BlogCast #5: Prefish Puzzle - Antoine Desrochers-Gagnon

What you need to do before a tournament is cover a lot of water. Scout different areas of the specific body of water and try many different launches ideally. You need to go out with an open mind. Try many different techniques/presentations and fish different types of cover/areas. Whether you're bumping wood with a crankbait, fishing the edge of a weed-line with a spinnerbait, or slowly dragging a ned rig on a rocky point. If you don’t get any bites and notice an area seems dead, that’s good because you can then eliminate this area and focus on another one.

Pay attention to every bite you get. Remember what type of environments are the most productive and also what baits are better. If you can find a pattern in practice, it’s great, but if you do, stop doing what’s good and try to figure out another way to catch them. That way, if your pattern doesn’t work as well during the tournament, you’ll have a plan B! If you find a pattern or a very good area, you have to stop!! Don’t put pressure on the high percentage areas and leave them to rest for tournament day. Also, don’t be afraid to explore another area of the body of water, even if you’re doing good. Ideally, you want to have a plan B.

When I was in South Carolina, for the 2022 Kayak Bassmasters, I got to Richard B Russell, a very big and intimidating reservoir. It was my first time going for spotted bass and since it was early spring and the water was still a bit cold, I knew it was going to be a pre-spawn event so I went out with an open mind. I tried many different techniques and caught fish in many different ways. I found fish in the mouth of a big creek and caught them both shallow and deep, on swim-jigs and Crankbaits. Once I knew I could catch them in this area, which was full of submerged wood, I decided to try a different area the next day. I went to a launch that was towards the south of the lake. The water was clearer and there wasn’t much wood. After many miles of scouting and fishing hard, towards the end of the day, I finally found a way to catch a fish. I was vertically jigging in about 30ft of water, using my sonar. As surprised as I was, I ended up catching 4 fish that way in less than an hour, including the biggest of my practice. At that moment, I knew I found a pattern so I stopped and packed up. I decided to fish the championship in this area and luckily, my pattern was on! I made the top 10 and I was one of the only guys fishing in this area. I guess you have to trust and believe in the things you learned in practice.

I honestly don’t have specific baits I use during pre-fishing, I like to go with an open mind and try different things but things I’m already comfortable with. I have to admit, I usually go with baits or techniques I have lots of confidence with. Tournaments are not the best times to try new things in my opinion. Go out with an open mind, cover many different areas, eliminate the areas that look inactive and take notes about where, when, and how you get bites. Try to establish a game plan, that includes a plan B. And most importantly, try to have fun and have a positive mindset as much as possible! Enjoy your time on the water. If you enjoy yourself on the water, usually, you fish better.

Are you looking to add a fishing shirt to your collection? Tonight only, get a 15% discount on all our fishing apparel. Use promo code ADG15 at checkout.

The discount code expires tonight at midnight!