I have read many posts, and wrote some myself, about being a non-boater. As you all may remember, I do not have much "hands on" experience of fishing the ledges as a NB due to the fact I cannot get my boaters off the banks. BUT, I do have a little knowledge on how to beat the boater in the shallows, even though it may be 100 degrees, and even though you are a nonboater. I have not really developed this technique on my own then acted upon it, it is something that I have noticed the last two years, after noticing I told no one because nothing is really a secret anyway. In fishing one must realize that secrets die young, and believers never die. lol, that just sounded good at the moment, work with me.
After two years of little tourneys here and there where we pound the banks ALL YEAR LONG, I picked up on two things that really help a non boater.
#1 - NEVER LISTEN TO THE BOATER- like when you are throwing a pop-r first thing in the morning and he says "I don't think that will work yet" Or anything else of this matter, just keep going with your 1st instinct, there is usually a good reason you chose this bait, even though you may not know exactly why.
#2 - You hear everyone say that when fishing as a nonboater, to keep an eye on where your boater is casting and then cast somewhere different, find new water to get the fish he missed. You may want to keep this in the back of your mind, but more than that, I ALWAYS throw exactly where they threw. Even if they threw to a single spot 300 times, just throw there. It is critical to use a different setup than the boater though, i.e. different color, type of bait, size of bait, or even the same bait but a different size weight (generally smaller).
I have noticed over and over and over that when I get a keeper, and it is 90 percent of the time a keeper, that the boater just worked that spot. Generally a boater gives you no other option than to throw where he did because he may work the water with a fine toothed comb and a vacuum, but don't give up concentration because you don't believe you are going to catch anything. You must be ready for action throughout the entire tournament, even if it is blazing hot, keep on your toes and make sure the boater see's this, he will then try to stay more alert than you, generally trying too hard, and you have better chances, especially when he misses a few fish and gets frustrated, just stay calm and collected and by the end of the day you will feel very good. You may only weigh in a fish or two, but most of the time you will beat your boater, I have done this 5 of 10 times last year and 4 of 6 times this year.....try it, it may work for you. I hope it does or else I wrote this for nothing.
Take care