Co Angler Pack & Play - Tournament Time

It's tournament time next weekend, getting everything ready to go. I am positive that you are dreading reading yet another post about a Co-Angler. This is not a post of what to bring, I think most have outlined this.
- 5 or 6 Rods
- $40-50 Gas
- Small Backpack or Tackle Box (No more to fit under the dash than what makes you comfortable)
- Snacks
- Cull System
My question is, how often and what is the best way to stay organized in the back of the boat, but to maximize efficiency and catching fish? We all get lazy on the water and don't want to change lures, or feel that because we caught one small fish we will keep this lure on. Do you have a time breakdown that you use i.e. 15 minute pattern? System that you use i.e. Crankabits, spinnerbaits, plastics, jigs?
Thanks,
Zach

I haven't done it, but I am sure talking to your pro the night before is critical to what you will tie at the hotel room.

Overthinking it IMO, I got on with a guy last week for the first time and took 4 rods, small tackle bag, he had a cooler for me to put a subway and 4 drinks in, never had issue. I guess there are some real azholes when it comes to boaters and co anglers and it makes everyone seem to not want to do the wrong thing. This is not an etiquette thing, its common sense. These posts go on for pages and pages too, dont know why its such a hard thing to figure out, maybe its just me.

Keep it simple IMO. Finesse lures that you can fish shallow, deep, swim, drag, etc.. That won't get hung up much. If you throw a worm behind someone for 6 to 8 hours you will catch fish.

I agree. In addition to that, most times the pairings are done the night before the tournament. In this case, i am staying at a hotel for the torunament the next morning. Am i supposed to bring all my extra tackle with me in my vehicle? Do my best to make a sound decision on lake patterns before i go? Obviously a boater has more room in the boat for tackle. I've always wondered about that.

Thanks for the reply. My questions isn't geared towards what to bring or not to bring. I was asking if there is a system that any of the guys use to be more efficient on the water? Are people changing lures every X amount of minutes? What is everyone doing new, or differently to be more effective on the water.

Agreed. Finesse tactics seem to work in any body of water. It is an absolute must have for a guy in the back of the boat.

Unless conditions call for something special, go with a versatile bait and keep it in the water.

Thanks for your input Brent!

I've fished as a co-angler for the last 7 years or so. I bring extra tackle with me in the truck, but what I take on the boat consists of 5 rods and a 5 plastic box bag. I always ask my pro the night before if we are fishing shallow, mid, deep, or both and then tie on accordingly. If you use cranks/traps specifically you can buy different variations of quick change tackle clips https://www.basspro.com/shop/en/norman-lures-speed-clips?hvarAID=shopping_googleproductextensions. These allow you to change lures quickly in the event you need to.

In my bag I usually have 1 box of terminal tackle/weights, and 4 boxes for lures I might use. Topwater/shallow moving baits/deep moving baits, finesse baits, 4-6 bags of plastics that I plan on possibly using, a small culling system(required by some tournaments now), pliers, scissors, 10 inch culling bar, 1 extra spool of line, and a small hook remover https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/eagle-claw-6-3-4-hook-remover?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051 (for those ones that swallowed it.) And a big tube of sun screen - probably the most important thing in the bag!

Add some gas money in your pocket, a small sack lunch, and some rain gear if the weather is looking poor, and you should be good.

As far as patterning, if the boater keeps his foot on the trolling motor constantly it makes it really hard for a co to finesse a worm around because you are usually dragging pretty quickly. If you need a slower presentation you can't beat a carolina rig on the back of the boat with either a light weight for shallow/on top of grass, or a heavy weight 1oz for deeper water. You can also utilize weedless moving baits pretty well such as swim jigs, spinner baits, or swimbaits.

Prespawn/postspawn anything shad colored or crawfish colored. During the spawn for tournaments are tough on coanglers if it is a sightfishing tournament. Bring a black/blue or green pumpkin jig and be ready to flip everything behind the boater, or throw a senko around.

1. Talk with the pro to get an idea the night before.
2. Fish the water and conditions. Your there to win your side of the tournament. To me just dragging a finesse worm because you don't want to bother the boater is a waste time. If your not going out there to do what it takes to win then why bother. Maybe that will be a finesse worm at times but I wouldn't limit myself. Talk to the boater and make a decision on what you think you will want and make up a little tackle bag. So yea, I would take all my tackle for the most part so I could sift thru what I need and take out or add to the bag for the day

Keep a Gary Yamamoto Swim Senko on a rod at all times. It can multitask like no other bait. Keep a drop shot capable rod with you....just in case it gets to that point during the tourney. Keep a flipping rod rigged. Maybe a medium cranking rod for a lipless.

More than that, and you'll just waste time over thinking [censored].

Been there, done it, and won it. Brought 5 rods, cause I could, used two of them 99% of the time.

Drag a C-rig senko around and you'll be just fine.

That is all great information. I always worry about my vehicle being broken into at tournaments, but having the extra tackle seems to work out. Those are all items that I carry with me, I will have to add in the bump board.

Right on. I appreciate all the info. It looks like I will be losing up the tackle. Luckily the wife bought me a box that holds 6 3700 size boxes in it, should make it easier to carry into the hotel atleast. I would like to win all the events on the co angler side.

I usually Carolina rig brush hogs, I haven’t used a senko in a while.

Fished co-angler side for many years. Get with boater and get info. Some will share and some will be very general. I don’t ask what baits, but I do ask what depth and cover we will be fishing. It helps me eliminate rods and tackle. Next, I try to take rods that will be versatile and can be used for multiple applications. Last, I fish my strengths. Just because boater is throwing something and catching a few , I stick with what I have confidence in unless he is just whacking fish and I can’t get a bite. I’m not comfortable throwing drop shots or Shakeyheads much, but I will throw senkos and wacky rigged finesse baits. Over the years, I have had more boaters switch to what I’m catching fish on in the back than I’ve switched to what they are catching them on. Usually because I Fishing slower and they are trying to force a moving bait bite. Coach

All is great info! Do you set a time limit on when to switch baits if you aren't catching them? Or is it all intuition and what you feel is the best decision?

Usually go by feel and let the fish tell me what they want. I usually rotate baits/rods 15-20min if not getting bit. But I might pickup one rod for 2-3 casts at specific cover and then put it back down. I watch what the boater is doin or where they are casting more than most probably. I try to hit different spots or pieces of cover than the boater.

Example if I’m throw senko, but boater is catching them on moving baits, then I will pick up a different rod with something moving.

I like the input. i try to switch out baits every 20 minutes, but can also be dependent upon where we are.

t

I have a long but what I consider an amusing story about being paired with a Coangler a few years ago and the fact that he didn't listen to what I recommended bringing the day of the tournament. A few years ago I decided to try my hand at fishing the BASS Opens. Being it was first ever Open I fished, and water I had never seen, I spent more than a week prefishing and was quite proud of myself for finding an area or two with some good biting fish. So the evening before the tournament they have big meeting and make the pairings. There were several big name Elite pros in this event, Biffle, Hackney, Lane, Lee, Iaconelli, Browning, to name a few.
Well I get paired with a man who was obviously beyond disappointed in being paired with a nobody, instead of someone famous. I didn't really blame him but it made me feel about 1 inch tall. So I told him what he needed to bring in the morning and to not be surprised, that I was on some decent fish. I could tell he had already ignored me and asked what time to meet?
Well he shows up and we go to my first spot and I proceed to put 5 keepers in boat and start culling 40 minutes later. Needless to say he did not have what I told him to bring. I let the guy suffer until I had culled twice and then I told him he could use my baits. He then catches his limit, now I'm the second coming of Christ as far as this guy is concerned. Ha ha.
So after day 1 weigh in I'm in 3rd overall pro side and my co is in 5th. After day 2 I'm still in 3rd and am going to final day. Guess what, my co from day 1 finally gets his wish and draws a big name for day 2. So I see him outside way in line and ask him why the sad face. He never caught a fish.

Great story. That’s why co angler is so hard. It’s all up to guy in front. I fished with a guy at the costa who findihed 3rd he fculled 2 times and was fishing a swimbait. Which I had zero of. He threw at least 2K times. I caught my limit behind him but it took all day and I had to out cast him to do it. He could only throw that thing about 25 yards so I casted my senko 40 lol the first day I had a guy who finished 16th I only caught 3 behind him he fished all shallow coves and he’d push any fish off that he didn’t catch so I just casted to sides hoping to catch a runner. Needless to say had I caught 5 that day I would’ve prolly cashed a good check but instead I missed a 500$ check by 1 pound.

That is absolute greatness! I died laughing reading that at work. I have always been taught listen twice as much as you speak, and my job is influential to those key factors (I sell Semi Trucks & Trailers to large fleets). What lake was that on?

That's tough to hear. I would imagine with Fishing being such a competitive sport, you would find more people that are cocky. It seems that most are just as excited to cash a check and have a good day on the water as the next guy. It's incredibly tough making a tackle selection based off the lake, you have tow choices. Either bring your tackle with you in your vehicle or pack at home and hope you have it all.

I fish the ABA Opens. Your vehicle is parked at the ramp at the weigh in site and Chris and his guys are there all day. Most of these places are marinas, so your vehicle is pretty safe. Not that it can't happen, but not likely.

I would rather not say the name of the lake, the name of the co angler,or the name of the elite pro he fished with and zeroed on Day 2. The co angler ended up being a nice enough guy, more than likely because I helped him out. That being said, in 5 years of fishing the Opens, I only had 2 real jerk co anglers, and they were both from my home state. When I get over this flu/pneumonia [censored] I will tell you about those two disasters.

Fair enough! Get well soon, look forward to hearing those stories.

That’s good to know!

Zach- how did you do?

I will update on Saturday afternoon! We are fishing Saturday.