Serious tournament fisherman

[WRB]

I use expando sleeves to cover my rods and terry cloth towels inbetween layers of reels to cushion them. Wish I thought of expando sleeves as a commercial item to offer to fisherman 30 years ago, we had a braiding division that made the expando sleeving for decades used for aerospace wire harnesses.

I use reel cover if I am transporting rods with reels to fish with someone else. The terry towels are handy to wipe the boat dry etc, etc, and make good padding in the rod locker.

Tom

[kstephes033]

Usually after prefishing and getting a good idea of what’s going on I’ll have 3 or 4 identical setups on deck with the same bait in the same color. For instance if they are going good on a beaver in green pumpkin then I will have usually 4 setups with  same line, weight, color, and bait setup ready to go. That way if one gets bit off, 

plastic stolen, pincher bit off, frayed line, whatever... all I have to do is own and grab another and fire right back in there. Tourneys are about maximizing time with your bait in the water. Having one setup and losing the bait then having to go into the box to get another out and either retie or just put another plastic on takes time, 2 casts minimum and if you have to retie that could be 10 or more casts missed out on depending on how proficient you are with tying. I will usually have other options on deck as well such as that same situation I would have a couple of jigs out in similar color, maybe a smaller t-rig with lighter weight, and something finesse to clean up an area like a Ned rigs or dropshot. If it is something where I’m cranking all day I’ll usually have 2 setups with the same thing since you aren’t having to remove or replace Plastics, just the occasional retie. Now that’s all if you are a boater. If you are a non boater the ideal situatoin in s to either prefish with your partner or get the info ahead of time to be able to rig up on a couple rods then have a few alternates, in this case I’d probably have two identical setups and then 3 or 4 different offerings that you could use as double duty for something else if it pops up. 

[dam0007]

I carry right around 25 combos with me. Then keep 6 spare rods in the event the unfortunate happens to one of them. Every rod is dialed in to a exact bait: gear ratio on the reel, type of line, lb test. Etc.

 

Only 2 cases I’ve doubled rods with the similar setups is for a very specific purpose or having a back up ready to go. 

 

One is flipping, 2 scenarios though. One ready with braid and the other fluorocarbon. This is if I’m going back and forth from rocks to weeds. I’d prefer braid in this instance but on the rocks with possibility of zebra mussels run the Fluoro. The other is weight same set up one with say 3/4oz and the other 1.5oz so I could work inside weed line and out side weedline at the same pace.

 

Next case would be cranking. Especially doing some squarebilling or deep cranking. Squares often I’ll have 2 same bait set ups one with heavy mono and the other light Fluoro. To target 2 specific depths around weeds. For deep cranking mainly identical setups just with 2 different baits I.e: silent and rattles, white and chartreuse. Etc