Bass don’t care whether you’re big or small but being in good physical shape has its benefits in bass fishing. I used to play a lot of sports while in high school. When I wasn’t fishing I was working on my baseball swing in the cage, swimming laps, or powering myself around the ice rink. It was a lot easier to keep in shape back then because I was always active. I took some time off from working out and I really started to notice it. I started getting back in the weight room this summer working out regularly is something that has improved my fishing tremendously.
I just got back from representing Truman State University at the FLW National Guard College Fishing Tournament on the Detroit River with partner Mike McCarthy. Neither of us had ever fished the Detroit River before so we were excited for a chance to get to fish such different fishery. We left early Friday morning and made the 9-10 hour hike up to Michigan pondering where we were going to go and what techniques we were going to use to catch our fish. Having done our research and map study we decided to fish a series of canals and bays in hopes of getting a limit of largemouth and then trying to figure out how to catch a better smallmouth. The key to fishing any river is to understand how fish use and relate to current breaks.
Ramon noodles and a fresh pack of chigger craws or a decent meal and no new lures, quality fluorocarbon line and rice or a #5 combo from Popeye’s and cheep monofilament line? These are the type of questions a college angler is faced with. Money is tight and value is very important. So if the college angler wants to compete in fishing tournaments he must find one that suites his needs. They must be economically viable, fit a busy schedule, and give the angler’s career a chance to grow.
When it comes to catching bass all across the country you must be a versatile angler if you wish to compete at a high level. It is great to have a couple of baits that you feel very comfortable using, but you also have to branch out your fishing enough in order to sometimes put that extra fish in the boat. One of the biggest problems that a lot of anglers have, especially the college crowd, is that they are not versatile. If they don’t get to fish like they do on their home lake with their old standbys they seem completely lost or out of it. The bass are constantly changing throughout the course of the day and a lot of times you will need to apply a variety of techniques in order to keep up with them. It’s hard to become an expert on a technique over night but I do have some advice on what you can do to branch out more and start catching more fish.
Attention to detail is often times critical when it comes to catching a lot of nice fish. When it comes to fishing jigs it is important that you have the right skirt for the conditions. Some days the fish want a fuller skirt while other days they want a more streamline profile. What the fish prefer on one lake they might not like somewhere else. The available forage, water clarity, and the mood of the fish are a couple of factors that dictate what skirt will be the best to use.
Everyone has their favorite baits that they fall back on time and time again to put keeper bass in the boat. The beaver is one of my all time confidence baits when it is tournament time. I’ve caught so many keepers over the last two years on this bait in competition that I never leave home without it.
Ramon noodles and a fresh pack of chigger craws or a decent meal and no new lures, quality fluorocarbon line and rice or a #5 combo from Popeye’s and cheep monofilament line? These are the type of questions a college angler is faced with. Money is tight and value is very important. So if the college angler wants to compete in fishing tournaments he must find one that suites his needs. They must be economically viable, fit a busy schedule, and give the angler’s career a chance to grow. 
