometimes the best fish of your limit is the first fish you catch. Just go fishing where your pre-fishing took you looking for those bigger fish. If you didn't pre-fish then just go fishing.

As mentioned, there are a lot of variables for every tournament, most of which are dictated by lake and tournament formats such as one day or multiday, team or pro/am or club etc. Rather than get into this response on a conditional or geographic gameplan, I will comment about Sam Rayburn.....

Very few one day big team tournaments are won unless you have an 8lb+ fish in your sack and even then, you really need to have two fish in your bag that cumulatively equal 15+ lbs together. If you are going after a check and are satisfied with just doing that in these bigger single day team tournaments, very few times does it take less than 17-18lbs to get a check. Catching 17+ is hard unless you have a 5+ lb fish in your bag on Rayburn. Rarely does someone come in with a limit of all cookie cutter 3.5lbers. Does the weather allow the offshore anglers to fish their "spots"... Throw this theory out the window because that is when the outliers show up like 30-40lb sacks.

IMO... Take that bit of advise and fish smart, treating every tournament on Sam Rayburn as a big bass event. Go for that kicker the entire time because at Rayburn, if you don't get that big bite or more importantly if you are trying to win, multiple kickers, then you will be in that 10-13lb purgatory that 80% of the anglers that catch 5 keepers on any given day get stuck in whether they are in a tournament or not.

The best advice that I got that has made the biggest difference in my fishing is really simple. I used to think is catching limits and how much weight to shoot for and all of that was continually going through my mind all day. Then one time I was fishing with a really good angler and I asked him what philosophy he went by on tournament fishing.
He told me when he starts first thing in the morning he does what he thinks is necessary to catch a fish. As soon as that happens he then looks to catch another fish. And then if that happens he repeats the process. That way each time he is on the water the only thing on his mind is to continue to do the same thing over and over. Just always think about catching A FISH.
Simplifies everything to just always thinking of catching a fish.

....and don’t let your mind drift between 8am-12pm. There will be one or two VERY important fish caught during that time that may make a limit on a tough day, or serve as clues to what the fish are doing.

I always want 5 fish first and foremost. If one or two are good enough NOT to need a ring, so much the better. After a limit is reached, then stop for 5 minutes and think about the first five and how they were caught. Did you change up, move, did they get bigger, smaller, shallower deeper? Lots of clues during the early part of the day that tourney guys need to pay attention to, allowing for better adjustments throughout the day.