As an athlete growing up, I always heard that practice makes perfect. Now we all know that statement might not always hold true. I’ve had a lot of practice over the years at such things as golf and bass fishing, but I’m still searching to get better at both. Today, we’ll look how practicing for a bass tournament has changed in the last 5 years.
As former NBA great Alan Iverson stated one time in a press conference when asked about his practice habits or lack thereof, “Are we talking about practice? I mean we’re talking about practice! We’re talking about practice man!”
While he was obviously frustrated when the media questioned his practice habits, the point he made was that on the NBA level, it’s not about practice but rather what you bring to the floor on game day.
Tournament bass fishing is pretty much the same way. You can go out and catch all the fish you want during practice, but the only thing that matters is what you bring to the scales on tournament day.
Some anglers are great in practice and will tell the world how well they are catching them in practice. But for some reason, when tournament day rolls around, they never seem to have the fish they need to win.
There’s one thing I learned early in my career from a couple of mentors who took a liking to me and were willing to pass along a little of their knowledge that would help me become a better angler. They both told me that it makes no sense to sore mouth the bass two days before the tournament.
They taught me how to cover my hooks with clear IV tubing on my spinnerbaits and jigs in order to make sure I didn’t hook fish while practicing. Because once bass are hooked, it may take up to 5 days before they will bite again.
They educated me about shaking fish off in order to make sure they are not hooked. They taught me how to use a screw lock which allows an angler to fish soft plastic worms without a hook, therefore guaranteeing they would not be hooked before the tournament.
But fast forward to 2025 and you’ll see young anglers today scouting without a single fishing rod on the deck of their boat. They are totally tuned into and observing the electronics on their boats.
Today’s younger generation of anglers simply idle around while sitting behind the console of their boat looking at two or three computer screens scanning and marking schools of bass and baitfish they will return to on tournament day.
These anglers are so good with their electronics that they can tell if the fish they are looking at are quality or not. They will never wet a hook or even pull out a rod during practice! (Which for an old school angler like me, is insane!)
But there are still a few old school anglers who will hook and catch every bass that bites during practice. They want to look and see the size of the fish that might be in a certain area they will be fishing on tournament day.
No matter how an angler practices for an event, he or she still must find and figure out how to make those fish bite. But this is what makes practice so important and is how anglers win tournaments. Practice, practice and more practice!
