Being organized, efficient and prepared on the water can be a major advantage for a tournament angler. Everyone has their own style when it comes to organizing their boat, but knowing where all of your equipment is and being able to access it in quick order is crucial. We all strive to become more and more efficient each year in this department in an effort to ultimately achieve higher levels of success. Here are a few quick tips that you can apply to your boat organization and equipment management that just might make you a better fisherman moving forward.
This alteration depends slightly on the boat you run but most brands provide this capability. In your rod locker, remove the rod tree and even the rod tubes from your locker. Then use rod sleeves on each of your combos. If you’re on an extended trip or a tournament that may require a high number of rod/reel setups, this customization allows you to pack far more rods in the boat than a typical locker setup.
If you’re traveling out of your home state for a tournament, be sure to know and carry along the boating regulations for the new state or body of water you will be fishing. We all know and become very comfortable with the regulations close to home and can easily forget that laws are often different across the country. The last thing you want to do is be disqualified from an event for not having all of the required safety equipment or breaking a boating law that isn’t enforced back home.
Dial in a culling system and culling equipment that you’re comfortable and confident with. Whether you weigh, measure or balance your fish you should identify a system that you personally are most efficient with.
Keep a journal or note pad in the boat to record important information that you learn during a tournament, practice, or just a fun day of fishing. This is a great way to ensure that the experience you gain on certain bodies of water doesn’t slip through the cracks when you return years later.
As bass fishermen, we all pack a lot of odds and ends like Sharpie Markers, Scent Sprays and Reel Oil. Utilize Velcro to place these awkward items in an organized fashion on the inside of compartments or in other accessible areas around your boat.
