So you’ve packed up your clothing, tackle and other essentials for the trip of a lifetime to El Salto or Picachos and you still have room in your luggage. What do you do? Certainly don’t add another shirt – Anglers Inn does your laundry every day. Instead, now it’s time to start supplementing the basic list of tackle we’ve previously provided.

For generations we’ve been told that “big baits equal big bass,” and that’s often true, even on Mexican waters, where you may be within casting distance of more giants than on any other public waters in the world. With that in mind, what I’m about to tell you defies the textbook and may seem counterintuitive: Sometimes small is better.

In the retelling of your Mexican bass fishing trip, topwaters may get the love, crankbaits may get the glory, and soft plastics may catch the numbers – but if you forget about spinnerbaits you’re ignoring a highly-productive tool. Sure, spinnerbaits have lost some of their market share in recent years due to vibrating jigs, swim jigs and swimbaits, but they never stopped working. Be sure to have some in your El Salto or Picachos tackle selection.

Multiple manufacturers have developed complete, self-contained kits for fishing on the go. They all contain at least a rod and reel. Some contain a protective case as well. Still others include line, terminal tackle, and/or a few lures. They’re great if you’re going on a business trip and there might be a small lake or river behind your hotel. They’re exceptional if you take long bike rides or hikes and might like to make a few casts along the way.

In all likelihood, the bass at Mexico’s Lake El Salto and Lake Picachos are generally dumber and more aggressive than at any other public body of water you’ve fished. The long growing season means that a one-year-old fish can weigh 2 pounds, which in turn means that they have to constantly outcompete their brothers and sisters for food.

If your travel rods are an integral part of your life, you can make them a central part of your home or office décor with a custom stand. This reduces the chance that you’ll misplace or damage them. In some cases they also have storage for your corresponding reels and/or some tackle.

Swimbaits require special gear. When it comes to truly big baits, you can’t depend on most lodge/outfitter sticks, nor are they likely to provide the lures themselves. That means you have to come up with strategies to get your stuff to where the bass live. Full-sized rod tubes are an increasingly difficult proposition, and when you’re talking about rods 8 feet or longer, the odds get slimmer, so you need to find alternatives. That may mean three- or four-piece sticks.

Over the last six years Hanna and I have been like clockwork with respect to our Mexican bass trips – heading there each January and then again in May and June. There have been a few outliers, like trips to Picachos last February and November, but generally those have been in addition to, rather than in lieu of, our regularly-scheduled visits.

Because the travel rods we already own are mostly from mainstream manufacturers, we’ve yet to try or embrace what we’d characterize as “enthusiast” versions. We owe a debt of gratitude for the term “enthusiast” to our friends at the Tackle Tour media empire. Even if they didn’t introduce it, they certainly popularized it in fishing circles.

Now that I’ve caught the bug and gotten over my fears that multi-piece rods would feel subpar, I’ve started to explore additional options. If you look to foreign markets like Japan and Europe and Australia, there are many more models than you can find here – including some at bespoke prices – but for purposes of this piece I’m going to limit it to items that are fairly easy to acquire within the U.S.

Because I’ve played sports my entire life and was one of the first girls in elementary school to sprout and be inducted into “the sisterhood,” I have had a long, long, long relationship with my bras. It hasn’t always been easy. It’s not something women talk about in public much, but maybe we should.

If you’re hopping on a commercial air flight, the ideal situation is to bring your rods with you inside the big bird. That decreases the chance that they’ll be lost in transit and also allows you to position them safely. If you have a single rod and a thin-diameter tube, most airlines will let you carry it on without a second look, but as your package gets, well, “girthier,” you might not have it so easy.

While my preference would always be to use rods provided to me at my destination or sample from the variety of travel rods I’ve accumulated, sometimes that’s simply not feasible. Many times if you want to have the right tool when you get there, you’re going to need something that’ll hold one-piece rods

You may suffer from email inbox overload, but if you’re like me you’re always on the lookout for more and better outdoor clothing. As my friend Bradley Simmons said, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad gear.” I’ve spent my life trying to prove that axiom. It’s the “Three Little Bears” theory of fishing – I don’t want to be too hot, too cold, too wet or reeking of body odor.

The issue of what to wear under waders hadn’t occurred to me until my 2019 trip to Alaska. At Bear Trail Lodge, the last thing you do before hitting the water is head to the dressing cabin and “wader up.” They use them not just for getting into the water, but also as all-purpose everyday rain pants.

I have well over 50 fishing-related t-shirts, but through years of mixed weather I’ve learned that they’re not all the same, and your standard-issue cotton tee is often a bad choice.

I’m going to try, over the next few months, to figure out whether the juice is worth the squeeze on three-, four- and five-piece rods. I’m going to fish around home with nine of them that I’ve acquired and try to give you an honest report on their performance. Maybe I’ll be disappointed, but I might be satisfied enough to integrate them into some of my regular rotation.

RepYourWater has established themselves as a clothing company that not only produces species-specific and region-specific gear, but one that also gives back to efforts they support. So whether you want to display your affection for Montana Westslope cutthroat on a hat or show that you’re a Missouri Smallmouth guru, you can do it. You can also contribute to efforts to Stop Asian Carp or provide relief to storm-damaged Bahamas businesses.

There are plenty of creatively-named lures out there, as well as some pretty damn hilarious color patterns (think “Vomit” or “Munky Butt” or “Day Old Guac” or just about anything from Andre Moore’s Reaction Innovations). But there are also a few lures out there named after famous people.

I’ve yet to go popping for big yellowfin tuna or GTs. The former is scheduled for Panama next April and the latter has yet to be put on the calendar – but it’s definitely going to happen. In the meantime, I have to content myself with days at the keyboard, watching YouTube videos and surfing for new gear.