®
Summer 2025
W
ith more than five decades of serious
tournament fishing in my background,
I’ve learned a few things that are not always immediately apparent. Most anglers early in their
tournament years focus on the winning “spots”, the winning
“lures”, the winning “technique” and other details that while
important, are not the primary reason why the winner beat
everyone else. Anglers that are successful over many years
understand bass.
Rick Clunn is a great example. He has immersed his thought process and decision-making skills with observations of everything affecting the lake or river he is fishing. He considers the season, the weather, the structure, the cover, the water clarity and temperature, the available prey, and the three activity states of a bass.
Clunn finds bass by asking himself simple questions: What would a bass do? What would it eat? Where would I find it?
TIP: There is more information on the above in a separate feature this issue: Summer Colors, Baits, and Depths.
WHAT IS THE 90-10 RULE
Finding bass largely depends on where a bass wants to be. Until bass learn to talk, we depend upon other clues. The bigger the body of water, the better the clues need to be, or we waste all our time fishing where the bass are not.
Consider the ocean. It is huge, and impossible to fish all the spots to learn which ones hold fish. To narrow
down the possibilities, saltwater anglers have adopted a strategy called the “90-10 Rule.” This same philosophy has applications for bass fishing, and this article discusses how to apply the 90-10 rule to summer bass fishing.
The 90-10 fishing rule states that 90 percent of feeding fish are found in just 10 percent of the water at any given time and place. Understanding this rule and avoiding the 90 percent of water without fish will improve your fishing success.
TOURNAMENT PRE-FISH
Tournament anglers pre-fish to hopefully find that magic spot that will produce the heaviest limit of bass. Great tournament anglers consistently find winning spots due to their inner Rick Clunn. It isn’t due to blind luck.
Do you know what the definition of luck is? Luck is when preparation intersects with opportunity. Apply the 90-10 rule in your preparation and make your own luck.
You see, the problem with a spot is that spots don’t move, but bass do. The best spot, yesterday, could be part of the 90-percent of the water that today doesn’t hold feeding bass. It isn’t the angler with the most spots who wins.
TIP: It’s the angler fishing the 10-percent of spots holding 90-percent of feeding bass that wins.
Let’s break down some of the factors that attract 90-percent of the bass to the 10-percent of spots.
STRUCTURE AND COVER
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