Be Prepared With A Ready Rod

Fall 2023

By Capt. Cefus McRae

Photos courtesy of Nuts & Bolts of Fishing

I spent my growing-up years in the Boy Scouts. Did the entire program, including earning my Eagle rank.  And through it all, the motto “Be Prepared” was driven into us at every troop meeting, campout and gathering. While we can’t prepare for every eventuality, we can learn from our experiences and the experience of others to help in a variety of situations.

Competitive bass anglers know this all too well, and will usually have an arsenal of rods, each rigged differently, secured to the casting deck of a boat so they can change lures, patterns or tactics on a moment’s notice. For the rest of us, changing out rigs can be time-consuming and frustrating, especially when opportunities like topwater action only last a few minutes or a few seconds.

Some years ago, I finally got smart, and today I always have a “Ready Rod” at arm’s length. What’s a Ready Rod? It’s simply a rod rigged with something other than what you are currently fishing with, and have standing by just in case. 

Here’s an example that convinced me to change my ways.  We were trolling for king mackerel off the Georgia coast on a warm summer day, with a full spread of tasty menhaden behind the boat. We were pulling two baits up top, and two baits down deep behind downrigger balls, at just under one mile per hour. Any faster, and you’ll stress your baitfish – and kings don’t like dead pogeys. The benefit of slow-trolling is you get to see just about everything else in the upper water column – turtles, porpoise, pods of baitfish, sharks, and, of course, schools of kingfish show up clearly on your sonar.

Around mid-morning, we saw a large cobia cruising near the boat within casting distance. Not one rod was rigged for casting a jig or freelined live bait. And before we could rig anything up, the cobia calmly swam away. A spinning rod rigged to accommodate a frisky live bait or a jig with a trailer tail would have been sufficient to put some tasty filets in the boat. Too little, too late. I was so focused on trolling tactics, I completely forgot to have any backup rods rigged and ready. Never again. This logic applies to both fresh and saltwater fishing. Having the option to quickly react to a fish-catching opportunity can be the difference between a high-five and a dang-it!

Having a Ready Rod can prevent missing out on a fish like this.

Often times, the biggest and most memorable fish of the day will be caught on your Ready Rod. For my arsenal, I rig up two spinning outfits – one with a heavy jig that I can quickly attach a plastic trailer to and another with a live bait rig that I can attach a live bait or even a piece of cut bait to. I also keep a down-rod handy, rigged with an egg sinker and a live bait hook. I can’t tell you how many times we’ve trolled over an area, hooked up and then discovered the main group of gamefish is about 30 feet below the surface. Having a rod ready to drop a bait can be the difference between fishing, and catching. All these rods stay out of the way in my t-top rod holders, but anyone on the boat can grab one when the opportunity arises.

Oh, and one other thing that I put in the “Ready” category. That’s having pre-rigged leaders. If you’re bottom fishing, you will inevitably lose some rigs to the rocks and live bottom below. The night before my trip, I tie 20 or so leaders with hooks on one end and a swivel on the other. This way, when I lose a rig, I can slide an egg sinker on the main line, tie it directly to the leader swivel and I’m back fishing in about 15 seconds.

The same holds true for fishing around dock pilings or oyster beds. Leader abrades quickly when a fish takes you around a piling or over a rake of oyster shells. If you make a habit of changing out your leader when the slightest signs of leader abrasion show up, you’ll bring more fish to the boat. And yes, I’ve lost some monsters because I was in too much of a hurry to re-tie a new leader.

The point with a Ready Rod is to have something ready to throw to a fish that only presents itself for a brief moment. Not being ready can equal a missed fish, but if you’re prepared you have a better chance at putting another fish in the box.

So, before your next trip, think like a Boy Scout, and Be Prepared.

Capt. Cefus McRae of Hartwell is the star of the television series Nuts & Bolts of Fishing on CarbonTV and a number of other cable and internet outlets. Cefus also is a member of the Georgia Outdoor Writers Association. He can be contacted at cefus@nutandboltsoffishing.com.