COLUMN
NEWELL’S NOTES
ROB
NEWELL
Tackle Time
I
12
enjoy nearly everything about the sport of fishing with one
major exception: tackle
Quite honestly, I hate “doing tackle.” From buying it to
organizing it to maintaining it to tying it on; it makes me crazy.
Back when I fished tournaments a lot, I loathed the idea of
packing and rigging endless amounts of tackle. I’d spend
hours respooling reels, changing out hooks, making jig skirts,
and sorting through hundreds of lures and thousands of
hooks and weights. All of it was pure misery to me. Meanwhile,
so many of my competitors seemed to love rigging tackle,
which made me crazier.
Apparently, though, I’m not alone in my aversion to
doing tackle. For this column, I talked to several top pros on
opposite sides of the tackle aisle: those who detest tinker-
ing with tackle and those who have a love affair with lures.
It turns out there’s a wide range of opinions, and enjoying
doing tackle or avoiding it actually factors into some pros’
fishing styles.
First, there’s two-time FLW Tour AOY Bryan Thrift, a true
tackle tycoon.
“I love fiddling with tackle,” says Thrift, who spends three
to four hours a day in his tackle room during the offseason,
prepping and organizing. “If I can’t be on the water, working
on tackle is the next best thing. It’s not a chore to me; I really
enjoy it.
“Getting everything exactly how and where I want it
makes for better efficiency,” he adds. “Whether I’m organiz-
ing boxes, changing out hooks, spooling up reels or tying up
different jig skirt colors, it’s all part of the process. I really
don’t know why anybody who fishes professionally wouldn’t
love that part of it.”
Bryan, meet Andy Morgan.
“I don’t like doing tackle at all,” says Morgan, a three-time
AOY. “I know it’s a downfall of mine, but I don’t keep up with
the latest tackle trends or sit in the shop all winter loading up
boxes for the next season.
“After the Cup this year, I put all my tackle in a corner, and
that’s where it’ll stay until it’s time to go to the first event next
year,” he adds. “I’m just not a tackle freak. I bought my first
Whopper Ploppers this summer. That’s how far behind I am
on tackle trends and prep.”
In all fairness, Morgan did pay more attention to tackle
early in his career when he fished all year. Since then, he has
cut most of the late summer, fall and winter fishing out of his
tournament schedule, eliminating the need for a year-round
supply of tackle.
Morgan’s minimalist prep procedure is based on time
management.
“I do very little tackle at home,” he says. “I don’t even mess
with tackle until I see the long-range forecast for the tournament
FLWFISHING.COM I NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2017