Hey, new to the site, which is great by the way. I'm 27 and have been fishing all my life. Caught the bug from my grandfather at a young age. I have been thinking about fishing some tournaments and was looking for advice on how to get started.

If you are married talk to your spouse and make sure she understands the kind of money you are about to start spending. Start out fishing small tournaments, mo water patrol has a regetta list, which list all the tournys and location and usually a phone number where you can call the tourny director to get info. If this is something you really want to do don't get discourged usually if your having a good day so is everyone else. I can tell you bats on pomme, blt on stockton, and in the winter time winterbassbrawl on both lakes are $50 entry fees which is as bout as cheap as you can find and all 3 are great trails with great directors I have always been treated nice and with respect. Good luck with you new adventure.

my advice to anyone starting out in the tournament world would be to check out the american bass anglers of america or [aba] you really learn a lot from this group of guys and gals .you dont have to have a boat because they are draw tournements entry is only 70 dollars and there are tournements everywhere ..if you would like to know more let me know would be glad to share any enfo with you or anyone.. and goodluck with you r fishing hope to see you around.

Great advice on checking with the spouse Tim. Although I would love to see the look on my wife's face when I out of the blue say " Bye babe, off to fish my first tourney." Well... second thought, maybe not.

I have been checking up on some local tournaments, I live Southeast in the Bootheel. The only local tournaments I have found so far are at Wappapello or Clearwater and the entry fee's are $120. At the moment my wife would kill me for spending that much, but $70 I think I could do.

fishn99, thanks for the advice. I would love to hear more info, first thing to do is learn then fish... and I sure do love to fish.

I am really looking forward to fishing a tournament, just to test my skills against other serious anglers.

Also, would have to enter as a non-boater, unless some would allow a 8 ft boat...? I have only seen 10 and 14 ft minimum.

if you are wanting to get started in tourney fishing, do what I did. Join a local bass club. this is a great way to learn the waters and pick up on techniques and tricks used by others. I moved to MO 7 years ago and this is what I did. I never fished a reservoir in my life, all river fishing. I joined a club and learned really fast and it didn't break the bank either. Now I am a regular tournament fisherman.

I would reccommend checking out one of the larger circuits! Central Pro-Am, BFL, or Heartland. Try fishing on the amatuer side at first, learn all you can from the top pros and when you can afford a boat, then step up. I started fishing Heartland 4 or 5 years ago and LEARNED ALOT! I stepped up to the front last year and finished 13th in my rookie season for Central Pro-Am. Give Kris a call and tell her I sent you, she will take good care of ya! 417-263-0373

if you have a buddy with a boat and you think they might be interested try entering in a amature tournament with them thats what a good friend of mine did and he couldnt be having anymore fun