Tournament fishermen

This is more of a question than statement. While discussing a fishing tournament in Grenada last year I had one of the participants mention a technique that I haven't heard of.
The conversation goes like this. The participating team was Prefishing an area and catching fish. They decided to leave the fish for tournament day. Another team sees them catching fish and goes into the area and wipes it clean of fish.
Is this a tactic normally used or just an isolated incident? If this is a common tactic do they relocate the fish into a different area of he lake or take them out of the lake?

I don't tournament fish nor do I have a problem with tournament fishermen. I actually have a lot of respect for them as they can usually catch fish under any conditions.

That's grabbing for straws sounds like to me. I don't tournament fish,but really what are we talkin bout here? A lake the size of a football field? Sounds like they just didn't bite the next day there to me....

Impossible to wipe out an area in one day. If a tourney team sees you lifting your poles and they've had a hard day, you better expect company. Just the way it is. Never pre fish your best spots the day before a tourney unless you have to. Dont ever stay long if Ya catch a few good ones, and don't ever grab your net till tourney day. You learn how to catch, look at em, try to shake em off, and move on. Problem is, you can't knock a good fish off the hook with a baseball bat when pre fishing. They just fall off on tourney day. [emoji4]

The only place I've ever relocated a fish to is my home to keep a few to eat. I have released my tourney fish after weigh in at the nearest ramp tho.

Thanks BRM, you've never led me wrong. I tried one tournament in Grenada and realized real quick y'all are the PRO's.

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Originally Posted by CCCW

Thanks BRM, you've never led me wrong. I tried one tournament in Grenada and realized real quick y'all are the PRO's.

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No pro here. I just enjoy fishing new places, visiting with my friends, and I get lucky every once in a great while.

It's also good for business. [emoji12]

This actually happens quite often. Especially on big tourneys where people are prefishing heavily. How effective it can be is debatable. I had this happen once to me, my partner and I won a tourney while sitting on a particular brush pile. A month later we had another tourney at the same lake. Another team had zeroed in on our spot, prefished the heck out of it and beat us to it on tourney day. I guess they cleaned it out prefishing because they caught next to nothing there that day. Lol. I do not think you can "fish out" a large area holding fish, just small isolated hot spots. Such as a log or brush pile in an otherwise non-descript area.

I wouldn't put it past any competitive angler to use the tactics u mentioned. I have seen folks try just about anything. For me, I don't generally get to prefish because of work. When I do Prefish I never stop, turn around, get the net, throw a buoy, or anything else to indicate I am catching fish. I swear some people pay more attention to what your doing than to what there doing. It makes no sense to me.

This is a good read! with a lot of truth...

something to ponder if you do prefish a tournament and fish brush pile use a different pole then you will use during the tournament and have it spooled with 2lb to 4lb test pound line and when you get the fish to the side of the boat no net no picking up the fish reach down like you are hung up a break the line !!! nobody seen a thing !!!

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Originally Posted by joekiller

That's grabbing for straws sounds like to me. I don't tournament fish,but really what are we talkin bout here? A lake the size of a football field? Sounds like they just didn't bite the next day there to me....

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There are times that "straw" is litterly the difference maker in what you have found for tourney day, eggs in one basket so to speak. Whether it got hammered to death or another team saw you take a good fish out of a spot and they beat you there, like it or not it happens.
Hope the day never comes that I feel I need to stoop to this level, we may both find the same fish and end up there on tourney morning and I'm good with that. Fact is you better be worrying whats happening in your rig and not in others, some days one bite will make all the difference.
Folks do all kinda of things and it will surprise you some times too, with that said, for the most part sportsmanship abounds. Saw Bird Down and his part at the Crappie Masters Championship, heck watched em for 4 or 5 hours solid on Saturday morning, knew they were sticking a few fesh but dont think we ever even got close enough to them to speak. Closest we got to them was when we were pulling cranks and we were in the middle of Whittington then and they were in the weeds.

By the way, I have tourney with fished several of the folks that have posted in this thread and it was always a pleasure and hope to get the chance to do it again. Tourney fishing is about learning for me, doing good is just icing on the cake but learning to catch fish on a set day no matter the conditions makes any of us better fisherman.

Amen

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Originally Posted by Rees Guide

There are times that "straw" is litterly the difference maker in what you have found for tourney day, eggs in one basket so to speak. Whether it got hammered to death or another team saw you take a good fish out of a spot and they beat you there, like it or not it happens.
Hope the day never comes that I feel I need to stoop to this level, we may both find the same fish and end up there on tourney morning and I'm good with that. Fact is you better be worrying whats happening in your rig and not in others, some days one bite will make all the difference.
Folks do all kinda of things and it will surprise you some times too, with that said, for the most part sportsmanship abounds. Saw Bird Down and his part at the Crappie Masters Championship, heck watched em for 4 or 5 hours solid on Saturday morning, knew they were sticking a few fesh but dont think we ever even got close enough to them to speak. Closest we got to them was when we were pulling cranks and we were in the middle of Whittington then and they were in the weeds.

By the way, I have tourney with fished several of the folks that have posted in this thread and it was always a pleasure and hope to get the chance to do it again. Tourney fishing is about learning for me, doing good is just icing on the cake but learning to catch fish on a set day no matter the conditions makes any of us better fisherman.

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Well said John.

Great reading.

John is spot about the learning part. Everyone has a little twist they use to catch a few extra fish. You learn lots of those things while tourney fishing with all those guys and gals.

Most of the tourney guys respect each other's space, but the lakes we fish are Public Waters. Pre fishing and hanging out with the fishermen and women before and after the tourney is more like a social event. Going out to eat, have a few brews, and just hanging out with knowledgable fishermen is fun in itself. Most will share their techniques, and may tell you the Pattern the fish are on, but not their hot spots. AS EXPECTED.

The reason you see a lot of boats in a certain spot is usually because everyone learns the Better areas while pre fishing. Word gets leaked from the locals, guides, Bait shops, friends, etc.

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Originally Posted by bird down

I wouldn't put it past any competitive angler to use the tactics u mentioned. I have seen folks try just about anything. For me, I don't generally get to prefish because of work. When I do Prefish I never stop, turn around, get the net, throw a buoy, or anything else to indicate I am catching fish. I swear some people pay more attention to what your doing than to what there doing. It makes no sense to me.

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I'd take it the other direction once I've found fish. Go to a place that is dead and grab the net, hoot and holler, the whole bit. Then come game day somebody gonna be disappointed :)

KDAVID1 my thoughts exactly bait and switch

There's lots of tournament trickery out there. I know teams that will go to a crappy spot and make sure there is a few people watching and lift the same fish in and out of the boat a dozen or so times in a row.There are a lot of people that will seeing you catch fish and they will literally try to push you off of your spot. There are a lot of teams out there just following the crowd. Lot of monkey see monkey do type mentality out there. I had one guy last year at the classic tell me and my partner that he was watching us with binoculars. Can't wait until Mar. Just right around the corner!

use of binoculars is disqualification! in Crappie Master and CUSA tournaments

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Originally Posted by crappie24

use of binoculars is disqualification! in Crappie Master and CUSA tournaments

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I know we reported it to Vallentine. And he emphasized it at the meeting that it was grounds for Dq. I mean if your going to cheat you shouldn't be there.

Yeah, we reported a violation in the championship year before last and it was overlooked. This was after two friends had DQed themselves, after it was pointed out by another friend, for unknowingly violating a rule that would DQ them, there are many that follow the rules to the T but plenty that try to bend or break them.

Are cell phones against the rules? Sounds like a lot of things. If people want to cheat, they will.

Reminds me of a funny story though. I don't tourney fish and only single pole fish. I had a boat following me around one day and I had only caught like 2 fish. They just kept close on my tail. So I decided to have a little fun. I kept taking one of my fish and hooking it and easing it back into the water and then making a big scene as if I caught another fish. Talk about funny. Those guys were scratching there heads because they sure weren't biting for real. Sometimes you have to bluff--and all the time, have some dang fun!

I was fishing CrappieMasters at Tunica several years ago and i found fish on a top and another tournament team all but ran me off the top. Got their poles hungup in mine. This team is from Jackson and they know who they are. I know now to take out my phone and do a little recording and posting. that way they cannot even try to lie out of it.

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Originally Posted by coachnomo

I was fishing CrappieMasters at Tunica several years ago and i found fish on a top and another tournament team all but ran me off the top. Got their poles hungup in mine. This team is from Jackson and they know who they are. I know now to take out my phone and do a little recording and posting. that way they cannot even try to lie out of it.

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Had the same thing happen to me couple years ago on Nader, team was from Jackson as well, may be the same. Like the record feature you speak of and next time it will go viral!!!!!

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Originally Posted by bird down

I wouldn't put it past any competitive angler to use the tactics u mentioned. I have seen folks try just about anything. For me, I don't generally get to prefish because of work. When I do Prefish I never stop, turn around, get the net, throw a buoy, or anything else to indicate I am catching fish. I swear some people pay more attention to what your doing than to what there doing. It makes no sense to me.

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I almost never see another team catch a fish. If they are jumping in the boat, I might see a few caught by others, but My thought is--If you are watching other teams catch fish, You aren't fishing!!!!You're just not paying enough attention to your poles, and are probably missing as many bites as you thought you had. Everyone knows that you ALWAYS get bit when you're not looking, and it usually only takes one good bite to make a BIG difference in where you finish. [emoji4]

In most tourneys, it's the team THAT MAKES THE FEWEST MISTAKES that usually wins. Listen to the excuses at the weigh ins. IF is a big word. IF I hadn't have lost the big one, IF we would have caught one more good one, IF the wind hadn't blown me off my spot, IF, IF, IF. We all have, and have heard those stories. When you're watching others fish, YOU are going to make more mistakes, and up your IF ratio. [emoji12]