I just finished rigging all my rods for tomorrow's opening day. I'll be carrying 10 Team Daiwa casting rods matched with Shimano Curado reels and 6 Team Daiwa spinning rods matched with Shimano reels. I know the brands don't match but I really love both companies products. The one thing I do like though is having consistency in my rods and reels. That way when I pick up another rod to switch techniques the rod and reel still feels the same in my hands. I think it helps with casting accuracy and just keeps my mind at ease.

I know 16 rod and reel combos may sound like a lot to some people and truthfully it's probably more than I needed the past couple of years. I have really narrowed my fishing down to just a handful of techniques that I feel confident with wherever I go. There is a lot to be said for fishing your strengths. The past 2 seasons have been by far my best as far as tournament results go. You really don't need to know how to do everything if you are very good at just a few things. Just look at Denny Brauer.

On the other hand it can't hurt to be versatile or at least familiar with a variety of techniques. This year there are several things I'd like to add to my arsenal. A couple "newer" things that I just haven't gotten into as much as I should have would be drop shotting and swimbaits. I know how effective they can be but I haven't put the time in to learn them very well yet. I hope to change that this year. A couple older techniques that I need to gain more confidence in are shallow cranking and frog fishing. I know everyone loves throwing a frog but for me I just can't seem to make it work very well. I know it can be a great way to catch a big fish though so I hope to figure it out this year.

Tomorrow I'll be heading out to Norway Lake. The past several years we have been starting the bass opener up on Leech Lake. Since it's Memorial weekend we have a lot of family getting together up there this time of year so thats where we headed. This year I'm skipping that to stick close to home. Before we started fishing Leech, Norway was always our traditional opening day lake. In fact the very first time we fished a bass opener was on Norway. I'm going back to old traditions. Also it doesn't hurt to get a little time out there since it will be the first lake for Wednesday night league.