Here's a question I will throw out to you guys. When going to a new body of water and preparing for a tournament, what do you do for preparation, and what do you do once you are on the water? Do you spend days pouring over maps and deciding what phase the fish will be in, do you run from creek arm to creek arm throwing cranks looking for schools? I admit, I have little knowledge in this area, as I have never fished with anyone who has the luxury of doing this as a boater for years and years. I'm considering trying some big events next year, as the payback is more appealing. Please feel free to chime in or pm me if you like secrets.
1Jav
First thing I would do, depending on season, stage the fish are in, is study a map and find the original river bed or creek channel with primary and secondary points. Find deep points with good shallow flats with cover(wood, docks, weeds etc.). Lastly, any kind of off shore structure during the summer such as rock piles, deep weed lines or old road beds. Actually, any shorline cover adjacent to deep water is always a good starting point, but this is for largies. Deep stucture with drop-offs or rock piles for smallies.
I do some Internet study if info is available. I look up fishing reports I can find. I also check out any available tournament results to see if there are patterns of weights by season it seems to normally take to win.
I call local DNR fish biologists about weeds, habitat, forage, water quality and color. I ask about anything that might make the bass behave different than normal. Sometimes I will get ahold of studies including netting surveys. It's important to understand your target species and its target forage.
Depending on the importance of the lake/tournament, I will find and buy every map I can since they often have differences - if more than one exists. Often more than one does. I may also call local tackle shops for completely new lakes and ask a few questions of them, but I try to do this in conjunction with buying something to show I don't just expect something for nothing. I don't do this for every new lake - mostly the major ones.
Many of the best spots are not on maps or not apparent. I don't usually ask for spots or specific help from people, but I try to get an idea what part(s) of the lake are hot/popular during which season to help simplify my search for these types of spots.
I try to limit myself to a part of the lake that looks like it has a good supply of spawning areas, habitat and forage close together. I expect that means there should be a lot of bass living somewhere in there. I will try community holes - they are community holes quite often for good reas. I will try major, obvious structure too because that should attract bass. I can get some idea what I need to concentrate on.
I need a list or plan to follow to stay on track and do my best. I think you should always mold the process to match your personality and style somewhat. The more you try to force things too much like someone else does it, the more likely you'll fail. But always learn from others (like you are trying to do) and adjust your own approach to use the things that you believe can fit into your own methods.