I know that tournament pros carry tons of rods, but if I only hit the water with three, what pre-rigged baits should I have tied on?

well mr. zoonker i would say your first rod should be your bread and butter (what you have the most confindence in) the other two rig up different from the rest.  exp. i would have a senko on one, a spook on the other and a spinnerbait on the other.  its all up to you.

I would put on bread and butter,  then a senko and a spinnerbait.

this week it's

senko

horny toad or buzz frog

jig

sorry , no bread n butter, watchin' my carbs

Looks like we got LBH hook on Horny Toads.

For me I always will have a 1/4oz Spot Remover tied onto something.

Fluke of some sort.

C-Rig Close at hand.

Everything else is optional.

I only carry 3 rods to the lake, if I take more I find that I spend more time switching between rods than fishing.

I usually have a fluke tied to one a spinnerbait to another and on the last one either a crankbait or topwater or c-rig just depends on what they've been hitting lately.

Tough Question, but here are my picks

1) Jig/Pig so you can flip, pitch, drag, swim, and fish every depth

2) Shallow running crankbait, I just love fishing shallow running crankbaits

3) Jerkbait, get some good reaction bites from the fish

When I go fishing in my two man boat I only take three rods.

1)  7 ft. MH w/ Braid - this is either rigged with a t-rigged plastic or jig to fish docks and thick cover.  This is also the rod I use to c-rig.  And lately is been rigged with a frog and fished in thick grass.

2) 6'9" MH w/ 12 lbs. Yo-Zuri hybrid -  I use this for spinnerbaits/buzz baits and weightless plastics

3) 6'6" M w/ 10 lbs. Trilene XL - I use this for crankbaits and top waters with treble hooks

I am a "three rod man"  I always go out with two baitcasters and a spinningrod.  I put a Senko on one - usually the TEam Daiwa Sol/6'6" St. Croix heavy baitcaster but lately I have cut back to 4" Senkos and so have been putting it on the spinning rod.  Then on the Team Daiwa Fuego/7' med. hvy St, Croix I usually tie on topwater, or crankbait, then because I love to fish with minnow type lures, I start off with a lucky craft live pointer or flash minnow.   I am a compulsive bait switcher, so I am always tying on something new, but these are my typical starting team.  A jig/pig and t-rigged or c-rigged worm will almost aways make it in the game as subs.

This weeks lineup

1. 7' MH fast taper with the allmighty senko.

2. 6'6" Med. fiberglass with something from              

    my crankin' arsenal.

3. 5'10" Med. xtra-fast taper with a jig and pig.

    (got to get waaayyyy back under that dock)

There would be a few unhappy rigs though. ;D

Hammer

1. Fiberglass: Lamiglas SR705R, Lucky Craft Staysee

2. G.Loomis MBR844C, black & brown jig, black plastic trailer

3. St. Croix ES70MF, 6" Senko

This was my program at the Secret Pond Saturday and Sunday morning. It's also my standard program to have a jig & soft plastic rod but I vary the glass rod with topwater (Sammy or Spook) or crankbaits (Bomber Square A or Bagley BII). I also take a soft plastic box and may switch off the Senko with a Fat Ika, Kut-Tail, Kreature or Gitzit.

BTW, on my second cast with the Lucky Craft Staysee I caught a 12-15lb blue catfish, go figure. I fished almost three hours, probably caught around twenty bass all about the same size they were catching at the Classic, nothing else interesting to report. On to the river for the rest of the day, it's still striper season for me.