Maybe it was someone that knew what the rig was and thought 'if I just take the one and strap them back down no one will notice until they get home, I can save myself $900.00'

This.

If that's the case, I'd bet it happened at the weigh-in.

Yep. Just because you might now some of them doesn’t make em honest.

That stinks

Dont you have insurance ?

Most thieves are idiots but this one sounds like he knew what he was doing. I had a little floor jack, a small air compressor and a pair of sunglasses stolen out of my truck. The air compressor is worthless without the special power cord and the sunglasses were cheap and scratched. They left behind a jar with a hundred quarters, 2 knives, and a 30' nylon tow strap. The combined value was at least as much as what they took.

Yes but I think the deductible is fairly high, its not really the money that bothers me, its the where the hell did my rod go that bothers me.

I too hate a lowdown scummy thief, sorry to hear happy

Is there any way we could start a go fund account so I could get enough money to replace it ? I kid lol. I doubt I spend near that much to replace it, the rod was a gift to me, so what is the perfect shakey head set up ? I am in the market for one.

That sucks, been there and it's a crappy feeling to have anything stolen.

Is this a thing? Driving to the lake with rods on the deck? I always put mine back in rod locker. My drives to the lake are at least 90 miles, so I would never even chance it, but just wondering now how many just leave em on the deck.

Sorry to hear about this, but its an either or scenario here. Either you forgot to strap it down and it hit Linda's windshield behind you, Or a tournament angler said "Damn look at that setup, it's mine now" and took it to add to his/her collection. I don't think it was Crack head allison who walked by and knew that one was the money setup and took only that single rod to sell on ebay or BBC.

This is why I have a locker bar. It goes back on before I weigh fish. Looking for a spinning set up or baitcaster?

You might get a list of people fishing the tournament. Check for their names Facebook or some-such and see if you can recognize the couples. This is a long-shot for sure, but you never know.

I usually always tow home with the rods on the deck. If they can ride on the deck going down the lake, why not the highway?