How to Prep for a Tournament

By: Kong Xiong

It starts with home work,  jump on the internet and google the lake you are going to.  You need to find the species of fish that are in there as it will influence tackle drastically.  Also, what kind of structure and cover is on that lake; rocks, shoreline grass, docks or standing timber.Time of year is very important too as it will shift your water depth focus. Last but not least, the weather forecast. If the weather stays consistent up until tournament day, I feel the fish can be predictable. When you can find the time, you should go pre-fish the lake to confirm this. Finally, If the weather is different everyday, it is going be a junk fishing day.  Just bring the your confidence baits and trust your gut feelings on game day. Regardless, make a plan with your fishing strengths in mind.  I have used these steps of preparation for the Tulsa Kayak Bass-A -Thon Jackpots, Oklahoma Kayak Anglers to the top tier national events like Tournament of Champions, Kayak Bass Fishing National Championship and Beavers Bend Kayak Classic. Beavers Bend Classic 2019 was crazy weather tournament so we went in no practice. I finished in 2nd place and my Brother Houa finished in 3rd. 

Now that you have some idea of what you are getting yourself in to, it's time to prep your rods, reels and kayak. Have your gear as prepared as much as it can be at home. This is often the time when the little details will have big payoffs later.  Things like replacing your line, checking your hooks and a good look over of your rod and reels. Trust me, I've have plenty of stories of falling below the money cut line due to a dull hook.  I still remember repairing a reel on the water during an OKA event. A screw had come loose and it took about 30 minutes to repair on the water because I didn't have any of my tools.  Pretty much killed the fishing vibe for the day. 

 My perfect number of rods is eight, you want to match your setups to the lake's structure/cover. I started with three, then some how went to ten before coming back to eight. I run a 2014 Hobie Pro Angler 14 and it feels comfortable supporting 8 rods. Other kayaks may vary, However,  Lets break down the eight rods setups.  I feel that every tournament, if you do your research properly then combine it with your strengths, your should be able to narrow it down to four setups.  If things go according to plan, you'll never use the other four setups. But if you do, there will be two finesse setups and two specialty setups. I am a “power” fishermen and I tuck the finesse setups away until I really can't get anything going and have to resort to them.  As for the specialty "what if" and "take a gamble" setups, they may or may not even touch the water that day. These are usually the big fish focused setups. 

My brother and I fished on Wetumka Lake during the OKA's  4 Lake Slam. Wetumka is a grass lake with off shore rocks. Houa was fortunate enough to edge out a win.  I lost two big fish early in the morning and I could not recover from it.  I should have finished in the top 5 but since crap happened and I end up some where mid pack. Houa's winning patterns were almost the same as mine.   It still feels good to have made the correct predictions on the winning lures and location. Execution just wasn't good enough.  

Below are my setups for the last event: 

 1 - 4: Chatter bait (1/2 oz),  Chatter bait (3/8),  Hollow Body Frog, Lipless Crankbait,

5 - 6: Weightless Stick Worm,  Shakey Head

  7 - 8: Sqaurebill Crankbait, Big Worm

 As for the kayak, keep it as organized as possible. After each tournament, there will be lures and hooks in places they are not suppose to be in. All that needs to be thrown away or placed somewhere you can get to easily. I like to keep all my plastics in zip lock bags. I sort them into bags based on their types; worms, craws, swim baits. I have two tackle boxes for hard baits and skirted baits (chatterbaits and jigs). Hard baits are organized by diving depths and jigs are organized by weight. Everything else that you probably won't be throwing during tournament needs to be moved out of the kayak. The extra weight kills the kayaks top speed and turning performance. Don't forget to charge the fish finder battery also. 

 If you haven't put it all together already it boils down to this; some tournaments can be won before you even get the lake with good preparation. When you do your home work, you also gain a lot of confidence in the what you've put together. Now that everything is prepped to the best of your ability, load them all up into your car/truck. Don't forget to register for the event and try to get some sleep. See on the lake and at the weigh in.

Follow me on my YouTube Channel OutOfWork Outdoors for all of my fishing adventures.  Be on the look out for the OKA 4 Lake Slam video, where you'll see the action from that day including the two fish I lost and the 24 inch Large Mouth(his PB and tournament Big Bass ) that Houa caught. 

Follow OutOfWork Here: https://www.youtube.com/user/OutofWORKoutdoors