By Tackle Warehouse | Updated September 2023
When it comes to getting prepared for the start of tournament season, we often get overly focused on the primary fishing tools like rods, reels, line, and lures without thinking about the basic accessories necessary for tournament day. Whether you fish national events or at your local bass club, tournament fishing requires a spread of fundamental tools and gear to ensure the health of your catch, combat adverse weather, and accomplish critical tasks at pivotal moments.
In recent years, bass fishing tournaments have grown rapidly in popularity, and loads of tournament-specific tools and accessories have hit the market to help improve your success and efficiency on game day. In this article, the Tackle Warehouse staff pinpointed six groups of core essentials that every angler should have in the boat before heading out on the water for a bass tournament.
A standard bass fishing tournament format requires each angler or team to bring their five biggest bass to be weighed, with an overall goal of catching the heaviest cumulative weight. Throughout the day, anglers try to catch as many fish as they can. After they have caught five, the smallest fish are “culled out” and replaced with the larger fish. To make them easier to identify in a livewell, anglers use a scale and cull tags to keep track of the size of each fish. Digital scales that store all of your weights with the corresponding cull tag number are popular as they keep track of all of your fish weights, but when catching two fish very close in size, some anglers will even use a balance beam to determine which one is heavier. Most tournaments have a minimum length requirement, so keep a measuring board on deck to measure fish when they are close to the legal size limit.
Fish care and a working livewell are extremely important for bass tournaments. They ensure that your catch returns back to the water safely and help you avoid costly dead fish penalties. To create the ideal environment during transport and handling, anglers use livewell treatment to reduce stress, protect the slime coat of the fish, and add electrolytes to the water that keep them happy and healthy on tournament day.
If fish are caught in deep water or brought to the surface quickly, the swim bladder fills with oxygen rapidly and can cause barotrauma. Fish suffering from over-inflated swim bladders often roll on their side or belly in the livewell which forces them to exhaust a lot of energy to right themselves, and sometimes results in mortality. To help relieve barotrauma, have a fizz needle ready to relieve pressure through fizzing, or attach weighted fin clips to the anal and pelvic fins of the fish to keep them upright and allow their swim bladder to deflate naturally.
At the end of the day when it’s time to weigh in, you’ll want to have a quality weigh bag to keep fish handling to a minimum, reduce stress while waiting in the weigh-in line, and make the entire process easier for both the angler and the fish. Weigh bags equipped with a mesh insert system allow anglers to weigh fish without the hassle of dumping and refilling the weigh bag water, and also greatly reduce fish handling. If you happen to catch a big one, most tournaments require any fish over 5 pounds to be carried in a second weigh bag to separate the fish, give them plenty of oxygen, and allow you to comfortably haul your mega stringer to the scales.
Getting a bite, hooking the fish, and fighting it back to the boat are only the first steps when it comes to catching a fish. If rules permit, using a large landing net allows anglers to scoop a fish from the water much easier than reaching over the gunnel with your bare hands and also greatly reduces the chances of getting hooked during the landing process. Additionally, landing nets make it easier to control fish when they come aboard, and help preserve their protective slime coat which promotes better overall health while they are traveling around in your livewell.
As the tournament season kicks off around the country in the late winter and spring months, the temperamental weather that comes along with the transitioning seasons can lead to very unpredictable conditions on the water. Being prepared with foul-weather gear can make or break your day when an unexpected storm rolls through. Staying warm and dry promotes more comfort, fun, productivity, and better overall fishing. Foul-weather gear is useful for more than just staying dry when it rains, as it also protects you from boat spray when the wind comes up during a bumpy boat ride and keeps you warm on sunny days when the air is cold. The bottom line: a quality jacket, bibs, and rain boots will help keep you on your A-game no matter what the weather throws at you.
When you are in the zone fishing a tournament, it can be tough to remember to eat food or drink water, but it's imperative to get some nutrition and stay hydrated while you are fishing for long periods of time. Most anglers make bad decisions when they are hungry, thirsty, or irritable so it's best to take the time to eat a quick lunch or bring handheld food like a sandwich so you can eat while you are moving to the next fishing spot. If you fish bass tournaments long enough there’s a good chance you will eventually encounter that urgent, shaking feeling in your stomach – you have to use the bathroom, and all of a sudden fishing isn’t so important anymore. So be sure to store a little toilet paper or some Dude Wipes in your dry box when nature calls unexpectedly.
With the excitement of competition and the endless amounts of gear to remember, it's easy to get caught up with all the small details and overlook the most crucial pieces of equipment you’ll need on derby day. However, if you show up to the launch ramp with these six core groups of gear covered you will be well on your way to having a successful tournament and can avoid that sinking feeling when you realize you forgot something at the house.
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