Practicing as a Non-Boater By John Neporadny Jr.

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The waters I concentrated on had similar water clarity, structure and cover as the arm of the lake we would be fishing the next day, so I figured any patterns I discovered would probably produce as well during the tournament. Trying spots that I had never fished before, I caught four keeper bass and lost three others on jigs and pork frogs, plastic double-tail grubs and Zara Spooks. I also caught several short fish on a spinnerbait.

From my four-hour practice, I discovered the fish were hitting a variety of lures at different depths, so I stocked my tackle box full of topwaters, jigs, soft plastics and spinnerbaits. The next day I won the tournament despite having to compete against one of my club’s best anglers fishing in the front of the boat. I caught all but one of my five keepers on the lures and retrieves I employed during practice.

Getting a Head Start Club anglers can win tournaments from the back of the boat by just showing up on the competition day and going fishing, but non-boaters can get a good head start towards a victory by practicing before the event.

“Being flexible and being able to adapt is the whole key to fishing out of the back of the boat,” said Kenny Keeter, who started fishing club tournaments when he was about 20 years old and competed for six years in the Amateur Division of the Central Pro-Am Association trail. “If there is any one thing that you better learn real quick is you can’t go to any lake with any predetermined notions of how you are going to fish.”

Whenever he practiced for a tournament as a non-boater, Keeter keyed on finding the depth of the fish and the right lure presentation rather than trying to find spots. The Claremore, Oklahoma angler also paid attention to water clarity in the areas he fished so he could determine which lures to use on different sections of the lake. “If you pre-fished in the mid part of the lake and you draw someone who says they are going up a river arm you’ve got a tremendous change in what you might have been looking for,” Keeter said.

While pre-fishing, a non-boater should focus on selecting lures that will work on that particular body of water rather than trying to find spots loaded with fish. Non-boaters should also try both deep and shallow-water tactics in practice since they never know where their partner will take them during the tournament.

Confidence Builder Catching fish in practice can give nonboaters plenty of trust in the lures and presentations they intend to use for their tournament. “If you are going to go prefishing, have fun with it” said Keeter, who suggests trying familiar techniques to bolster confidence. “If you are more comfortable fishing in 15 feet or less in off-colored water, but you have to go to a clear lake for the tournament, then look for an arm that might have that color of water.”

The Oklahoma competitor believes non-boaters should fish to their strengths while practicing. “A lot of fishing is mental, so if you fish to your weaknesses and try do things you are not used to doing, you might practice all day long without catching anything and you might lose confidence. Then you might draw a guy who used the technique that you practiced with, so you get down and think that you are no good at that technique,” Keeter said.

Non-boaters can fall into a trap though if they just fish their favorite lures and techniques during practice. Hanover, Indiana angler Wes Thomas suggests they should also take some time to experiment with new lures and techniques. Thomas fished in B.A.S.S. Federation clubs for years before competing in the professional ranks of the BASSMASTER and FLW Tour trails so he has lots of experience fishing competitively from the front and back decks of a bass boat.

“Not only do non-boaters need to try some new skills they read about or ones they feel they need to develop in practice, they also need that time to implement those skills on a particular pattern so they will know how to use that bait when the situations arise,” Thomas said.

He believes non-boaters should stress versatility in practice and get familiar with the feel of various lures. “If there are grass beds he needs to go spend some time on the grass to see if he can get something to hit a frog or spoon. Then he needs to go fish some breaks and throw some deep-diving crankbaits. He needs to try anything that he thinks his boater will be taking him to do whether it is his favorite way of fishing or not,” Thomas said.

By practicing in this manner, the nonboater will be better prepared for whatever his partner wants to try during the tournament. Thomas warns that if the non-boater spent his whole day practicing in the weeds, he will be in trouble if he finds out his partner wants to run crankbaits along the breaks on the competition day. “He is already halfway defeated before he ever gets in the boat,” said Thomas, who competed in five B.A.S.S. Federation Northern Divisional tournaments and a Wrangler/B.A.S.S. Federation National Championship during his bass club days.

“I always like to plan ahead and spend some time doing things I am not very good at to make myself better,” Thomas said. He usually allows some practice time to learn a new technique that usually works during that time of year.

Going Solo or Doubling Up Personal preference decides whether a non-boater should practice with or without a partner.

“If a guy feels better and has less pressure out there by himself and thinks he can spend a day or two on the water to get a feel for things, I think that is fine. But other guys might go out and do one thing and not force themselves to do something different,” Thomas said.

So some anglers would rather practice by themselves to prepare mentally for a tournament while others thrive on spending a day on the water with a partner to exchange ideas on how to get more bites.

If your club holds long-distance tournaments on waters that require an overnight stay, Keeter suggests traveling with a group of non-boaters. While competing in the Amateur Division of the Central Pro-Am circuit, Keeter and some of his buddies traveled together and helped each other by practicing together and exchanging information before the tournaments.

Most club members have some type of boat they can use to practice for a tournament, but even those club anglers without boats can still pre-fish if they find a partner. Keeter suggests beginners should attend a club meeting and ask the club president or tournament director if they can be set up with a practice partner. Non-boaters can also find pre-fishing partners by finding someone who has a boat in their neighborhood or submitting a request on the message boards of Internet web sites.

When he first started bass fishing, Keeter never owned a boat for about five years, but he met an older club member who took him pre-fishing. “He had the truck and the boat. I was just out of school and that is how I got into tournament fishing,” Keeter recalled.

Applying What You Learn Keeter usually refrains from talking about how well he did in practice unless his partner asks him during the tournament. “Typically he is not going to ask and I don’t think he wants to hear what I did in practice. It’s his deal and I’m just along for the ride to do the best that I can,” he said. However, if his partner does ask about his practice, Keeter will offer suggestions on patterns and lure choices based on his pre-fishing.

Thomas believes there is more cooperation between anglers at the club level than there is in pro-am tournament trail events. “On the non-boater’s side of a bass club, I think it is important to try to do some practice because most of the time you will have a definite interaction with the guy running the boat. On the club level you are in a situation where you can learn from one another,” he said.

Even as a touring professional, Thomas is still open to suggestions from his non-boater partners. If Thomas is catching fish along break lines and his partner tells him he caught fish along some breaks in the same area during practice, Thomas will try his partner’s spots. “I’ve learned a lot of things from non-boaters,” he said.

Non-boaters have a definite disadvantage, but by practicing before their next tournament they can find the winning lures and techniques to apply when their partner puts them on fish.  

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