The Importance of Pre-rigging

One of the most important ways to increase your fishing success is to always be prepared ahead of your fishing day. Professional fishermen understand this concept and take it to heart every time they leave the dock.  While observing the weather, tide, moon and other natural conditions is very important, it is just as important to have your tackle pre-rigged and to be ready for any situation that may arise.

One of the easiest ways to be prepared is to use a leader cart. A leader cart is a yo-yo or plastic spool made to hold various fishing lines and leaders. When the bite turns on, the last thing you want to be doing is struggling to find a leader to replace the one you just caught your last fish on. Instead of struggling, spend some time before you leave the dock making several dozen extra leaders with hooks attached. Simply wind those leaders onto the spool, one on top of the other. This will prevent tangles with other leaders, will dramatically cut the time it takes to replace a leader, and will enable you to catch more fish while the bite is on.

With Sailfish season just around the corner, hundreds of fishing kites will soon fill the sky off of South Florida. One of the issues with kite fishing is that eventually you will break the line used for flying your kite. Replacing or changing out a kite line can be frustrating and time consuming, especially if you have to count out arm lengths and tie swivels at various places on your kite line. The yo-yo or plastic spool comes into play once again. Before you leave the dock, make up several complete kite lines by pulling off sections of line and attaching swivels at the desired lengths between bait positions. Once you have made up the extra kite lines, wrap them around the yo-yo so that the swivel nearest the bottom of the spool is on top. Secure the outside with a rubber band. You now have several pre made kite lines ready to go. When you break a kite line or see that an existing kite line is chafed and about to break, just pull the line back off your kite reel to the last swivel and attach the new line from your yo-yo to the kite reel. This will have you back flying your kite in a matter of minutes.

The lesson here is to save time and be as efficient as possible. By saving only a few minutes, you can be sure to always have baits in the water when the fish are biting. You will keep your self from the frustration and hassle of having to re-rig while out on the water when you could be back to fishing immediately.