we’ re going to next. Once I see if it’ s going to be warm, cold, rainy, muddy, hot, clear or whatever, that’ s when I’ ll start pulling some stuff off the shelves and putting it in the truck.
“ I used to spend a bunch of time messing with tackle, building boxes of particular lures and stuff like that. Then I carried all those boxes around all year and they did nothing but get in my way because I hardly used them.”
Clark Wendlandt, another three-time FLW Tour AOY, shares Morgan’ s disposition on tackle.
“ It’ s a burdensome chore, mainly because it’ s so tedious to keep up with,” Wendlandt says of tackle duties.“ I’ d rather fish than work on tackle. If you told me I could only have a 1 / 2-ounce spinnerbait and go fishing right now or spend half the day organizing several boxes of tackle so I could have more options on the water, I’ d take my chances with the spinnerbait and fish with it all day.”
These stories are not the ones FLW pro Zack Birge wants to hear. Birge falls much more on the tackle-obsessed side of the aisle.
“ I can’ t stand having any disorganization in my boat or tackle storage,” Birge says.“ I’ m pretty obsessive about it. My boat is my office, and I want a clean and organized office at all times.”
With Birge and Thrift in one camp and Morgan and Wendlandt squarely in the other, I thought perhaps it was a generational thing. The young guns seem far more into the tedium of tackle than the old guard. However, the views of veteran pro Larry Nixon and young gun John Cox throw a bit of a wrench into that theory.
“ Oh, I love it,” Nixon says of tackle time.“ I’ ll guarantee you I’ m every bit as much of a tackle freak as Bryan. From Jan. 15 until my last tournament of the season, tackle prep, organization and equipment maintenance are all I do when I’ m at home. It’ s what I do to stay focused on the next event. It’ s a constant job to stay organized when fishing professionally, and I spend hours and hours doing it.”
“ Having to do tackle reminds me of having to do homework as a kid,” Cox says.“ I’ ll put it off and put it off until the last minute. I dread it. That’ s why I own very few hard baits other than Rat-L-Traps. I’ m way more of a soft plastic, ChatterBait and swim jig kind of guy. Those kinds of lures are far easier for me to manage.”
Interestingly, Cox says what he neglects in lure upkeep and organization he makes up for in other aspects of equipment.
“ The biggest thing I’ m a freak about is rod actions,” he says.“ I think rod action, line size and reel ratios have far more of an effect on lure actions and getting bites than polishing spinnerbait blades and stocking boxes with hundreds of lures in dozens of colors. That’ s why I build my own rods. I spend a lot of time dialing in rod action, line size and reel ratio combinations that will make a bait reach its maximum potential and load up a rod correctly when I get a bite.”
If you enjoy doing tackle, you’ re lucky. Consider it a real asset to your game. But if you avoid doing tackle at all costs, just know you’ re not alone. Some of the best sticks in the game are not necessarily tackle freaks, either.
PHOTO BY CHARLES WALDORF
Messing with tackle is far from enjoyable to some pros such as Clark Wendlandt, but it’ s still an important part of tournament preparation.
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