Ever go to the lake fully unrigged?

[DogBone_384]

I often leave unrigged because I don't always know where I'm going until I hit the road.   I'll rig up the night before if I know where I'm going.  

[crypt]

6 hours ago, Mike L said:

I always pre-rig a frog, t rig and UV speed worm the night before as I always use those every outing. 

I’ll rig the others as I need them during the course of the day. 
 

 

 

Mike

pretty much this........

[Bird]

I have my staples already rigged and on top in the rod locker.

If I get to a lake and find the water to be cloudy and the weather to be opposite of forecast " happens quite often " then I have to go digging.

Direct answer, never fully unrigged.

[TOXIC]

I have pre rigged high percentage baits and I have Plano boxes set up for where we normally go.  High percentage is a dropshot, Senko, crankbait, DShad and Ned.  Another 4 or 5 un rigged combos in both baitcaster and spinning left open for specific conditions.  

[Pat Brown]

I have been known to arrive at the lake with a plan only to retie every rod within the first hour due to the lake not being set up the way I predicted.  That's always fun.  😂😂😂

[txchaser]

Most of the pre-rigging I've done ends up getting chopped off pretty quickly, so I can't fully explain it but I feel like I need to just feel the water and the light and the wind. Some standbys are on for sure, especially on dedicated setups like jerkbait or frog. 

 

Clips on crankbait rods, split rings are cut off on 100% of my crankbaits, jerkbaits, rattletraps. No downside, only upside, as long as you remember to check your line and re-tie. 

[Koz]

Because I fish out of a kayak I don’t have the luxury of bringing a dozen plus rods on an outing. I would usually bring 6 or maybe seven rods. With that setup I would tie baits on 4 or 5 rods and on the other two I would tie on VMC Touch Loc snaps to be able to quickly change baits.

 

But I did just decommission my Tuff Krate for a Blackpack with 6 rod holders. That will allow me to carry 9 or 10 rods on each outing.

[river-rat]

 

I'm always rigged before I go fishing. And depending on water levels I always have a plan of the area I'm going to fish in the Atchafalaya Basin.

[Columbia Craw]

Unrigged?   Very rarely. Unhinged? Often.

[papajoe222]

I never go fully unrigged.

I always have one rod set with a jig (the trailer I choose may differ).

A second rod always has a T-Rig and what I thread on will depend on the conditions.

A third rod will have a tube with an internal weight and an EWG hook.

Next to them, unrigged, are my cranking sticks (2) and my topwater combo.  Those I rig wehn needed.

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, Koz said:

Because I fish out of a kayak I don’t have the luxury of bringing a dozen plus rods on an outing. I would usually bring 6 or maybe seven rods. With that setup I would tie baits on 4 or 5 rods and on the other two I would tie on VMC Touch Loc snaps to be able to quickly change baits.

 

But I did just decommission my Tuff Krate for a Blackpack with 6 rod holders. That will allow me to carry 9 or 10 rods on each outing.

I carry 5 (very rarely 6).  If I was carrying 10 rods I might prerig because I could rig one of everything!  

[MN Fisher]

Shore fishing - I pre-rig 2-3 rods, then one for panfish

On the boat - I'll have 6-8 pre-rigged for a variety of techniques based on season and conditions.

[GreenPig]

Unrigged? Never. Unhinged, occasionally. 

[J Francho]

I only really fish three or four baits anyway, so I rig up the night before. I really enjoy the prep time. 

[DinkDonkey30]

I almost always prerigg the night before. Then if need make changes on the water. I’m finally fortunate enough to be in a place where I have enough rods to cover most techniques I would use any way. So generally it’s just a matter of retieing leaders, adjusting lengths, or possibly weights. I keep quick snaps on my jerkbait and crank bait rods so no need to retie those. 

[Koz]

9 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

I carry 5 (very rarely 6).  If I was carrying 10 rods I might prerig because I could rig one of everything!  

I used to carry just 2-3 rods and use the VMC Snaps on all of them but found many baits work better without the snaps. That led to carrying more rods.

 

But on some kayaks it can be a pain to have to tie on baits. One reason I like my AP is the forward rod holders. It makes it easier to tie on baits and it gives me a quick spot to place my rod when unbuttoning a fish or taking pictures of it on a Ketch board.

[Zcoker]

I have all my rods rigged and triple checked before I go out. Rarely do I go out with rods without baits. I gather as much data as I can to predict the conditions. Those conditions, however, can change on a dime. I usually get to my spot at dark, either after the sun goes down or deep into the night, so bait selection is pretty strait forward, rigged, and ready to go. Those selections can get changed depending on a few things like wind, cloud cover, moonlight, temperature, etc.  Vibration is a big thing at night, so tuning in the baits is important to get those big night hits, which may entail changing out baits numerous times. When the sun comes up, however, it's a whole different ballgame, so most all baits get changed again. 

[PhishLI]

Always, but every rod I have is rigged with some type of clip. SPRO Prime Snap Minis for light line and VMC Touch-Loks for heavier line. Retying at night is a pain and is irksome compared to swiftly unclipping a bait and clipping another one on. Also, I don't need to put on my readers then turn my headlamp on which might spook fish. I might have a clip tied onto braid for months at a time, but generally retie clips to plastic lines every few trips unless I know I've been hit by Pickeral.

 

I have zero concern with the VMCs failing. I snagged some wood recently. 50lb J8 with a VMC #1 Touch-Lok. The hook failed while pulling it out, but the snap was fine.

 

[Alex from GA]

I leave all my rods rigged from the last trip but do check the line and retie if needed.

[JackstrawIII]

I’m like the old you haha. Always a plan and always pre-rigged. I’ve considered changing my ways, but the obsessing before going on the water is 1/2 the experience 

[nso123]

I always have a drop shot and a wacky setup rigged because they will always get thrown at some point. If it’s frog season I’ll keep one of those rigged too. 

[FishTank]

I set things up the night before. It gives me an idea where to start and how to approach my day. On the other hand, I have gone to lakes that were new to me and totally cut everything off and started the process over.  

[RRocket]

On 6/6/2024 at 11:57 AM, casts_by_fly said:

I love rigging tackle.  I love thinking ahead and picturing that the bass are going to want a spinnerbait (or insert other bait) today based on what I think will happen.  I check the weather, the wind, the moon, the lake levels and temps, etc, to make a plan for how I'm going to fish.  Maybe its an anticipation thing, like playing the lottery.  Last night was a late addition trip to the plan.  I did the frog distance testing yesterday morning so had cut all of the lures off my rods.  I planned to re-rig them before leaving, but got waylaid.  I ended up launching with 4 unrigged rods and a fifth with something I had no intention of throwing and cut it off immediately.  It got me thinking about why I pick certain presentations ahead of time, my reluctance to take a minute to change lures, and my mental anchoring to something I think should be happening and not adapting to what is happening.  I'm not saying I'm going to do it every trip (certainly not trips that start at 3 AM), but it was a useful exercise. 

 

Specifically here, if I were to have prerigged, I would have had a spinnerbait/chatterbait on one rod, a frog on a rod, a texas beaver, a magdraft freestyle, and something else (maybe a swim jig).  The forecast was cloudy, breezy, and the third day of stable weather ahead of a front coming in last night.  I'd think of that as good spinnerbait/chatterbait weather and would have started there with the occasional throw of a frog back into the muck.  I don't know if I would have caught fish that way, but I do know when I got there it wasn't windy, wasn't cloudy (maybe 50% cloud cover), and the breeze was minimal most of the time.  The water was 10' clarity also.  Since I had nothing tied on, I had no anchor of what I thought should happen so I looked at the actual conditions and added one bait at a time.  The swimbait idea was good, but the magdraft was too much for the 'skinny' conditions.  A much smaller 

 

Anyone else go fully unrigged or without a plan regularly?  

I have a small car that won't fit 6+ foot rods easily. So I typically use 2 piece.

 

Rigged up when I arrive at my destination.