Money Saving Tips for Tournament Anglers

By Chris Yogerst

            Most tournament anglers don’t have all of the lucrative sponsor deals.  That means they pay for gas and oil, baits and tackle, as well as pricey boats and tow vehicles.  Not to mention food and lodging.  With that in mind, there are several things one can do to take care of your stuff, prepare your gear and save money in the process.

 The first thing I do before I go to a tournament is conduct some research.  With the internet, there is a massive amount of information available to everyone.  Most importantly I read lake reports, many of which are written by guides.  These will give you not only local hot spots, but water levels, water temperature, and any other relevant information to the body of water you are looking at.  If this is done, when you get to the lake you will have a good idea of where you want to start or what you want to be looking for.  It will also help you prepare your tackle if you know if the water is low, high etc.

Doing your research before you arrive will also help you save money during practice.  When trying to find fish on a lake that stretches 100 miles or so, you don’t want to have to run the whole thing looking for fish.  Look at the lake map for ramps and trailer your boat to the areas you want to look around if they are far apart.  Save your gas burning in your outboard for the tournament days.  I fully expect gas to go up again this summer (hopefully not as high as last!), and I would rather get 15mpg towing the boat instead of 5mpg running up the lake.  Also, when you are running the lake, keep your RPM’s around 4,000.  This will give you better fuel mileage with your outboard during practice.  Again, save full throttle for the tournament days.

 Another thing I do is always try to pack a lot of water, soda and snacks for the boat before I leave town in case there isn’t a grocery store nearby the lake or hotel I am at.  This way you don’t have to scrounge around gas stations and pick through their crap food.  Also, it’s usually cheaper to load up on food and drinks at a grocery store instead of buying things at the convenience store every morning before you launch. 

When the weather is bad and it’s raining, I always trailer my boat with the cover on.  The only thing worse than getting saltwater on boat carpet is road grime.  When the roads are wet you and every other vehicle are throwing that stuff up on to your rig.  Towing with the cover on will keep your boat looking new for a long time and make the cleaning process easier on you too!

  It has long been the common rule for co anglers to give their boaters 20 dollars for gas money.  Well, on big lakes where guys may run 50 miles or so for fish, co anglers should take note of that as gas prices go up.  It is very expensive to run a bass boat.  If you and your boater do a lot of running around, it will be more appropriate to give him 40-50 dollars.  Good outboard oil isn’t cheap either, so keep that in mind as well.

Of course there are still other ways to save money like trying to find a roommate or co angler to travel with and share expenses.  But if you keep these tips in mind, and use them as a vehicle to think about more ways to save money, you will be able to worry less about spending and more about finding those finicky bass!