Fishing patience? or best piece of advice you could give me
Let me preface this by saying I am on the st lawrence river right at the mouth of the lake and grew up fishing smallmouth and occasionally fishing largemouth. I started fishing tournaments last year on Canadian back lakes and while I am not doing horrible on them, I am really struggling to find the big bite largemouth. Every bag we (my fishing partner and I) bring to the scales is that one big fish away from the money. Let's say I am fishing a 100 boat tourney on a lake that takes 22lbs to win which means there is plenty of 5-6lb fish in the lake. 10th place is gonna take 18lbs. My bag is five 3.5lb clones. What is the best advice you can give me to find that big bite or do I just need to be patient in the areas I am in?
I believe I've heard some of the pros say, "If you're not catching the size fish you need in an area, and you're catching the same size fish, you need to move". I'm not around smallmouth waters a lot, but I do have a couple of suggestions for videos that may help get you into a kicker smallmouth & largemouth:
Flipping for smallmouth with Greg Hackney - https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/flipping-for-smallmouth-bass-greg-hackney
Swimbaits for big smallmouth with Seth Feider - https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/swimbaits-for-big-smallmouth-feider-remastered
Northern largemouth with Paul Mueller - https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/cold-clear-windy-northern-largemouth-bass-fishing-mueller
Hey Greener, I'm sure you are frozen up north by now. I love that part of the country! Here are a few tips that I've used to catch a larger fish in the clear water up north. Speed and rate of descent is a key factor to get the bigger bites. Check out Cliff's "Speed Kills" seminar. https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/speed-kills-crochet. I learned that rate of decent is a big factor for big fish too. I often use heavy weighted senkos and jigs to get a fast fall. 1/2 oz to 1oz. The bigger fish are often triggered this way for me. https://bassu.tv/bass-fishing-video/soft-plastic-stick-baits-senkos. Check out this seminar. about 25min in, I discuss flipping and punching with a senko. Killer technique for big fish!!
