By Jeff Coleman

Being that I am a co-angler myself, I wanted to share some tips with any of you that are either considering fishing tournaments for the first time, or maybe even some of you that have been doing it for a while. I have learned that being a co-angler has its pros and cons. You get to fish, but you're in the back of the boat. You get to fish, but you cannot bring all your stuff. You get to fish, but you get stuck fishing some areas you have no idea how to fish.

Now, all rambling aside, packing and picking your gear for a tournament is critical to your success on the water. You must get an idea of what types of lures and water you will be fishing, but you also have to be ready to change in a moment's notice with minimal gear and tackle. What I do when I prep for a tournament is I first try and fish that lake a little before I fish the tournament, whether its two days before or two weeks before, I want to have an idea of what the water is like and what types of structure I will most likely be fishing. Next, I do map study. I take a look at the lake map, Google maps will suffice if you do not have a map on hand, and I look at the area that we will launch out of and some areas I may have fished before and some possible other areas. Just a note, it is always good to have a spot or two if your boater's fish do not pan out.

After I have looked over the maps I go to my work bench and I lay out all my Plano 370 boxes and my stuff from my tackle box and make sure I don't have anything I need to fix or replace, such as hooks, etc. I then try to pack 4 or 5 of those Plano boxes with what I think would be working the best that weekend as well as some back up plans. ALWAYS have a little bit of everything in your tackle box, it might cost you your fish for the day.

There are some exceptions however, if your fishing in March, you are more than likely not going to need any top water lures, in Missouri anyway. So you can leave those at home; just an example. Also, you won't need certain lures on certain lakes; this will be learned with experience.

Another key note is that if you have 20 rods, you can bring them, but they are just going to get in your way. Try to keep it to around 8 rods MAX. I carry between 4 and 6 depending on where I am fishing. Just remember to keep your gear to tailor to where you are what you're fishing. You don't need to bring the whole house with you like those boaters!