picking a tourney partner

I'd say it would have to be D A. Whether it's Pleasant or Saguaro, he seems to find the fish. Everytime I fish with him or around him, he teaches me things I didn't know or shows me spots that I wasn't aware of. He can pre-fish just about anytime because he's retired. He's dependable, his boat starts, he's easy going and a pleasure to be around. He already fishes tourneys, so he's used to the pace and stress level. So... even though I don't do tourneys, he'd be my pick, even though I'm sure I wouldn't be his first choice. I'm sure he'd like to cash checks every once in a while. Walkerdawg would be a close second. He's taking me to school on our trips lately. He's getting these "gut" feelings that seem to put us on fish when we're not boating em. Bayou's up there too. Our styles and approaches are almost identical. We usually put fish in the boat when we fish together. I'd fish with any of the 3 I mentioned in a heartbeat. There are honestly too many good choices out there. I've fished with some great guys that can fish. Besides the need to catch fish to place, getting along with your partner is important. Someday maybe I'll get back into the tourney thing (maybe). For now, I don't feel the need to compete. I just enjoy hanging out with good friends and spending a day on the water.

This will get people going.

The partner who puts the time on the water usually makes the decisions, Let me explain Using Kurt and I.

Kurt dont have time to pre fish, and I do. I also love to fish. While I am set in my ways I do try other things but only when prefishing never in a tourny, cause I am not going to waste my time and money trying something new during a tourny. Kurt expects me to be on fish come tourny day. If I am not He will make fun of me. :wink: And I will never hear the end of it.
Tourny day is a whole nother season(if you fish many tournys at lake pleasant you will understand) during prefishing you can pull up 10-20 lbs per day not fish thursday and friday and come sat boom your lucky to get 6-8lbs.

The most important thing you need from a partner is a great relationship and someone who will fish hard the whole thing. that means no taking it easy, no day dreaming. No second guessing each other. If one guy wants to try something lets say dropshotting the other guy doesnt toss a c-rig in 80 feet of water. if one guy tosses topwater and moves on the banks your partner doesnt decided to dropshot while your doing it.. He needs to have the common sence that if your tossing a spinner bait and working the banks he is going to do something that will not slow you up(wether this be boater or nonboater.)

Only had 2 fishing partners that I could fish tournys with and be comfortable that would be Ron ,Bobby and Kurt.

the worse thing that you can have is a partner that wants to sit in the boat and not fish hard. complain about every little thing change is baits every five mins to something new etc.

Dont get me wrong if kurt wants to try another spot we will but if we are putting fish in the boat and the fish stop biting is when that decision is made.


Kurt and I have made some dumb ass out of this world decisions on where to try and what to use(and it worked unexpectidly)

I know tomorrow we will be going to kurts spot first cause he was the last one to fish and was on fish sunday and we were both on fish on sat right at the last hour.

Obviously fun fishing is a completely different ball game. and since I very rarely do it , I dont care if my partner sleeps on the boat.

Kurt I hope you have that 80lb wire leader on cause we are c-rigging Ricos in 200 feet of water tomorrow.

Delw

I would pick Hank Parker.In my opinion the most well rounded angler I have ever known.Full of ideas, well seasoned,can intimidate most anglers including pros,very fast with his hands,thinks deeper then the pattern/bite, can find a spot on a spot, willing to teach other anglers even though it may be a two dayer he will help other struggling anglers with tips,not spots.never lies about what he's catching them on. Can feel a bass swim up to his carolina rig without it touching it. Meaning the push of the water. located a school of fish in 1987 prefishing for the american scholarship circut Lake of the Ozarks with this feel of his,looked at them with the flasher never catching a single fish and decided this would be our starting spot. He did this with a Mr.twister 4" lizard Black,We came back in three days fished a Creme 6" motoroil lizard and loaded the boat.Gave me public credit for help in finding the fish when I had nothing to do with it and never would have found those fish. He explained how to feel this push of water and showed me and I have worked on this ever since and have only one time maybe have felt this. All around nice guy, no ego, willing to help and teach, will talk as long as you want to and you can tell he enjoys it. You can ask him questions over the phone about spots and describe what the situation is and he will give you his ideas. In 1997 He told Chris Carver where to find his fish to win the redman all american in LaCrosse Wi. Chris never moved from the spot for three days of tourney fishing. $i25,000 and a fully rigged ranger bassboat. I guess I could go on and on But I guess theres one more important reason He's my friend,and I'll never forget that.
Darryl

Those are some really informative posts, I learned a lot just reading whats been said. It kind of makes me wonder how I've been as a backseater the few times I've done it. I don't fish from the backseat often, maybe once every couple months. I don't at all mind it, in fact, I really enjoy fishing in the back with a good partner and just taking a day off and letting the guy in front think about what to do to catch fish. On the other hand, I love being in control and making the decisions on what to do, even if they aren't quite what some more experienced guys would do.
I think I'm getting better at the backseating thing when I do it. I know the first time I fished with Ken, it was my first time backseating with anyone, my first time in a bass boat, I was still in the learing process with baitcasting gear, and the added pressure that I was fishing with Ken Levy made me pretty dang nervous! I feel I am doing a better job now after I've gotten a little experience.
When I start fishing tournaments I'm going to have to backseat for atleast a couple years. I'm going to have to find a partner and learn to make the adjustment to him. What are some things that I should do to make me a more effective backseater? What should I do to make me a desireable tournamnent partner? I know it'll be tough to find one, I don't know many people who want to fish tournments with a 15 year old. Any ideas?
Thanks, Josh