I wanted to share some observations about equipment. As I've learned more about the keys to catching fish, especially big fish, I've learned that the equipment you have plays a lot bigger role than I had ever thought possible in the past.

I started out seriously trying for bass in a $99 float tube with two bass rods and a trout rod. I had a corsair, a black maxx, and a Symmetre. A few bags of worms, some terminal gear and such in a small box, I figured I was pretty set up.

When I bought my first boat I took my three rods, one small tackle bag, a camera, and a few misc. items. No net, no cooler, no anchor, no fish finder, no clips to hold to the shore, no pair of scissors, no vice grips, no duct tape, electrical tape, superglue, etc etc. At the time, I felt like I had everything I needed pretty much. Three rods seemed like plenty. It didn't even cross my mind to bring a net since I was fishing by myself. A scale and cooler didn't seem important. An anchor was an afterthought ..... Oh to go back in time!

Now I go out and my 15' boat is loaded to the hilt with gear. If I go by myself it gets even worse because I bring more rods and more tackle. Sure you don't want to have TOO much stuff in the boat, but when you have "everything" you don't leave much to chance. I don't even want to think about when I get a bigger boat some day :)

A perfect example of how gear can affect your trip is the net. At this point I have three nets. A small wal-mart special net, a medium sized net, and a huge pro-mar mesh landing net. For years I brought no net at all. When I lost a 16 pound bass at the boat I started bringing the medium sized net every time. The medium sized net is good and never cost me anything that I can think of, but this year I got the monster net because there was this nagging thought in my mind that a bigger net might get me one more big fish over the course of the year. Over 6' long and about 3' in the mouth. It's a net people use for salmon and halibut. It looks stupid in my boat, but netting big fish with it is almost too easy. 99 out of 100 guys will have a small or medium sized net for bass. Each year they may only lose one or two fish because the net is small, but it's one or two fish none the less.

Another example is a fish finder. You start out like me with no fish finder. You don't know the water temp, you don't know the depth, you just fish. It's ok and you catch plenty of fish. BUT, when you have the fish finder and you switch it on as you go across the lake one day and you notice a submurged hump, then all of a sudden things change. 6 trips later you toss a bait on that spot and catch a bass. Maybe it's only a few fish per year, but it's a few fish none the less.

A great one that I picked up this year are these clips you can use to clip your boat to the shore. When I started out I never thought to tie to the shore. Two years ago I started doing it sometimes for bed fish using ropes. It worked but it was a nuisance. I saw Fish Chris had these clips on his boat and I knew I had to have those. This year I rig up a clip front and back and when I see a sight fish, if I need to position by the shore, I can clip off in a matter of about a minute. That might get me one or two more fish per year that otherwise would have gotten spooked while I fumbled with ropes or an anchor, but it's one or two fish none the less.

You might have caught it during the Bassmaster Classic a few years ago. There was an article by Carol Martens in the WON Bass suppliment about how Aaron prepared for the tournament. She said he was very proud of his hook box. He had lined up the hooks in some kind of setup where he could reach in and grab an individual hook by size without having to fumble through them and pull them apart from eachother. There's a guy who is maximizing his gear to the extreme. The extra 5 minutes he saves per day could mean one or two more fish for him in an important tournament.

One last one. Drag washers. I fish a lot of Curado 200b's. Great reels, but the weak point on this reel is the drag. I got a tip a while back that you can put a calais drag washer in there and I did it on all my reels. I fish a very tight drag, especially on 20 and 25lb test, but I still fish with drag. With these washers a big fish can pull line off the reel at high tension for short bursts without any jerky motion. I really believe that this has put big fish in the boat for me during the last 2 years or so that I would not have otherwise caught. Another guy might just say, aw I broke one off today and chalk it up to bad luck, but with the right gear you eliminate some of the luck factor. It might only come into play on a few fish per year, but those few fish will make it worth your while over time.

So it's not one big thing. It's not one piece of equipment by itself that gets the fish in the boat. But a total gear system that is solid on all fronts will absolutely put more fish in the boat during the course of a year for you. One here and one there will turn into two dozen with a teener fish mixed in. It really does work that way. I know gear costs money. And it takes a long time to build an arsenal of equipment. But when bad stuff happens and fish get away, or you never get bit all day, ask yourself what gear you could have that might have improved the situation. It's a lot of work. A lot of time spent at home rigging and tweaking and modifying. But if you want to get on them, that's what it's going to take to capitalize when the bite happens. If one guy in 100 reads this and upgrades some component of their gear and gets one big fish because of it, it's worth it for me to write this. I don't give up the areas and the exact techniques as much any more, but I believe very strongly that anyone who puts their mind to it can go out and be very successful at whatever type of fishing they want to be successful at. Gear is an important part. Don't overlook it.

you make very good points in this, well written as well, thanks

Good read, thanks.

One question where do you get the calais drag washers you are referring to? I also fish Curado’s and would be interested in upgrading my drag system.

FIT

Pretty sure you can just call Shimano and order them. Maybe $8 each or thereabouts.

Rob, One thing I've learned from this board is when you write something such as this I listen. I'm sure everyone listens. My wife lost a big bass at the boat because I didn't bring the net that day....BassMan

Another good point here is that Rob said the 'proper equipment'. He didn't say, 'the most expensive equipment on the market'.

I think a lot of people, especially those that are newer to the sport, get caught up in the hype of $$$. I still think you should get the best equipment you can afford, because it does make a difference. But spending $500 on a reel isn't going to land you a trophy bass. Although that $30 net could mean all the difference in the world.

I'm guilty of hardly ever taking a net with me. :( Something I need to work on.

Gotta bring that net. If you don't, it's guaranteed to burn you at some point. The most expensive equiment isn't important. Just good solid equipment that gets the job done. I'd love to be fishing all Calais, Calcutta TE's, Chronarch's and Sustain's. But that ain't gonna happen. So I try to go with the mid range reels and make mods to them if possible to get more performance. I don't think I've ever lost a fish because a Curado 200b wasn't good enough or a Stradic spinning reel wasn't smooth enough. I'd love to have the top of the line Pinpoint graph but I have a Lowrance X91 and it gets the job done. Being rich would be nice :) but just do what you can do.

Rob,
Thanks, I was thinking "Where do I get the washers and clips?" as I finished reading the post. So having got the answer on the washers, how about the clips? Also is there any thing you would mod on the clips or anything else in the article with respect to being in a kickboat? I was thinking I might put the clips on Bungee material attached to the frame, what do you think?
Tight lines,
Wade

Go to www.cabelas.com and search for brush gripper. I've been bringing them with me in my tube/kickboat. It works fine. I'd only be scared of bungee if it got stretched out and then released and smacked you or the boat :P

Rob,

Well done. Your insight is helpful and appreciated.:)

Next on my list: Net & clips.

Thanks for the insight.

Mike F

I knew there was some reason it might not be such a brilliant plan. Sometimes I can't see the trees for the forrest and vise-versa. I guess a short length of 1/4" rope with a slide-lok would be better.
Tight lines,
Wade

PS Just one more suggestion, while I prefer to put premium hooks on everything I can afford to, sometimes I use a fingernail file to sharpen regular hooks. At 4/$1 for the good metal/ruby dust ones, it's a lot cheaper than the $3-6 hook hones they sell at tackle stores, so it doesn't hurt to have 3-4 and loose 1. They also usually have 2 grits, one on each side, fine and coarse, use the coarse to remove enough steel to get a point and the fine to sharpen to a tacky point.