There’s always a bit of buzz before a comp kicks off. Just that quiet kind where everyone’s thinking the same thing: Don’t mess this up!
That was pretty much the vibe for Brockman Media heading into the Shimano King of Kings competition. Good conditions, solid plan… but like any comp, you never really know how it’s going to play out once you’re out there.
You Can’t Control Much… So Don’t Try To
Anyone who’s fished comps knows that most of it is out of your hands!
Fish move. Weather shifts. Spots get crowded. Someone else finds a better bite.
So the only real play is to tighten up the stuff you can control. Your setup. Your process. How quickly you can react when things start happening.
Because when the bite turns on, it’s not the guy with the “best plan” that wins but the one who wastes the least time.
Game Changers
On a normal day, snapping off or re-rigging is whatever. Bit annoying, but you deal with it.
In a comp, that’s painful!
You lose time. You lose focus. Sometimes you lose fish because you’re not in the water when you should be.
Brockman Media weren’t keen on that happening, so they ran Rig Mate setups across the day. Pre-tied dropper loops, ready to go!
Nothing fancy. Just meant that when something went wrong (because it always does), they weren’t sitting there tying knots while everyone else was still fishing.
Clip it on, back in the water. Simple.
Staying In The Zone
That’s probably the biggest thing... staying in it!
Once they found fish, they stayed on them. No long breaks messing around with gear. No digging through tackle trying to fix stuff mid-drift. Everything just kept moving.
And that’s where something small like pre-tied rigs actually makes a difference. It’s not about being lazy... It’s about not breaking your rhythm.
Because comps aren’t usually won on one magic moment. It’s a stack of small moments where you either stay efficient… or you don’t.
So what was the outcome?
They didn’t take the win. But they also didn’t fall apart. Which, honestly, happens to a lot of teams once things get messy.
They kept things tight, stayed fishing when it mattered, and put together a solid result. No big blow-ups, no “what if we didn’t waste that time” moments.
Just a clean day doing what they set out to do.
Rig Mate didn’t magically win them the comp. It just took one problem out of the equation!
And sometimes that’s all you need... less stuffing around, more time fishing, and a better shot when it counts.