Kevin VanDam

Pros Like Their Boats

February 24, 2008
(fishpaa.com, February 24, 2008)

For the first time in the history of the Bassmaster Classic, in February 2008 each competitor competed out of his own boat. No more matching rigs — instead, to the anglers’ delight, they were fully comfortable and fully identifiable fishing out of their own vessels.

Regardless of the reason for this change by BASS, the anglers were uniformly thrilled by this deviation from past practice. The following is a list of a few representative comments on the topic:

Derek Remitz
“It’s pretty good. It’s set up the way you want it. But it’s also good and bad — it was kind of cool to just show up and there were 50 identical rigs.”

Todd Faircloth
“It means the world to me. I know where everything is after my tackle preparation and it’s a lot easier to get organized. If you fish out of your boat as much as we do, you know where everything is at. If you get in a different boat, you have to look and there’s confusion. I lay my boat out the same every year, so it’s all routine.”

Kevin VanDam
“It’s huge. It’s a monumental day for the sport. There’s an additional level of comfort and familiarity in our own boats, with our own electronics and trolling motors, even if they’re the same brand. Even the way your tackle fits. It’s the way it needed to be from a sheer competitive perspective, and the value to Nitro is much bigger.”

http://www.fishpaa.com/news/article/pros_like_their_boats/

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