This upcoming season will be my second season of tourney fishing for my local club. I really enjoyed my first year; I learned a lot, skunked a few tourney's, but actually finished second in one tournament. In other words, did better than I expected and now I'm hooked!

Last year I started my first tournament with 3 spinning rods - that's it. Since then I have expanded to 9. My strengths are mostly light weight finesse - soft plastics - bottom bouncing techniques (drop-shot, shakey-head, t-rigs, etc...) I just learned to throw a baitcaster last year, but would like to use baitcasters for more outfits this year. I live in CT, so we don't have the monsters you might have in the south & west. We fish SM and LM waters. I'm looking for some feedback and advice on my current set up going into this year:

I currently own -

2 6'6 MediumFast spinning combos (I used for shakey-head and weightless stickbaits)

1 6'6 MHF spinning combo (with braid I used for 1/4 oz jigs and froggin'-come summertime)

1 7'0 MF spinning combo (used for topwater / spinnerbaits)

1 6'9 MLF spinning combo (drop-shot)

1 6'0 MF spinning combo (throwing to and under docks)

2 6'6 MHF casting combos (texas-rig, spinnerbaits, jigs-weakness for me)

1 7'0 MHM casting combo (cranking - big weakness for me)

With that said, how many combo's/outfits/rigs or whatever you call them, should I bring with me on the back of the boat? Because I'm looking now at getting a flippin' combo for laydowns/stumps/brush/dock pylons, and come summertime I want to have an outfit for fishing heavy matted grass.

What am I missing or how could I use my equipment more effectively? Lighter finesse fishing is my strongest technique, what should I really focus on improving to broaden my overall skills as a tourney angler?

Thanks for the advice. 

I have 5 rigs, and as a co-angler I don't think you will need anymore.

I have a:

spinning reel on a 7' Medium action rod for all light weight and finesse fishing

Baitcaster on a 7' MH for all my treble hooks

Baitcaster on 6'6" MHF for all my worms, spinnerbaits, etc

Baitcaster on 7 MH rod for cranking

Baitcaster on a 7'6" rod for flipping, you could probably do without the this one since I bought this one specifically for flipping and pitching in the our CA delta.

All my rods are Loomis GLX, minus the flippin stick since they dont make a GLX version yet

And all my reels are Shimano or Abu Garcia.

I'm looking to buy a SWIM bait rod and reel combo to finish out my collection

So I will have 6 total, not all which I will even carry with me.

thanks BLee,

I was waiting to see if I would get any other responses.  Maybe I'll try posting this in a different forum.

It has been my experience that high end equipment is nice but you reach a point where it is just personal preference. It sounds like you have plenty of equipment to be successful. The largest fish I ever saw caught was with a $3 yard sale combo. I believe success comes when you have the proper location with the proper bait with the proper presentation. Of course that doesn't sound so tough but mastering these variables is the diference between KVD and a beginner. Keep fishing with the best anglers you can find, learn what they do to be successful, keep learning and it will all come together. It is not the scalpel, it is the surgeon.

Work Hard, Learn, and you will Have Good Luck

P.S. If your wife asks -- Tell her I said you need ALL new stuff 

If fishing off the back of the boat, I would say be careful not to carry so much equipment that you become a burden for the boat owner.  Figure out what you need and are likely to fish with and don't carry along a lot of excess stuff.

If fishing off the back of the boat, I would say be careful not to carry so much equipment that you become a burden for the boat owner.  Figure out what you need and are likely to fish with and don't carry along a lot of excess stuff.

I've fished BFL's as a co-angler for a number of years.  I have some experience in this matter.  3 rods probably aren't enough.  9 rods are probably too many.  Every time, the deciding factor in what to bring or not is how big is the boat that you're fishing out of. 

Are you fishing as a team?  Are you fishing against your boater as well as everyone else?  If it's the latter, I'd find a new club.  If you are fishing against the guy you're sharing the boat with, sooner or later something bad will happen.   That is a situation to avoid.

Fishing as a team, ( or as in the BFL, there are two different pots.) it becomes a different story.  Communicate with your boater, find out the plan for the day and pack accordingly.  Some guys who fish as a team all the time share everything.  That greatly reduces the number of tackle boxes in the boat.   Other guys will say they will share but after you've dug through all their stuff looking for a weight or some other obscure thing, they are not so hot about it.  With good reason.

The point is to find a happy medium to where you're not feeling handicapped with a minimal amount of equipment and he's not tripping over all your stuff in his boat.

Try to make good use of the space you've got.  If there is a seat on the back deck, get some heavy duty velcro straps and strap your tackle bag to the seat.  Then you'll be the only person tripping over it.

For me, an inflatable life jacket was a good idea.  I just wore it all the time and I didn't  putz around and waste time when we were getting ready to run to a different spot.

Some rods can serve double or even triple duty.  For instance, a flippin stick is also a good carolina rig rod, and also works good as a bubba drop shot rod.

Your spinnerbait rod also works good for throwing square bills into bushes and laydowns. There are lots more instances where your rods can do double or triple duty.

Know what your primary approach and principle secondary approaches will be and build from there.

Bring enough soft plastics, but don't go nuts about colors or quantities.  Brink enough crankbaits and jerkbaits, but you probably don't need 30 of them.  That being said, should there be something that you think will work on a particular lake, be sure and bring it.

Fishing as a co-angler, you need to be more organized.  Money spent on bags, and boxes and other organizational gear is money well spent.

In alot of ways, fishing as a co-angler is harder, but in lots of other ways it is much less of a hassle.  At the end of the tournament, you drive home and don't have to deal with all the boat issues.   

awesome advice.  I do understand the basics, but fishing in trees - that detail is really informative to me, thanks. 

I do fish in a club where I am competing against my boater.  However, I do four fed tourney's a year where I am up against other co-anglers.  I don't think I'm ready to team up with someone as I would hate to let my teammate down b/c of my lack of experience. 

I can see where competing against your boater could lead to some situations out on the water.  I brought six rods with me to the last tournament and I would like to bring more, but I know the space for co-angler rods on the side gets limited.  I'll have to use some rods for double duty - like you had mentioned - any other rods that can serve two purposes? 

I've been fishing tournaments for 3 yrs now. I would def would cut down and go with 6 outfits at most. I have 11 outfits but only take 6 when I'm a co-angler. I go with 2 casting rods heavy enough to throw spinnerbaits, frogs, and jigs, a medium casting rod with flourocarbon line for jerkbaits and cranks, a medium casting rod with a floating line for topwaters, and 2 spinning rods that can handle finesse techniques like shakey heads, tubes, and drop shots. I also use snaps for hardbaits. They allow you to change baits quickly and don't hinder their action. Always remember to fish to your strengths too. Bring outfits to match your favorite/strongest techniques. Good luck next season!