2
P P A L Y AY
Story
BY PETE ROBBINS
products the pros spend $$$$ on
I
n the last issue of Western Bass, I wrote
about “Products the Pros Don’t Get Paid
to Throw” with the kind assistance of five
tour level pros who were willing to identify products they depend upon despite the fact
that they aren’t made by their sponsors.
This month I’m going to delve a little bit deeper
into the muck. Over the past couple of years I’ve
spent many hours in the pros’ boat or within sight
of them, and hundreds of hours in both on-the-
record and off-the-record conversations with
them. We all
understand
that in
order to
ensure their
tournament
success
they
sometimes
need to use
non-sponsor
products,
and in some
cases they need to use items from their sponsors’ direct competitors. Here are four such products that I’ve seen or heard of multiple tour level pros using under the radar.
There may be no greater endorsement than a pro’s willingness to spend money on a product and use it in competition when it might get him in trouble.
REINS TUNGSTEN
Does any top level angler still use lead weights for the majority of his fishing?
Sure, there may still be isolated circumstances
where lead is
preferable to
tungsten, or
at least not
disadvantageous,
44 ®
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