How To Win a Fishing Tournament: Bowfishing Tournaments
The Guide To WINNING Bowfishing Tournaments
Whether you're new to the game or an experienced bowfishermen, learning how to win a fishing tournament can be a daunting task. To be a consistent winner in the bowfishing world, it takes a lot of hands-on experience, trial and error, preparation, great bowfishing equipment and a tremendous amount of focus. Like most things in life, you get out what you put in and every now and then you might just get lucky.
The big bowfishing tournaments are constantly changing their locations so the home court advantage is never the same. That being said, you will still see most of the same faces finishing in the top 5 of these major bowfishing tournaments because they have learned how to win. The secret to winning a bowfishing tournament starts long before blast off.
If you're new to bowfishing, then you're going to want to get started bowfishing by learning how to aim and practicing your shooting before you learn how to compete in bowfishing tournaments.
Bowfishing Tournament Preparation
Winning a bowfishing tournament starts long before the tournament kicks off.
Regardless of the objective for the tournament, we have found that the best bowfishermen will practice shooting "dinks" which refer to small rough fish. This starts the month before tournament time and continues throughout the bowfishing tournament season. It's a great way to hone in on accuracy and depth perception.
It's good to get your bowfishing supplies in working order, boat motor tuned up, and purchase an extra set of batteries and have as much redundancy as possible in your bowfishing boat setup. Bowfishing tournaments are typically non-stop for 24 hours. The ability to run quiet off batteries, then switch over to a generator when the charge runs low, can be a huge relief when going non-stop.
The number one piece of equipment that can make our break a bowfishing tournament is your bowfishing lights. Quality bowfishing lights such as the Swamp Eye Light Bar are essential to success in a tournament. These lights can run on battery or generator, and are fully adjustable from warm white to cool white for increasing visibility in virtually any water condition you come across. These are a must-have in your bowfishing boat. It's not a bad idea to keep a couple Bow Mounted Bowfishing Lights on hand either for jumping up on floating buffalo or bighead carp.
Preparing the Week Prior to Bowfishing Tournament
The week prior to the bowfishing tournament starting is spent scouting. Here are some key tips to consider when scouting for your next bowfishing tournament:
- Read overall maps to find areas of vegetation, weed beds, structure, and shallow flats.
- A topographic map of the water body you are targeting will tell you where the drop offs are. Big fish like hanging around these drop offs.
- Spend time on the water during day and night time to verify the location of fish based on your research. Cover as much area as you can, and have a backup plan.
- It's best to not shoot or pressure the fish so they don't move. Most carp, gar, and invasive species are territorial and will stay in the same area if they aren't pressured.
- Be prepared for running all night long. Learn how to run your trolling motor off a generator and how to run your bowfishing lights on a generator to allow you to get through days of scouting and the eventual bowfishing tournament.
The more time spent scouting, the more likely you are to win the bowfishing tournament. Once you've spent several days scouting and have developed a good understanding of the water body and found your bowfishing spots, then it's time to determine what you want to compete for.
Bowfishing Strategy: Scouting for Numbers
Scouting to fill your bowfishing boat with a high volume of rough fish is called numbers shooting. Here are some key tactics to consider when scouting for a numbers bowfishing tournament:
- A high volume of small rough fish are more likely to be in 1 to 4 ft of water, with elevated water temperatures.
- Water movement is key to finding good bowfishing spots.
- Natural water movement: river inlets and spillways (more reliable)
- Artificial water movement: dam openings (less reliable)
- Saltwater: be aware of the tide changes and adjust accordingly
- Water clarity can make or break a bowfishing tournament, it's best to be prepared with versatile bowfishing lights that can adjust to various water conditions.
- Grass beds and spillways tend to have the best water clarity while mud flats have the worst water clarity.
- Numbers bowfishing tournaments are less reliant on an optimal water clarity in comparison to big fish tournaments.
Bowfishing Strategy: Scouting for Big Fish
The strategy behind a big fish bowfishing tournament and a numbers tournament are completely different. Big fish do not typically hang out in the shallows, they are in deeper waters of 4 to 5 feet deep and beyond. One instance that will push big fish into the shallows is a real low barometric pressure in the form of a cold front.
Here are some key tips to consider when scouting for a big fish bowfishing tournament:
- Topographic maps and a sonar depth finder are key to finding underwater islands and humps with shallow areas surrounded by deeper water.
- Water clarity is very important, because the fish are at greater depths.
- South end of a lake near spillway tends to produce the best water clarity and is normally well protected by the wind.
- Areas protected by trees that have a rock, grass, or sandy bottom are more likely to have the best water clarity.
- Poor water clarity and big fish bowfishing tournaments do not mix.
- Lily pads can act as cover for big fish
Utilizing these different strategies for scouting and putting in the time to understand the water your bowfishing will put you leaps ahead of other teams and closer to winning a fishing tournament. These fundamental strategies are habitual for the guys placing at the top of bowfishing tournaments nationwide.
Days Before the Bowfishing Tournament
The days before the start of the tournament should still consist of scouting, but the majority of the focus is spent on determining a strategy to win the tournament based on what you're seeing in the water. If you're seeing a bunch of small fish, then the numbers format may be the best opportunity for you. If you're seeing a bunch of a big fish, then the big 20 or big fish format may be more optimal.
There are three (3) common bowfishing tournament structures: numbers format, big 20 format, and big fish format. Smaller tournaments may only be one single format, while the larger bowfishing tournaments may have multiple options you can enter into.
Numbers Bowfishing Tournament
- The team with the most (quantity) legal rough fish wins. In this instance, a 20 lb fish and a 1 lb fish have the same value.
Big 20 Bowfishing Tournament
- The team with the heaviest total weight of their 20 biggest legal rough fish wins.
Big Fish Bowfishing Tournament
- The team with the heaviest legal rough fish wins. This format is typically combined with one or both of the bowfishing tournament formats discussed above.
The Night Before the Bowfishing Tournament
On the day before the bowfishing tournament, your focus should shift from scouting to final preparation of your bowfishing arrows, bow, boat and miscellaneous other tools. This is also the time to make sure your fuel is topped off and batteries are charged.
One of the most important necessities of the night before the bowfishing tournament is to get a good meal, prepare your snacks / drinks / meals for while you are on the water, and get a good nights rest. You must keep your body in check to be able to focus and function at the highest level.
Bowfishing Tournament Blast Off
The blast-off refers to the start of the bowfishing tournament. The blast-off order can be determined by when the teams show up, but in most cases, it is determined by when the bowfishing team register for the bowfishing tournament.
It's good practice to show up to the blast-off time 30 minutes to an hour early, because it takes some time to get the boats lined up properly.
If you know you're going to compete in a bowfishing tournament, it's best to be one of the first ones to register so you are at the front of the line during blast off. This gives you a little bit of an edge over everyone else in getting to the boat ramp first to put in.
The Bowfishing Tournament Begins
Once the bowfishing tournament is in full swing and you've put the boat in the water, stick to your game plan and hit the spots you scouted. If you are shooting numbers, then get as many rough fish in the boat as possible. If you are shooting big fish or big 20, then focus on shooting big fish and don't waste time shooting smaller fish. Time is the most critical factor at this point, and you should be laser focused on conquering your game plan.
Things will happen that you didn't plan for, and the winners will keep pushing forward despite the setbacks. We've seen motors blow, people lose props, trucks breakdown, trailers break, bows break, batteries die, and many more setbacks. We've also seen people overcome these setbacks and still place top 2 of some of the largest bowfishing tournaments in the nation.
The two most important tactics to consistently win bowfishing tournaments are to be prepared and adapt and overcome.
Bowfishing tournaments are an action-packed way to compete with fellow bowfishermen. Now that you've learned about how to win a fishing tournament, refresh your bowfishing skills or just learn more about bowfishing tactics you by reading our wide selection of bowfishing tips.
Outrigger Outdoors is the leading designer and manufacturer of Bowfishing Lights. Known for pioneering the first color temperature adjustable lights that allow you to increase visibility in clear or muddy water, Outrigger Outdoors continues to lead the industry with innovation. If you're looking to give yourself the best opportunity to see more fish, look no further than our selection of Swamp Eye Bowfishing Lights. If you have questions about how to set up your boat for bowfishing lighting, contact us today.