Tournament fishing has always been the perfect ground for innovations. Fishing enthusiasts from all over the world turn to fishing competitions media channels for fresh info on the latest techniques and tackle. We’re all avid learners, so we like to stay informed.

USA is, for quite a long time now, the perfect environment to aim for a professional fishing career. Bassmaster and FLW Outdoors are the two magnates when it comes to cash prized fishing tournaments. They took fishing to a whole new level, designing the biggest competing environment for pro anglers.

Even though I’m a European angler, I couldn’t stay away from fishing tournaments. It just felt like the perfect place to learn a lot, make friends that share your “disease” and test your limits.
Even though Europe fishing tournaments are still far from what’s happening in the US, they are gaining ground day by day. The technology hype makes it easy for avid anglers all over the world to stay in the loop and fishing tackle ships worldwide in just a couple of days.

Now, there’s a new player out there, waiting to gain ground in professional bass fishing tournaments. It’s called Major League Fishing.

What I like most about it is that it comes packed with a new set of tournament rules. Rules that will change the way you see tournament fishing. All putting a lot of pressure on the angler and getting them out of their comfort zone. They will need to adapt, think and react fast. Otherwise they will face disaster. It will be quite a show, to watch the best of the best competing in these totally new conditions.

The best part about it is that I pictured something extremely similar as the “close to perfection fishing tournament”. I thought about most of these rules before MLF was invented and said to myself…what if?

Well, gladly they’re here now, so let’s see what Major League Fishing adds to the table:

1. No practice days, no way-points

The anglers aren’t allowed any practice days, nor to use their GPS waypoints. This basically eliminates their start strategy and leaves them blind before entering the water. Besides, they are limited to fish on designated sections of the lake that will be disclosed to them 12 hours before the competition rounds begin.
I’m dying to see how the pros react without any practice conclusions.

2. Real time leader board in each bass boat

Now this is a real stress element. Imagine you will know instantly when someone else catches a fish. There are iPads that show a leaderboard with instant catches in every boat. You will know how you rank in any given moment of time.
It will be really hard to focus on your fishing under this circumstances.

3. No limits on the number of fish weighed

Remember the biggest 5 fish rule from FLW or Bassmaster? There’s no place for it here. Why have limits? I always thought that the 5 fish limit increases the percent of luck in this sport. That’s why this is my favorite rule. This comes as a real physical challenge. It will take speed and hard work to climb to the top of the leaderboard.

4. Smaller field of 24 competitors
What this rule does is increase the quality of fishing. Fewer anglers means better fishing and more catches, which is what the audience wants. They will put together 24 of the top pro anglers to compete in this tournament.

Major League Fishing will be available online through pay-per-view broadcast, beginning February 13. I see it as the first tournament fishing “soap opera”, so make sure you don’t miss it!

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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I’m a pretty fortunate angler. In the past 3 years I attended no less then 4 Fishing World Championships plus other fishing festivals or international fishing competitions. I did this from the angler point of view, as well as being the team’s captain. I got to observe a lot of crucial things on the water, as well as from the shore. Things like experience, preparation, practice, team strategy, lures and techniques, hot spots and much more.

The last competition I attended was the III-rd World Championship in Spin Fishing, which took place this October in Riga, Latvia on Kishezers lake. Romania, the country which I represent, obtained the 4th place at this event. It’s an honorable position, but I know we could have done more. The first 3 places were occupied by Ukraine, Poland and Latvia. They were all very organized teams and knew the lake well. They had a good strategy and knew how to stick to it.

All these things made me understand once again that professional fishing has nothing to do with luck.  Being able to observe the details behind the curtain of such an event, I finally came up with a list of specific elements that are crucial to your fishing success.

1.Team work

First thing you must understand is that the FIPSed World Championships are not individual competitions. Each nation is represented by a number of teams, depending on the targeted species/type of fishing. In bass competitions there are 3 teams per nation, plus one reserve team. Spin fishing has only 2 competing teams and one reserve team and in trout, shore fishing there are 4 persons competing individually and one reserve.

Garry and Beverly Yamamoto on Lake Garda

In order to act like a team, you have to fish like one. Team fishing is different from individual fishing. It requires a good understanding of the team strategy. And the team strategy revolves around having constant good results together, not just individually. In order to be on the top, all your teams must catch fish. Why? Because all the individual results will be summed up, for the nation result. If one couple (or individual) screws up, this will affect everyone. Remember the “all for one and one for all” principle? This is what team fishing is all about. Good individual results matter also, but are secondary to nation results.

2.Never underestimate training

All sports require this. In fishing, training helps you build the team strategy. Usually this sort of competitions have a limited number of practice days, mainly one or two. If you move fast and are well organized you might come up with a viable strategy. This means finding where the fish are and what are they feeding at. The short training period makes this pretty difficult, especially when you are facing a huge water surface.

In order to be prepared you need to spend more time on that water. So go there at least 2 weeks in advance and fish for several days. One week of fishing will be great. Book some local fishing guides. Also talk to the local fisherman, ask them questions regarding the type and size of fish, lures and fishing spots.

Before you leave your country search the fishing forums for tips and tricks regarding that lake or river. Also, don’t forget to print detailed maps. There are a lot of information sources out there, try to use as many as you can.

Good training will give you confidence. And confidence will make you a much stronger angler.

Andrei with a trophy perch, caugth on a Carolina rig

3.Know the fish

You must perfectly understand the type of fish you will be fishing for. You need to know how it reacts, how it feeds, where it hides, everything. Training can’t give you this, experience can. I discovered this in bass fishing tournaments. We knew very little about bass, because we don’t have it in Romania. After the Bass World Championship from 2008, which took place in Italy, on Lago di Garda, we thought we learned a great deal about bass fishing. But understanding a certain type of fish takes time.

2008 Bass World Championship start on Garda Lake

In 2009, in Mexico, on El Cuchillio lake the bass was acting totally different. We needed different techniques in order to catch it. We switched from finesse fishing which was successful in Lago di Garda to heavy cover techniques, more suited for Mexican bass.

One of the keepers I caught on El Cuchillio, Bass WCh 2009

In time you will face a lot of circumstances which will build your knowledge of that fish. Simply put, it’s called experience. Sure, you can be lucky one or two times, but a good fisherman makes his own luck.

In spin fishing competitions, you usually fish for pike, perch and zander (European walleye). You need to know how to catch all these type of fish and find out which one can take you to the top on that specific body of water. Then focus and adapt your gear on catching only one. This year, in Riga the winning fish was perch. All the winning teams caught huge quantities of perch. Pike and zander were collateral and risky catches. The best teams trained hard and found a good enough number of perch spots. A good perch spot is one that will give you a fish every one or two casts. They only fished in those spots during the competition. That means being efficient.

4.Build strong pairs

Each team is made of pairs. They need to perfectly complement each other. This usually takes time and practice. It’s hard to do a perfect team job in just a few days. You’ll probably lough, and think of your wives, but a good team mate needs to be your friend and understand your fishing. He needs to encourage you when times get rough, and you need to do exactly the same for him. Knowing how to select the pairs is the captains job, and there’s no winning recipe to it. It all comes from knowing and understanding each angler individually.

Replacing a pair during a competition is another tricky call. Usually the pair with the worse results will be replaced by the reserve team. It’s not something you can do automatically, because it comes with consequences. And by this I mean that the ones who were fishing already are familiar to fishing spots, lure presentation etc. If you change them, the new pair will have to adapt extremely fast. Can they do that? Not all of them.

5.Money matters

Professional fishing comes with a cost. Performance requires money and a lot of free time. For example being able to train in Portugal, few weeks before the Bass World Championship requires funds. To start with money are hard to get, mainly because they usually come after having good results. At first you need to be able to self-fund your fishing expeditions. If you’re really good, you will get noticed by the sponsors.

Portugal, Lake Alqueva, 2010 Bass WCh

Unlike the United States, Europe’s tournaments don’t usually offer large amounts of money. Being a professional European angler can be pretty difficult, if not impossible. I mean making a living out of tournament fishing. You can always become a consultant or distributor for some large American or Asian fishing brand wanting to expand to Europe. By attending all these fishing tournaments you get to know a lot of people and these connections will pay off some day.

The bottom line is that money can make a difference, so try to get funding before attending an international event.

Follow the above steps and results will show up. Don’t forget to be persistent and take Iaconelli’s advice: “Never Give Up!”.

Of course, a bit of luck never harmed anyone.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

View all posts by Adrian →

What if I told you that you are able to catch more fish by making less casts? That you could get more strikes using the same lures and techniques as before, but with less casting effort.

You would probably say it’s impossible, that there has to be a catch. Well, fortunately there’s no catch, it’s just adding a small amount of focus and understanding to your fishing. So let’s see what this whole thing is about.

I truly believe that the power and success of a good fisherman lies in his ability to remain focused over a long period of time. This is something I realized after participating at quite a few competitions and fishing events, where I met very talented and skilled fishermen.

If you really want to get the most out of a cast, you have to cast to the place with the biggest probability of holding fish. And not just cast towards that place, cast exactly in that spot, so the fish has to make the smallest effort to grab your lure. This means that in order to have a perfect presentation of the lure, you have to focus on a perfect cast, maybe wait a little or change place until your direction is right. It only takes 6 steps to lead you to that perfect cast.

1. Localization
Or the famous saying:”Think like a fish”. This means understanding where the fish are in that time of the year, on that specific water, in that exact moment of the day. You usually find out all of these things by making small experiments. After catching your first fish, you will start getting a clue of where the fish are hiding.
I always go fishing with a plan in mind. The thing is that most of the times, this strategy changes based on the feedback I get from the fish. It’s hard to pick the winning solution from your home couch. So get on the water and start testing.

2. Think in advance

At the end of each cast, locate the spot for the next cast. Just before you finish your cast, find the next spot that has a big probability of holding fish. This also implies to wait a little bit, if you don’t find a hot spot right away. Do not hurry. Fish calmly and set your own pace.

3. Find the best place from where you can make that perfect cast
When you actually locate the next “best spot” try to get the best position for a natural and tempting presentation.

If you fish from shore, maybe there are bushes, big rocks or other obstacles that stand between you and the spot where you think the fish are hiding. Try to move and find the best place for making the cast. Even if you’re boat fishing there’s always one position that will bring you a very precise cast. Wait until you get to that perfect angle. A bad cast from an uncomfortable position can spook the fish away. Especially the big and cautious ones.

4. Wait and focus.
Before making your cast, try to visualize it. Think about the trajectory of the lure for about 3 seconds. Have in mind a perfect landing of that lure, you want to get the word temptation written all over it.

5. Make the cast
Ok, it’s finally time to cast the lure. Focus on having an elegant and silent landing, and depending on the lure type, focus on reaching the desired water dept, in case you’re fishing with a sinking lure.

6. Imagine the underwater bait evolution
Try to visualize the evolution that your bait has underwater. This will become pretty easy if you follow the steps mentioned here. By focusing on underwater evolution you will actually give your bait a more natural swim. Try not to fish like a robot, using mechanical moves. Even though it may work sometimes, most of the times it doesn’t. It’s ok to be repetitive, but just try to add some spicy moves from time to time. It’s usually when the strike happens.

Ok, so there you have it. The recipe for improving your casting abilities.

Maybe at the beginning this step process seams a little confusing, but I guarantee that with persistence you will start getting a much better fish response. This means having more strikes…and more fun:).

Soon it will all become habitual and easy. In the end it’s all about practice, and then with less physical effort (less casts – more focus and concentration) it will significantly increase the number of fish you catch.

No I suggest you run to the nearest water and try it out! Cause that’s exactly what I’m about to do.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

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I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely go wild when I end up in a fishing store. It’s really something I can’t control.

There’s always a type of line, some hooks, or catchy lure pattern that I didn’t get to test. Those small details that wink from the shelf making you hope for total fishing success. Not to mention the lures you lost during your last fishing trip, that are already on the shopping list.

The thing is, in most cases I end up buying lures. Different sizes or patterns of the lures that were successful during the year. New models that need to be tested, or just stuff I “missed” until then. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a shopping fanatic, I’m just trying to be an attentive, detail oriented fisherman. Because fishing is all about details, isn’t it?

But in these days, when the variety of choices is becoming overwhelming, you can easily end up with more than you came for. In fact, I’m sure you all know what I mean.

The good part is that in time I developed a process for getting the most out of each lure. A process I try to stick to each time I buy a new lure. It’s not just about buying lures that seem to work right out of the box. Each lure has many secrets that aren’t revealed right away. It takes some serious testing to understand all the variables that form a bait.

If you get to really know your lures, you will know exactly what to pick and test in each difficult situation you will face on the water. And believe me, there will be many.
Having the lure knowledge will give you the short path to plan B. Especially if you’re into fishing competitions where making good and fast decisions is crucial.

So here are a few tips to use after buying a lure:

1. Start in crystal clear water
I usually start testing my new acquisitions in clear and still water. It can be a swimming pool or a pond with clear water, preferably not deeper than 10ft.
In this stage, the presence of fish is not a must . This is necessary especially if you’re testing lures that swim underwater. You will immediately get a clue of that lure’s evolution and finally you will learn how to turn it into a tempting scared or wounded pray.

You can begin by following the manufacturer’s instructions and then improvise using your imagination and experience. In the end it’s all about using your creativity.

So, before you start to go fishing with your new lures, spend a little time and try to learn as many “secret moves” as you can. This will be of much help later.

2. See what the fish think
After you got an idea of the lure’s evolution and maybe even discovered some of its “secret moves”, it’s time to actually land some fish. I think we can all agree, that a good lure is the one that catches fish, not fishermen…or other intruders.

Weather it’s a topwater, softbait, crankbait or jerk as long as it brings fish to your boat it definitely is a good lure. So, a very important step is to see what the fish say about it. See how they react. It may seem all nice and attractive to you, but in the end it’s really up to them to decide.

Even if you got an idea of it’s evolution, you will only get 100% percent of that lure’s secret moves after you throw it to the fish. In this situation, test all the “moves” learned in the pool, and see how the fish are reacting. Their response will most definitely give you clues on things you’re doing good and things you should improve. After landing a few fish you will start to polish your fishing moves, and get to fish that lure better and better. Also, your confidence in that lure will increase, and we all know the best lure is always the one you’re most confident about.

3. Change, change, change…
When the fishing is good and fish are very active, don’t hesitate to try different lures. This will increase your confidence in those lures. When the fish are active and responding well, it’s important not to get stuck to one lure, because in moments like these you can discover other “forgotten lures” that work great. Besides, this continuous testing will show you how your lures function in different situations. And by this you will get even more lure experience.

4. Play with the variables
Is there still room for improvement?
Of course. Just try changing the line type or weight and you’ll begin to notice some changes in the lure’s evolution. The sinking speed will differ, even the swimming depth. The same if you use different rod types, or different lure sizes.

5. Be realistic
Be sure of one thing, that there is no such thing as a perfect lure. And by perfect I mean universal. A lure that catches any type of fish, under any circumstances. This would really make it less fun, right?

Each lure has it’s strong points and works best under specific conditions. You just have to figure out how and when to use it. Because in the end playing with all these variables is what this whole fishing game is about.

About Adrian

Professional angler, web enthusiast and tackle fanatic. Always in search for new things that can improve his fishing.

View all posts by Adrian →