How do you Prefish Pressured lakes where its tough to just catch 5 during a tourney?
We only have 2 outboard LAKES of any size( over 1,000 acres) in NJ---- lakes Hopatcong and Greenwood are pounded 3-4 days a week FOR TOURNEYS. The bite come summer can be brutal. Many days 5 keepers is a win in anyone' book. How do you guys approach very pressured lakes fro a pre fishing standpoint?
That's a tough question. The only thing that helps me in situations like that is to go 180 degrees the opposite direction in pre-fishing. That is, I spent zero or nearly zero time in the areas I most expect to catch fish. I don't want to burn "my" fish in practice, I intend to fish there anyway, and if I fish my best stuff in practice and don't catch them, my confidence on derby day will be shot. Instead, I search for new patterns and new water, or at least stuff I haven't tried in a while. If it doesn't work, I've eliminated some things, and if it does, now I have at least a plan B for the event. New locations or techniques can also shed light that can help, either by process of elimination or positive reinforcement, when you go to fish your usual stuff.
John Clark — Findlay, Ohio
Sticking fish is the worst thing you can do,and yet i see guys all the time complaining about how good the fish bit the day before. And they never learn,they cant seem to register catching them on practice day burns them on tx day.
Stay off shore and prefish with your graph. Mark at many waypoints of either fish, baitfish or potential locations that would hold fish this time of year. Tournament day run the marked wp's and see if a potential pattern my develop.
to be honest i dont pre fish at all anymore most lakes i fish i know pretty well and have an idea of what the fish should be doing and go on that.
Now if i have never fished a lake i find spots and when i get bit i dont set the hook after a bit i move on to another area like the one i get bite in.
My home lake is heavily pressured as well (same lake as this years Classic) and I don't prefish. Try changing your tactics to something no one else uses. I have success using a flyfishing streamer fly tried drop shot or C-rig. My streamer flys mimic shad and blue gill colors. I also prefer rattle-less lures that suspend during the summer.
This is how I practice on any body of water that I know good. I always look for something completely different, cover a ton of water, and if that fails I can resort to my normal stuff that will do ok. I really enjoy trying to find that odd deal that nobody else finds because it can be good everywhereOriginally Posted by jc2bg
I disagree. I have caught the same fish twice on multiple occasions. I did so just last night on a 10" worm. The reason i know is someone had already ripped half its upper lip off. I also see and hear of people fishing at release points and wearing them out.
What he said, I'll see ya out there whoever you are Creekchub
Move
I wouldn't fish anyhing shallow(prefishing), but drive around and mark sports if you don't have them memorized, then drive around deep see stuff mark it and fish it some for a bite or no bite, try not to catch them since 5 is a win, if 15 fish is more common catch one at a spot. But the key now would be do something others are not. Example I was on a 20 acre pond with 4 other pairs of people in boats. We were all throwing frogs. I got 10 fish when they were either skunked to two, they would cast 25% through the mat, I would cross the mat and fly another 20' into the cattailsthat you wouldn't believe had water in them... Same lake and set up different time of year a spinner bait would catch 1lb fish but a swimbait would catch 6 lb fish... Repeatable results. Spinner bait is to bogus on high pressure lakes. Go deep into cover, like punch rig into trees and fish it like your in 80' of water
another thing to consider getting out of the box would be a clear soft plastic even if the water is stained, just make sure it displaces some water so they can feel it. Fish get conditioned to chartreuse= alien encounter and get lock jaw, something they can't tell what it is they put in there mouth to see if it's food since they don't have hands
Last edited by Fishysam; 07-09-2017 at 09:10 AM.
I use to think the same way. Twice now it's burned us. Once on a championship. We caught around 22lbs perishing the day before. That was only one fish per spot and then moved. Next day we caught 10lbs and 18 would have won. I know those spots well and sticking those fish shut them down. Same thing with a frog bite last fall. Found a great pattern but it wasn't a whole lot of water set up for it. Stuck a few in each area and in one creek caught a 20s bag in 5 cast. Next day those fish had sore lips and wouldn't bite. Still came out with almost 17 but 18 won. Now I don't stick anything unless I'm on nothing. Mainly just graph the day before
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