COLUMN: NEWELL’S NOTES
POLE POSITION
Obsessive? Excessive? Every pro has their own way of arranging their rods
I
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
As a freelance writer and
photographer, Rob
Newell has been report-
ing on fish and fishing
tournaments for 20 years,
finding the stories
between fish and angler
to be a stretched line of
heroes, heartache, tri-
umph, torture, inspiration
and exasperation.
16
’ve covered bass tour-
naments for 25 years,
and I’d be willing to bet
that in the last 20 seasons, the
average number of rods used by
tournament anglers during a
day of fishing has probably
doubled.
I can remember back in the
1990s, when, if you had more
than seven or eight rods out on
the deck, it was considered
excessive. When the number of
rods on the deck approached
the dozen mark, there were even
some rumblings among pros
about needing rules to limit how
many rods are allowed out at
any given time – almost like reg-
ulating how many players can
be on the field.
These days, no one even
blinks at the amount of graphite
and glass piled over the gun-
wales of pros’ bass boats. The
competition is now so fierce that
every lure needs to be tied on
and ready to fire in order to cut
down on retying time.
With that, the efficiency of
rod arrangement on the deck
has become a hot topic.
Apparently, there is a method to
rod management madness, and
many anglers have their own
playbook for how the “pole posi-
tion” on the deck should work. I
discovered this one morning
while watching Michael Neal
meticulously lay his weapons of
war on the deck.
“Those are the rods I’m
going to start with and will prob-
ably use the most,” Neal said,
pointing to the rods arranged
neatly on the port-side deck.
“It’s first string on the port and
second string on the starboard.
In fact, the rod I think I’ll make
my first cast with is on the port
side, closest to the center of the
boat. I want my starter to be
closest to me.”
Neal’s comfort level for the
number of Denali Rods on the
deck is eight to 10. He went on
to explain that he also always
keeps his spinning rods together
on one side or the other.
“Spinning rods and casting
rods don’t play nice with each
other when combined,” he says.
“To keep them from tangling, I
try to keep the spinning rods
grouped together at all times
and away from casting rods.”
With Neal’s comments, I
became curious about other
pros’ quirky rod arrangements.
FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | APRIL-MAY 2020