Like every other serious tournament angler, Elite Series pro Clark Reehm carries a boatload of essential equipment, including spare parts, tools, a first aid kit and enough tackle to fill most of your local tackle stores. If you ask him what the most important piece of emergency equipment is, his answer might surprise you.

“A heavy duty weigh-in bag is the item that most people leave out when outfitting their tournament boat” state Reehm. A weigh-in bag serves many purposes for a tournament angler. Besides its intended use, it can be used for comfort, fish care, and emergencies.

Comfort

Almost anyone who’s ever been in a boat has sat down on wet carpet at one point or another. Since it is waterproof, a weigh-in bag makes an excellent seat or carpet cover either early in the morning or after that rain shower passes through. It is also an easy, quick mat if you have to work under the console of your boat or change a tire on the way to the lake.

Fish Care

If you are catching fish deep and need to fizz them, it’s difficult to do inside of the livewell, especially if the lids have small openings. With a wide bag, you can put the fish in some water and fizz them outside of the livewell, separate from the other fish. This also eliminates the chance of a fish jumping out of the livewell while you are working on another fish.

If you are fishing a pro-am event where you don’t have use of both livewells, you can also use the bag for culling purposes. This gives you somewhere to put the fish while you are weighing them other than throwing them on the carpet and damaging their slime coat. 

Emergency Uses

If you fish enough tournaments, regardless of which products you use, breakdowns are going to happen. “If you’ve broken down and I stop to pick you up, you better have your stuff ready to go,” says Reehm. This includes having your fish in a bag that you can snatch out of the livewell and transfer to his boat all together. There simply isn’t time to transfer the fish one at a time.

Reehm’s number one use for his weigh-in bag is for failures in the livewell systems themselves. If a pump goes out, you can put a bunch of water into your livewells with a weigh-in bag instead of using a plastic container or tacklebox. Or if you run down the lake and see that the livewells have drained down during the run, you can refill them quickly using the bag rather than the pumps.

So, if you are an Elite angler, the guy who fishes the Tuesday night tournament at your local lake or somewhere in between, a heavy duty weigh-in bag is a must-have piece of boat equipment.

Thanks to peche en ligne for the footage. Check out their site at http://pecheenligne.net

Normally, I write about different products or techniques that we use in bass fishing or tournament fishing but this time I thought I’d write about something a little different than a how to article. Today I’m going to write about my boat dealer.

George’s Marine and Sports is a family owned and operated marina for the past 40 years. The founder George Wilcox started the business in the late sixties and how it’s ran by his son Jeff Wilcox and family. I have been with George’s Marine and Sports now for the past 4 years. I have purchased 2 Nitro bass boats from them, one back in 2003 and the other this year, a 2008 Nitro Z-9. The service that I have received from them has been amazing. I bring in my boat and they tell me right away what needs to be done and it gets done. I’m back out on the water in no time. Being a tournament angler I depend on my equipment to work under all conditions. So if my boat is in the shop for any length of time, I’m losing money.

The sales staff at George’s Marine and Sports are knowledgeable on the products that they sell and they will make sure that you are in the right boat/pleasure craft or recreational vehicle that suits you. They are not only your sales person but they really want to help you and make you feel welcome. Even after you leave the dealership with your new toy, when you come back they make you feel welcome.

The service and parts department are second to none. Parts for your Mercury motor and accessories for your Tracker/Nitro boat are available. With knowledgeable service staff from the ladies at the service counter to the guys working on your rig. They get it right the first time and they make sure that when you leave there you are satisfied and you want to return. I know that some of you are saying…I don’t shop at George’s and my dealer is the same way. That may be true but here is the kicker.

Every year George’s Marine and Sports along with Tracker Boats put together a family fun fishing weekend. This is held in early September on Golden Lake just north of Ottawa Ontario. Jeff, his family and staff volunteer their time on their day off to put this little fishing tournament on. Everyone that has purchased a Nitro or Tracker boat from George’s gets an invitation to participate. This has become an annual event for the past 13 years now and I have been fortunate enough to participate in 2 of them over the past 4 years.

There is a buffet dinner on the Saturday night where everyone gathers for some fine food, drinks and fun. Activities are planned during the evening and prizes are given out. For example; participates are asked questions about the boats that they have and the correct answer receives a tracker shirt, or a George’s beach towel etc. The staff from both locations; Ottawa and Eganville are there talking and having fun with everyone there.

Sunday morning we wake up then proceed to have a buffet breakfast and register for the 1 day tournament. There is a kids division as well as an adult division. The species that you are fishing for are bass and pike. Upon registration each participate receives a hat from Tracker Boats and it’s off for a fun day of fishing.

Upon returning for the weigh in and all of the fish have been weighed prizes are handed out. All participates receive a prize consisting of clothing, fishing tackle and/or other items. There is also a door prize which this year was a stainless steel BBQ with utensils and a voucher for some great steaks, a $1500 value. All this just to say thank you, not very many other dealers do this if any.

With 2 locations to serve you better, the next time that you are looking for a boat or recreational vehicle give George’s Marine and Sports a call and let them hook you up. After all they make fun a reality. Then hopefully, we will see you at the next family fun tournament.

Peter Larmand September/07