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So you want to fish as an amateur (co-angler) in a big time bass tournament? In Part I of this three-part series we explored selecting the right event to fish and setting your goals. In Part II, we looked at preparing to leave for the tournament and making good use of the practice period. Now, in Part III, we examine participation in the tournament itself.

1. The Partner Pairings Meeting.
If you’re fishing a BASS Tour event, the partners meeting will be held one-half hour after the registration period closes. The exact times for these will be listed in your pre-tournament package, but typically registration ends at 5:30 p.m. and the meeting begins at 6 p.m. Both the registration and the pairings meeting are held at the same location, typically the host hotel or conference center. Make sure you arrive on time to register because there are penalties if you don’t.

Once you arrive at the pairings meeting, take a seat and relax. The room will be full of pros, many of whom you will recognize and many that you will not. This is not a good time to get autographs or approach your favorite pro. Most of the pros are somewhat jittery at this stage and, above all, are anxious to get the meeting over with. Get comfortable in your seat and prepare to listen carefully to the presentations. If it’s a BASS Tour event, make sure you listen carefully to Trip Weldon, the tournament director, because he might have important information that could affect you the following morning. After the necessary speeches are made, Claude (Fish) Fishburne will begin to announce the pairings. He will first read off the states of each pairing, with the pro first and the amateur second (example: "Oklahoma and Virginia"). When you hear your state called second, this is the clue to pay attention because your name may be about to be called. Fishburne will then announce the name of the pro and the name of the amateur. Once your name is called, you are expected to stand up and acknowledge your presence in a loud voice. The purpose of this is to allow your pro partner to identify you in the room. If you don’t readily identify yourself once your name is called, Fishburne will call it again and you could be in for some of his good-natured ribbing. So make sure you stand up and speak in a voice that can be heard the first time.

Once you and your pros’ names are called, exit the building and get away from the crowd outside so that you both can hear each other speak. Most likely, your pro will be anxious to leave so that he can get back to his hotel, prepare his tackle and get some sleep. You should be, too, so don’t spend too much time in the parking lot. You have the whole next day to get to know him better.

In talking to your pro after the meeting, you need to accomplish two things. First, you want to figure out where you’re going to meet him in the morning. If he’s staying at your hotel, then it’s easy. If he’s not, it’s a bit more difficult. He may want you to meet him at his hotel, or somewhere on the way to the ramp. I would advise against this. Most likely, you’re not going to be familiar with the area, and finding someplace in the pitch dark at 5 a.m. is a difficult proposition. I recommend that you tell him that you will meet him right at the ramp. And I do mean right next to the ramp. Most BASS events use well lit ramps, so you should have no problems spotting your partner in the morning. When he pulls up there in the morning, you can quickly put your tackle in his boat and help him launch the boat, if necessary. So tell your pro partner that’s the way you want to do it. It will be the rare circumstance that he won’t be willing to go along with it.

Second, you need to find out, in general terms, how you will be fishing the next day. Most pros will be reluctant to discuss the where’s and how’s, but you want to make sure you bring the right tackle. A friend of mine drew Roland Martin at a BASS event at Lake Champlain some years ago (an event which Martin won) and was not told that they would be fishing thick reed patches. My friend did not bring a flipping stick that day and was unable to land several of the fish that bit him because he didn’t have heavy enough tackle. So do what you can to establish the kinds of fishing you’re likely to be doing the next day so you don’t get caught unprepared.

Once you’ve accomplished these two tasks, get back to your hotel, get your tackle prepared and eat a good meal, and get some sleep. You want to be at your best the following morning.

2. The Competition Days.
So the big day has finally arrived and your sitting in your pro partner’s boat waiting for take-off. Now is a good time to have a friendly chat since there is little to do but wait. Once you’re out on the water competing, most pros will not talk a whole lot. So get lots of your questions out now, as well as talk about what the day is likely to entail. Your pro partner will tell you a lot more now that you’re sitting in his boat and can’t divulge information to anyone else. So enjoy yourself. Now is the time to really soak up some information.

I am a person who likes to stand while fishing. If you’re the same way, ask your partner to remove the seat on the back deck and put it in his truck. Your going to spend the whole day fishing from the back of the boat so why have it in your way. Plus, some boats have small back decks, so you need the room.

As your boat passes through the check out line, you will be given a card or flag with your boat number. Take it and put it in the front pocket of your life vest. That way, you’ll know where it is at the end of the day when you need to turn it in.

So your boat’s underway and the tournament has begun. Now what? Well, now it’s pretty much just like any other tournament that you’ve ever fished. Don’t cast over your pro partner’s line, but don’t put up with him doing that to you (I actually had that happen to me in one tournament until I politely informed the pro not to do it anymore). BASS Tour events do not allow landing nets (FLW does), but your partner may want you land his fish anyway. Have a full discussion with him about that so there is no confusion once the first fish gets on the line. Lost fish due to mis-communication can make for long and unpleasant days.

Above all, fish hard. You put a lot of time and effort into this event, so don’t shortchange yourself. Unless it is absolutely clear that the fish want a particular bait, I would recommend using something different than your pro partner. Let’s face it, your not likely to catch many fish on a jig fishing behind Denny Brauer when he is on a jig bite. Throw a tube or a worm. You’re not competing against your pro, so don’t get rattled if he’s catching 3 and 4 pound fish. You just worry about catching a limit of 2 lb fish. It is the rare pro-am event that an amateur with a limit of any size each day of the tournament doesn’t finish in the money.

Along those same lines, pay attention to where your pro partner is casting. If he casts to the right side of a stump, don’t cast to the same spot even if he doesn’t make another cast there. Cast to the left side of the stump. In other words, give those fish that didn’t have a look at his bait a look at yours.

At the end of the day, you will check in and, hopefully, both of you will have fish to weigh. If you haven’t caught a fish and your pro did, you still need to go through the line and sign his weigh-in slip. The case is the same if you catch fish and he doesn’t. Once you’ve weighed in, there will be a list posted at the weigh-in site that identifies your partner for the next day. Meet him there (he will be in your flight) and go through the same steps that you did at the partners meeting. Once again, go back to the hotel, eat, ready your tackle and get plenty of sleep. You still need to be your best for the next competition day.

3. Evaluating Your Experience.
So the tournament is over and, hopefully, you have met your goals of finishing in the money and learning a lot more about bass fishing. If you’re really lucky, you might have hit it off with one or more pros that you fished with and made a friend for life. This is a great thing because, not only can you not have enough friends, but you will have other days to fish with them and continue to learn. I will often go to a BASS event that I am not entered in and fish the practice days with pros that I was paired with from previous events (taking care, of course, not to violate the BASS "local expert" rule). Once the competition begins, I head back home. Doing this keeps you in touch with the latest techniques and baits and raises your game. Always try to spend time fishing with someone who is better than you because that’s the best way for you to improve.

Hope to see you on an episode of the Bassmasters some day.

Copyright 2003 Bill Roberts All Rights Reserved