Alright..since we have some very reputable tournament teams on the site, I would like to pose the following scenario and see what sort of responses can be generated.
Your team has pre-fished for 2 days prior to a major Lake Michigan tournament on the Michigan side of the pond. You have had reasonable success with your pre-fishing efforts, managing to catch good numbers of mature kings from a couple different areas. Your trout search has been rewarded with several solid steelhead producing locations as well.
Tourney day 1. You sit down on one of your best king locations. Prior to all lines in the water, you have a double going. Both fish are 6-8# kings..and immediately after boxing those two fish, you hook up a triple, all three of which are also kings in the 5-7# range. You now have 5 of your allotted 9 king limit for the tourney, totalling a whopping 35#...and you are fishing the Pro division, which has rules which state you cannot release fish once they are brought into the boat (while still under your allotted 9 salmon limit).
The question at hand:
Do you continue to fish the obvious immature school of kings, knowing you'll likely box out quickly, and then head off for your trout....or...do you pull and move to one of your secondary king locations, knowing you'll need bigger kings to compete at the weigh-in? It's a significant run to your other king spots, and don't forget...you'll need your trout as well.
Tourney Day 2:
As a team, you decide to immediately start at one of your secondary king locations, as many boats also caught many smaller kings in the "first choice" area on Day 1. This secondary location is a 20 minute run from where you whacked the little kings on Day 1. 90 minutes goes by at the secondary location and you have nothing to show for your efforts. Not one little bump. Locator screen is blank...no bait, no hooks.
Now what? Go back to point 1 and try to at least fill the box with little kings? Go catch your trout, hoping the immature kings will still be feeding when you eventually get to them by mid-morning?
Let's hear some opinions...
BFG
Official Ohio Delegate to Team Heavy Super-Sized Fishing Specialists bfg@educatedangler.com
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Day 1, I would continue to catch the fish that are biting. Most tourneys on Lake michigan are won with a smallish average but you MUST have all your fish. I would take what is biting and catch my kings and spend the rest of the day looking for trout to box out. I'll take that scenario every time. More times than not, you will finish in the money, or very close to it. It's really really hard to win without limits both days.
Day 2, I would have sat down where I was the day before if I thought the fish were still there and feeding. If for some reason I did run to the other location, and the fish werent biting, I would run back to location 1 and look for them. if they are not there either, its kind of punting time. I guess at that point, you go to where the trout were. I dont like running all over the place for sure though. If all else fails, head west!
www.salmonheadcharters.com
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the only reason that i could see to leave the fish you are on would be this. only on Day #2 and only if i knew that a limit of those kings or a duplicate of day #1's catch will not get you enough weight. if i was within a reasonable amount of the top few boats i would go and catch the smaller fish and did what i had done the 1st day. anything can happen to other boats..
depends on what your goals are also if you want to #1 WIN the tourney then you may wanna try and find bigger fish or atleast catch 6 or 7 of the smaller 1's then hope to go find a bigger fish or 2 or 3. if you are content with just finishing in the money then just get your fish small or big. they add up and will get you close.
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I agree , don't leave fish to find fish and as Paul said , its important to have all of your fish on day one to be in the hunt on day 2. I'll take my 10 smaller fish at 10 points per fish and a point per pound vs some one else's 6 or 7 bigger fish , odds are you will finish in front of them or at least be real close. Day 2 is the tricky part , if you are on fish you have to make a decission if your catching small fish again , does the other guys have thier program working again , have thier fish moved , will they be able to get all 10 . If you are not on any fish , then it needs to be a team decission , run to an alternate spot , stick it out there or go looking. A lot would depend on weather conditions , have they changed or are they changing , boat traffic the same , do you see others in the area netting fish , maybe you need to make a direction change or speed change. If the fish are not there you need to have some experience as to knowing where those fish from day 1 may have went , in or out , north or south ,are they still in the imediate area but just inactive. A lot to think about and a lot of times you make the wrong decission but over time you do develop stradegys that work out for you and you learn to trust your instincts. In a tournament situation I would almost never beleive anything I hear on the radio unless the info. came from some one I knew and trusted or had an alliance with.
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Day 1: One thing I would like to know from the outset is if there is communication in the event. If there was and I pulled 5 kings right away but they were smaller I would be on the phone with others I know to see if they are on better fish.
Assuming this is a no communication tournament I would not move... Since you have pulled 5 kings in the first few minutes I would pull all the baits you started running and replace them with different baits. If you were fishing spoons, switch them to plugs and flashers/flies or vice versa. If you are on small fish you must either change locations or change the program you are fishing. You obviously have plenty of time to catch your remaining 4 kings and fill out your 3 trout, even if it takes a bit longer to catch your 9 salmon.
Another option I would consider would be to immediately move to your trout water, but only if you have picked up some kings along with your steelhead during your prefishing.
Day 2: My first question would again be, did you pull kings in your trout water and if so how many? Also, how far is your trout water from the current location and your king water from day 1? These would all play a factor in the decision. Another thing I would need to understand is where you stand after day 1. If you were totally out of the running I would focus on catching 1 or 3 big fish depending on what event or side bet you were part of. If totally out of it, I would stay in that general area if the weather etc should not have moved those fish far. If I was in striking distance after day 1, I would not stay there. Experience tells me to run to the trout water to catch your trout because there are often times salmon around (probably deeper in the water column) that can caught at the same time. My only goal would be to catch my 12 at that point no matter how small.
General comments: As others have pointed out, to catch your 12 fish each day will give you a very good chance to finish in the money. I believe there are ways to increase your chances to catch larger fish, but ultimately it does come down to luck. My #1 goal in every event I fish is to catch my limit each day. If we do that consistently everything else will work itself out.
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Lots of good strategies here - but I must echo the catch your limit each day and let the cards fall where they may. We finished 12th out of 80 in Ludington and we had a small box day one - and a decent but not large box on day two - however we were sitting in 30th after day 1 and finished in 12th and cashed a check - a samll one but none the less.
We had a small box day 1 so we changed what we were running because we also picked up some decent fish in our king water the first day. We ran meat and presentations that were more prone to catch larger fish - and we only took one dink on day 2 - the beneift was we knew there were fish there and we knew we could catch them - we end up with our 9 kings with two offs as a bonus by 9:15 - ran out to our steelhead water - caught our one fish and took a relaxing trip back to harbor.
As we sat in the tent watching the boxes come in - we never thought we would stay that high - but 20 or so guys that were ahead of us couldn't get it done on day two and we ended near the top. That was the ultimate lesson in go and get your limit of fish!
Some would say we weren't fishing to win - we should have run somewhere else where we could have caught 9 hawg kings. But you need to play the odds also - as Verdict says - the more limits you catch - the more money you are going to win - and sooner or later it will end up with a win if you can be consistent over time.
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I would have to agree with Paul. You don't leave fish to find fish. On day one after boxing 5 or 6 of the smaller kings, I would probably change up my spread and slow down a little. More often than not, I have taken larger kings that are right with the smaller fish with just a minor speed change. Let them tell you what they want. Day two brings a different scenario. It would depend how I sat in the standings. I would probably look for the smaller kings initially to get close to my limit initially. Then once the sun breaks, head to the trout waters and drop 3-4 lines DEEP for a hopeful big fish or two while running high lines for trout. This has worked for me on more than one occasion. I also have to say that when in doubt, take it out.. Deeper can be better..
Bill Brock Semper FIsh Sportfishing Team Boat.. Just Right
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If they were biting that fast I would take half my spread and fish out of the range your catching the 7lb Kings. At least try the bottom for a couple large Kings and sometimes you will find the big fish up in bath water. Fall Kings especially will be in warm water, but I would never leave a area that fish were biting. The only thing that was not clear was it no communication. If you cant talk you stay with fish as they can easily quit biting and others may be struggling you never know that. It is normally wise to get as much time for your odds as the mid day can get slow. As for the second day you should be very observant at the weigh in, if there are big box's try to figure where they came from. Network with guys and someone will know where the big fish came from. If you need to make up a lot of points go there, but if you are in the top ten or so go back to your fish and stay with your program. Let the fish and chips fall where they may! Capt. Willis Remember most events are won with an 8lb average!!!
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Day 1: You stay with the fish and change presentations to try and attract some larger fish. Try the warm water up top and send one deeper. With the rules you have made your decision.
Day 2: If you are not in it after the first day then don't do what the leaders are doing. You made the decision to try another spot and it didn't work out. That was the critical decision and it was wrong. I would cut my losses and troll towards port.
I would have networked and used the information to try and figure out what I needed to do to move up. I would have probably stayed with day 1 tactic. Reason being that the leaders are going to do what they did the day before and the only way to catch them is to do something different. Maybe the bigger fish have moved to your area then you are back in the game.
Your best chance for a comeback would be to try and target bigger salmon by changing the spread using day 1 location. Then target big lake trout instead of the smaller steelhead. This can be done probably in the same location that you found the steelhead. Hope for a couple of 15-20 pounders.
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That's a really good point Flea if I'm understanding what you're saying. If you go to where the leaders are on day two there is not much chance that you're going to catch significantly different fish then them.
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