We are one week away from the 7^th stop of the Bassmaster Elite Series on Smith Lake in Cullman, Alabama. While the Elite Series has never been to this destination, the Bassmaster Opens has visited there several times, the last time being in October of 2021. We will likely see topwater walking baits playing a role for schooling bass along with swimbaits, shakey heads, jigs, drop shots, and the “jig head/minnow” forward-facing sonar technique. Smith Lake is full of big largemouth, but the main species is spotted bass as they roam around eating blueback herring. We will suggest two anglers per bucket based on their strengths, momentum, tournament history on Smith Lake and other blueback herring/spotted bass fisheries, and more! Let’s dive into it!

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Do you have a passion for bass fishing and want to start doing it competitively? There are many different avenues of doing this. It is important to remember first, however, to make sure you are ready for the competitive aspect. If you haven’t been successful in catching big fish when you go fishing for fun, then you might need to practice more. Ways of doing this are simply to spend more time on the water to get an idea of what the fish are biting and where they are positioned, and to practice your fishing mechanics and boat navigation. Fishing with many different anglers is a great way to learn a lot, and one way of doing this is through fishing as a co-angler in tournaments like the Major League Fishing BFLs or Toyota Series, Bassmaster Opens, and many other tournament organizations! Every professional angler will tell you that more time spent on the water is the best way to improve your fishing skills. So, if you are practiced up and want to fish tournaments, here are some tips on how to get started!

1. Start small, then grow.

Fishing tournaments can be intimidating when there are 200-300 boats on the water, literally. Bassmaster and Major League Fishing high school, college, and semi-professional tournaments often have at least 200 boats competing. Before jumping in a big tournament, it is good to start fishing with a local club that has 10-20 boats fishing against each other. Many of these local clubs fish a lot of the same lakes that are nearby, so there is a lot less traveling required. While fishing on several different lakes across the country can be a great learning experience further down the road, it could be wise to start out fishing more local tournaments to get your feet wet. With social media at our fingertips, it is fairly easy to find local tournament opportunities through joining a Facebook group for example. After getting comfortable fishing smaller tournaments, you can then start competing in bigger tournaments that are offered through tournament organizations such as Bassmaster, Major League Fishing, American Bass Anglers, and The Bass Federation as examples! To learn more about paths to becoming a professional angler, click here to read a blog we wrote about it!

2. Stick with what you are confident in!

When competing in fishing tournaments, it can be easy to listen to what is referred to as “dock talk”. Dock talk is a term used that simply refers to all the chatter amongst anglers about things like what the fish are biting or where they are positioned. Listening to dock talk can often make an angler overthink his or her game plan. However, dock talk can be beneficial if you don’t rely solely on it and still stick to your guns. The bottom line is to fish the way that you are confident in fishing come tournament time! Tournament day is not an ideal time to try and gain confidence in new techniques, but it is a time to fish your strengths. Learning and trying new techniques are what practicing is for. Even the pros don’t fish certain techniques on tournament day unless it’s something they’re confident in doing. When it comes to utilizing forward-facing sonar, Buddy Gross said in a recent Bassmaster article, “I don’t have that confidence to do that. Until I get it, I won’t be able to do it. I’ll always think I have to be on the bank or a ledge”. This is a prime example of a professional that feels like he needs to do the things he’s confident in to be successful.

3. Don’t overthink your approach to fishing!

Tournament fishing can often be stressful or overwhelming if you let the pressure get to you but remember that even the pros have bad days of fishing or even multiple bad tournaments in a row! Even the greatest angler of all time, Kevin Van Dam, will tell you that you must learn to lose if you want to be a tournament bass fisherman. The best thing to do after a bad day of fishing is to keep fishing until you figure out what the fish are doing! Lure selection is perhaps one of the biggest things that anglers often overthink. When they’re not catching fish, they often blame it on the lure. While it can be good to try different lures until you find the one the fish wants, if it ever comes to a point where you’re spending too much time tying on lures than fishing that’s when it gets excessive. Another thing that many anglers often overthink is the area they are fishing in. They often blow through an area fishing their lure too fast with the trolling motor on high. The best thing to do when fishing in an area is to either pick it apart or leave it if you don’t have confidence there. Tournament bass fishing can often cause doubts, especially when you know that other people are catching them when you’re not. However, the best thing to do is just trust your gut, keep fishing, and don’t worry about anyone else!

To conclude, we would like to include a few things that anglers should bring to tournaments that can often be overlooked, other than rods and tackle of course!

Things to bring to tournaments:

• Lifejacket—make sure to always wear it when the outboard motor is running!
• Plenty of water—drink plenty, especially when it’s hot and sunny!
• Bags of ice in hot weather—for ice and livewells!
• Plenty of food (especially protein)—lack of food can cause an angler to lose focus.
• Fish care formula for livewells—this produces oxygen in the livewells and can often save an angler’s tournament.
• Fin clips and fizzing needles for fish caught deep—fizzing the fish releases the gas from their swim bladder as it expands when the fish is brought to the surface. Fin clips keep the fish upright in the livewell.
• Rainsuit—not just a light rain jacket, but an actual heavy duty rain suit.
• Fishing license—make sure it’s renewed!
• Navigation mapping—most depth finders have this capability, but the mapping chip is often sold separately (CMap, LakeMaster, or Navionics are a few examples).
• Culling beam or scale—this makes it easy to see which fish is the smallest when you are culling!
• Sunscreen and/or protective clothing—especially in the summer!
• Polarized sunglasses—especially when the fish are spawning!

The fourth Bassmaster Elite Series event of the 2024 season is at St. Johns River in Palatka, Florida. There could be anglers in this event who typically struggle there in February, but their post-spawn strengths might lead to success in April. Because this is a different time of year than when the Elite Series typically visits Palatka, how anglers approach this tournament could be completely different than in the past. However, St. Johns River is still a shallow water angler’s paradise, so don’t expect big fish to only be caught offshore. Read more

We are less than a week away from the first event of the 2024 Bassmaster Elite Series season, and there is still time to create your Bassmaster Fantasy team for the first event to win prizes! Before each event, we will be making our suggestions on which anglers to pick by giving you the option between two anglers per bucket. These picks will be based on anglers’ history on certain fisheries, momentum, strengths, and more.

NOTE: Since Toledo Bend and Lake Fork are back-to-back events, we went ahead and published our picks for Lake Fork as well.

Let’s dive into it!

Bucket A: Jordan Lee or Patrick Walters

(Photos courtesy of Bassmaster)

These are two great picks for Toledo Bend no matter the time of year. Lee is looking to pick up right where he left off with his accomplishments as a Bassmaster angler in his early career, and Walters is looking to pick up right where he left off with his win at the final Elite Series event of last year. Of course, Greg Hackney is the favorite as he is known for his success in Texas and Louisiana, but if you want to set yourself apart from the other Fantasy Fishing players then you might want to consider these other two anglers. Jordan Lee has had much success in Texas and Louisiana on the MLF Bass Pro Tour, and not to mention the first of his back-to-back Bassmaster Classic wins was in Texas during the pre-spawn. The Elites haven’t visited Toledo Bend since Patrick Walters joined; however, Walters has had a tremendous amount of success on fisheries like Fork, Ray Roberts, and Sabine River. Walters is also great at throwing a jerkbait while utilizing forward-facing sonar, which could be a huge player this time of year.

Bucket B: Jason Christie or Ben Milliken

(Photos courtesy of Bassmaster)

There is no doubt that Jason Christie will be a player at any lake in the early spring, especially when it’s a shallow water fishing paradise like Toledo Bend. If there is any sort of warming trend leading up to the event, Jason Christie will catch them. Put a spinnerbait or jig rod in his hand and he will find the fish. While Christie is one of the most feared names in bass fishing, Ben Milliken is a rookie in 2024. Don’t let this fool you however, as Milliken has had much success in his home state of Texas, including his Bassmaster Open win in 2023 on Toledo Bend qualifying him for he 2024 Bassmaster Classic.

Bucket C: Gerald Swindle or Clark Wendlandt

(Photos courtesy of Bassmaster)

According to bassmaster.com, Gerald Swindle has fished 5 Bassmaster events on Toledo Bend. Of those 5 events, his worst finish was 51^st place and his best finish was 17^th, and he has improved each time. He has also had great finishes on other fisheries in Texas like Fork, Sabine River, and Sam Rayburn which can fish like Toledo Bend. Swindle is also a great shallow water angler which can be beneficial to him especially if there are warm days leading up to an event. Similar to Swindle, Clark Wendlandt is also a shallow-water power fisherman. While he has no Bassmaster or MLF tournament history on Toledo Bend, he lives in Texas and has much experience with lots of lakes that fish similar to it. Just last year, he finished 2^nd at Sabine River. Don’t be surprised if Wendlandt gets his revenge at one of the first two events as he is hungry for a win.

Bucket D: Keith Combs or Ray Hanselman

(Photos courtesy of Bassmaster)

When it comes to fishing in Texas, Keith Combs and Ray Hanselman are both forces to be reckoned with. While most of Combs’s success has been on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, he did have a 4^th place finish at Toledo Bend in 2016. He is a crankbait fanatic, which could be a huge player at Toledo Bend as we have seen it be a winning factor in the last 2 Elite Series events held there. Texas native Ray Hanselman has also had many wins on Sam Rayburn Reservoir, along with wins on Amistad and Texoma. Don’t count these two anglers out at the first two Elite Series events of the year.

Bucket E: Buddy Gross or Wesley Gore

(Photos courtesy of Bassmaster)

With all the offshore areas that Toledo Bend has to offer, Buddy Gross could be one to bet on. After a rough season last year, he looks to rebound with a good start to the season. While most of his success has been in Florida and Tennessee River fisheries, the first two events could set up well for him. A lipless crankbait and a big swimbait, two lures that Gross is confident throwing, can be big players during the pre-spawn. Another offshore angler, Wesley Gore, could be very successful in his very first Elite Series event. While he is extremely skilled utilizing forward-facing sonar, he is also a very versatile angler growing up fishing in Alabama. Gore also had an 11^th place finish in a Bassmaster Open event on Toledo Bend last year. Expect Wesley Gore to cover plenty of water and search for those giant bass that Toledo Bend is known for.