Scott Sweetman – Prep Your Kit

Scott breaks down the importance of prep and how he carries through his stages of kit preparation.

Scott, like many, is an angler who balances his fishing around working a 9 till 5 and his family time. As a result, his fishing is often limited to short sessions, often overnighters, making it paramount that his kit is always organised and ready to go.

Many of his sessions include setting up in the dark, meaning being able to operate effectively in low light levels is paramount to his success, and in turn, this is a result of prepared and organized kit, almost to military precision.

Scott breaks down exactly how he preps his kit, starting the minute he returns from his trip. He then spends small windows of time through the week getting things done so when it comes to fishing again, it’s a simple case of getting to the lake and fishing with no distractions.

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Prep starts the minute you get home.

Phase 1 – Returning From A Session

‘The minute I get home, the prep begins. This could even be on the drive home, stoking up on supplies, adding more fuel etc. Once I am home, anything wet is hung up to dry; things like my brolly, mat, sling, or my Carp Porter cover. Waterproofs are dried out and clothes are put immediately in the wash, not wanting to stink the place out. Rubbish is put in the bin, Tupperware is cleaned out and any left over food or drink is put back away’.

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Clothes are washed and dried, immediately upon returning from a session.

Phase 2 – Replenishment

‘If I’m short of any supplies i.e tackle, bait or gas, I’ll make sure to replenish it in the week. The last thing I want to do is have to stop on route to the lake to get kit. As soon as I leave the go to the lake, I want minimal distractions and don’t want to waste a minute. I keep a ‘notes’ tab on my phone of anything I need to get - ‘Teabags, gas, leads, hooks’ etc is a typical list, so through the week, I’ll replenish stock and cross bits off my list once they’ve been stocked back up.

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Kit is replenished including tackle, bait, food or gas.

Phase 3 – Tackle

‘If I get a spare half hour at home or when the kids are in bed, I’ll pop into the garage to sort any tackle bits. This could include tying rigs, sharpening hooks or just sorting bits out. I’m an avid user of D Rigs, and although a very simple rig to tie, I still don’t want to spend time at the lake tying rigs. Therefore, I’ll make sure I have at least half a dozen or so rigs tied up and ready for each session’.

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Fresh rigs are tied and tackle is stored neatly away.

Phase 4 – Bait

‘The freezer is always stocked up with bait, usually 5kg bags of boilie. But as my sessions are usually just overnighters, I don’t want to take big sacks of bait with me. My angling is all about carrying the bare minimum, allowing me to move effortlessly. Bait can be one of the heaviest things we carry, so I spread my bait into session bags, taking bait from the original 5kg bags and putting maybe a kilo or so into small ‘sandwich’ bags, perfect for my shorter sessions. In the warmer months, if I’m using seed, then this will also be part of my mid-week preparation process.

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Boilies are taken from their 5kg sacks and placed into smaller 'session packs'.

Phase 5 – Re-Charge

'I have a charging station in the garage, where things such as head torches, power packs, camera batteries and the Carp Porter battery can be charged. I’ll usually run these overnight on the night before my trip’.

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The charging station at work.

Phase 6 – The Day Of My Trip

‘With everything off charge, all clothes clean and dry, it’s a case of just getting food and drink from the fridge, grabbing my session pack of bait and I’m good to go. I’m safe in the mind that all my tackle is good to go and neatly organised in the rucksack. I know everything is fully charged and all the kit is on the barrow packed in the back of the van. I can drive to the lake without needing to stop, meaning as soon as I arrive, I can wheel the barrow directly from the van and I’m ready to fully focus on the fishing and get the rods out with minimal fuss’.

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Grabbing bits pre-cooked from the fridge.
Prepared, organised and fully charged.

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