Tournament Anglers

[weaverml34]

Or anybody else that might know. I was at a our local tackle shop's fishing open house on Saturday. The feature pro that was speaking was Kevin Wirth. One of the things he was talking about was how line size effects the rate of fall and how much it can come into play during a tournament. Of course after the open house I got to thinking. How do tournament anglers go about line changes while out on the water? Do they have enough rods and reels on the boat that if they want to downsize all they have to do is pull out another rig? Do they carry extra reels or spools with different line sizes that they can just swap out the reel or spool? Or, which I doubt because time is so important, do they strip their reels and put new line on?

Just something that got me thinking.

[flfireman]

Im stabbing here. Most probably have enough set ups on their boat too throw many different combo's. If not Im sure the 2 or 3 days prefishing give them a good idea on what is working and what is not. I wouldn't think they are stripping reels in the heat of competition-too much time wasted.

[lunker-lander]

They may also re-spool at night, but it's most likely what Florida said. Countless rods with a lure for every situation depending on the conditions of the tourney.

-Lunk-

[3dkicker]

Switching out a reel doesn't take long and I've seen it done. Keeping track of which reel has which diameter line is the trick. Having 3 or 4 rods rigged on different size line is done also. Sometimes they get stuck with the wrong line sizes for the depth or technique and adapt as best they can.

[lunker-lander]

Good piont, 3d! It wouldn't be called a tournament if it was easy!

-Lunk-

[Bob Smith]

Kevin Wirth is one of the pros that is more in tune with that process. many carry extra reel spools in the boat. Anglers like Rick Clunn will have every rod and reel exactly the same regardless of technique, and that includes line size. So the pros very in that respect. Most of them will find out at weigh-in on day one what beat them and make adjustments that night.

[carolina-rig-01]

like FF said. the pre-fishing days leading up to the tourney will give them a lot of info on what they need to be doing. also most of them do respool after everyday. you would probably be astonished at the number of rods they have with them. not only in the boat but the truck as well so they have plenty of rods for any situation.

[BassAddict]

I usually take 6-8 rods with me to a tournament. They will be rigged with whatever I expect to be working up to that point in the season. If I have a pattern nailed down to a couple specific things I won't take that many. I mostly fish with my brother and he will have a dozen rods in the rod locker rigged different ways. We pretty much have it covered on T-day.
I respool my reels before each tournament especially if I'm going to a different lake/river and think I'll be doing something different than the last T.

Eric

[Lilmoosecountry]

Simple what i did in my Redman tournament days was. Rig up the night before. Crankbait Rods allready had crankbaits on them. Worm rod would be pre rigged with the worm i would use the next day. All i had to do was look at the rod with the bait i wanted to use. I always rigged mono the night before.

[Lilmoosecountry]

Oh by the way it much better to do it that way. If you use the same rod for everything. Your lossing allot of time to rigging up all these diffrent combinations, The more time you spend with a lure in the water. The better your odds are to catching fish.

[toneyoutdoors.com]

I personally carry extra spools with me for my reels so i can change it easily and quick.

[JB]

i fished the redman series at ky lake and usually the night before would change out the line on most spools after what I'd learned pre fishing..its something to do "to kill some time" in the hotel