25 setups on deck...

Simply out of curiosity, can someone give me an idea of what a pro’s deck consists of while pre-fishing or fishing a tourney. Surely each and every set up isn’t a completely different technique?? There just doesn’t seem like there’s enough time in the day to throw 25 completely different presentations and get any real feedback from the fish? Are there multiples of the same presentation just different weights, colors, etc...?

I would imagine they are variations of the same rigs we use. Texas rigs, crankbaits, top waters, jigs, etc.

Prolly some proto type baits that we will never see too.

There's vids on YouTube of pros and their setups..

Here's the deal though.. I usual carry 7-8 setups with me, and in all reality, only use 2-3 the whole day.. topwater in the morning, watermelon red baby brush hog, and either a spinnerbait or rattle trap/shallow diver. That's all you need.. Hell, all you NEED is one rod with a watermelon red soft plastic..

After fishing the Opens as a coangler a while I have noticed some keep it really simple and some have it all out there.
Examples of simple-
Kevin Short on the Arkansas River- 2 wooden squarebills and a texas rig follow up bait
Scott Martin on the Red River- 6 rods on the deck but ALL had baby brushhogs texas rigged up just different weight sizes.

A lot of the guys had at least 10 rods up there but mostly stuck with 1 or 2 baits.

Because they can.

Depends on if they are dialed in. Look at MLF. When they are lost, there are 15+ rods on the deck. If not, some are on there just to confuse the others...

The less rods on the deck the better lol.

And to say they don't have time to throw 25 different things is not completely true. These top level guys make the absolute most out of their days. I heard Tak say he fished 50 different spots yesterday. If that's the case I'm sure they could manage to throw 25 different lures. May not be very effective but it can be done lol.

I wouldn't want to do it though. The more techniques I try in a day, the more I feel like I zigged when I should have zagged. I'd rather cover a bunch of water with one bait trying to find fish that will eat it. That's always the plan anyways

Pre-fishing or fun fishing without an established pattern, I usually have the kitchen sink out. If it's a tournament, I hope to have it dialed in by then to where I only need a couple rods out. If I have more than 4 rods out by that time, it usually means I'm still clueless and junk fishin'.

With me, it is about finding the fish first, and then putting some rods away... Once I get a pattern down, everything else goes in the rod box with the exception of a couple rods. In a tournament I think people just keep them out for times sake.

it's a lot to do with how you fish, if you stick strictly to a pattern like say flippin brush in 5 feet of water and you run from spot to spot doing that and that only 2 rods on deck but I almost always have more than 1 thing going, I may have 5 or 6 spots like secondary points or channel bends in a creek arm that holds fish at 15 feet but I'm also catching fish off of laydowns or brush or reeds up shallow in the same creek arm, so for me I'm more efficient hitting the points or Channel bends and then just swapping rods and moving right up to the shallow stuff while I'm in the area than running all over the lake on 1 pattern and then deciding to change up
Can not tell you how many times it's been 2 lber, 2 lber, 2 lber up on a point lay down the Square bill rod pick up the medium diver turn the boat and catch a 5 lber off the end of the point and that be the only bite off the end of that point
So I usually have 3 Cranking rods, 1 Jig Rod, 2 Rods for Soft Plastic, 1 Spinnerbait Rod and always a Wacky Rigged Senko for a follow up on any missed Fish