I’ve been running around the past week or two with my hair on fire. Shows, sponsors, housing arrangements and tackle ordering seems like it’s all running together, and I’m running out of time.
In my world doing this, and getting it done before the Bassmaster Elite Series season starts, is an absolute necessity. You can’t compete at this level any other way. I think of it as working smart.
While all this has been going on I realized that much of what I do has to do with efficiency, on the water and off. That kind of efficiency isn’t just for professional anglers. It’s for anyone who takes his or her fishing seriously. With that in mind I’m going to share some of my thoughts about it with you in the hope that it’ll make 2020 a better fishing year for you.
Here goes…
One of the most important things you can do to make the year more efficient is to plan for much of what you’ll be doing. We all know when and where we’re going to be next year, for the most part anyway. That means we know what we’ll need.
The first thing I’ll mention is travel and housing. Don’t wait until the last minute to make the arrangements. If you do, you likely spend more money, and you might not get what you want. Make the arrangements now if you can.
Tackle is another matter that you need to think about and do something about. Assuming you know where you’ll be fishing, and when you’ll be there, you should have an idea of what sorts of rods, reels, line, lures and hooks you’ll need. Check your inventory now.
If you need something, you’ll have time to get it and to check prices. January is a good time to have a rod or reel repaired. April or May isn’t such a good time. The shops will be busy, and you’ll most likely have to wait longer.
Line is in a special category. We all have types and brands that we like the best. The tackle shop at the ramp might not have what you want. Order your favorite now. Don’t put yourself in the position of having to buy the next best thing or something that will just get you through the weekend.
What can I say about lures, except for what I said about line? There are tens of thousands of them out there, and we all think we know which ones catch the most and the biggest bass. But they aren’t always available at the local tackle shop or even at the big box brick and mortar stores. Buy them now online. You can get what you want in the size and color you want.
The other thing about all of this is money. Planning will save you a ton of it. There are sales from time to time at every store in the country. If you have time, you can take advantage of them and save the extra money for something else.
I know that planning out everything isn’t possible or realistic. Things change. But I also know that the more of it you do the more you’ll enjoy your time on the water, the more fish you’ll catch and the more money you’ll have at the end of it all.
Work smart.
