Choosing Your Tournament Tackle

An essential key to success in any bass fishing tournament is having the right tackle to use. Selecting your tournament tackle is half the fun in the sport, and it's usually what keeps us bass fisherman awake all night before the tournament! So I wanted to give a few tips when selected your tournament day tackle, to help make the process more fun, effective, and successful to help you put the green ones in the livewell quick!

The first thing you shuld consider is how much room do you have? If you are going as a non boater, you probably only have room for 3 rods and one big tackle bag. To show respect to the boater you are riding with, you should be as organized as possible, in order to keep the boat monuverable during the day. I'm off the school that believes sticking with a few solid, time tested lures, through out the day will put more fish in the boat than switching lures every 10 minutes. So this holds more true for the non boater who has less tackle they can bring.

I bring 3 tackle boxes. Crankbaits, worms & hooks, and handful of top water baits. Spinner baits I place in zip lock baggies to go into the side pouch of my tackle bag. One rod is rigged with a crankbait ideal for the depth of water we are fishing, (ask the boater what his plans are), A worm/jig being careful to research good colors for the place we're fishing and water clarity, and either a top water bait for instances when I see bait fish breaking, or early in the morning.

If you then fill each of your three tackle boxes with great back ups for each type of fishing, you can cover lots of water, lots of diverse water, and be equipped to fish the style your boater plans on fishing without having to re tie your lures all day. Given you might re tie a hand ful of times, but keep in mind that when you are selecting your tournament tackle, boater or non boater, less can be more Remember to consider all conditions, and be flexible. Chosing lures that can be fished in several conditions is wise.

As for rod selection, I usually bring 2 6.6' medium action rods because I can do anything with them, and maybe one flippin stick. Remember to pack plenty of snacks for your boater/non boater. Believe it or not, good manners will put more fish in the boat. Getting along with your boating companion makes all the difference in the world!