By James “Big Ed” Everhart
This was the only glimpse of sun for four days. Pro Qualifier rain gear worked perfect!
Last year the first day of the Future Pro Tour Classic was a beautiful fall day warm, a little nip in the morning air, calm winds, and blue skies. The second day was not as nice, a storm blew in that brought twenty-five mile per hour winds driving rain and a ten degree cool down. Now as tournament bass angler with over a decade of experience I wasn’t quaking in my boots by any stretch. That night as I rifled through my storage box reality suddenly set in, my rain gear was still in the laundry room back home four hours away. The rain gear that I owned had lasted quite awhile four or five years but was now starting to leak, was never warm, but hey it was only a hundred dollars.
I will always start with you get what you pay for, price is not the issue here. I told my wife we would be taking a shopping trip, excitement ensued. Here is the great part about my wife, when I told her it was to the Bass Pro Shop she was even more excited. The choices you have today for quality rain gear are vastly superior to when I first started fishing. There are many different brands, styles and prices are all over the board where do you start? I like to start with the brand, choose brands that have been known for quality in the past. Size of the company makes a difference if you go with a great up and comer you might get burned if they are only around for a short time. A large company has the ability to give you great price and many choices. Style would be the next area to focus, I don’t mean fashion style I mean whether you are going to need insulated, light weight, wind proof, parka, jacket, bibs or pants. All these are important factors to take into consideration. My personal combination choice is bibs with a jacket, in the past I had rain pants and a jacket but I learned that every time you bend over rain gets in places you don’t need rain to get in. I found that parka’s are to long and you just keep getting weighed down over the day.
In the end I chose the Bass Pro Shops pro qualifier set. There not insulated so I bought them a little bigger so I can layer, they’re middle of the road on price five hundred for the whole set, and they’re Gore-Tex. The warranty is backed by Bass Pro Shops so there not going anywhere and I know where to find them. All these benefits made my decision an easy one.
The next day at the tournament I was dry, warm , and comfortable all day. My fishing benefited I took a Fourth place at the classic, got a shot at winning a new truck, but took home five hundred dollars instead rain gear paid for. This year has been an incredibly wet year and as you know tournaments aren’t cancelled on account of rain. My Bass Pro Shops Pro Qualifier rain gear has performed amazingly I could not be happier. Hope this helps if you’re getting ready to decide on rain gear to keep you out fishing, even in the nasty stuff.
Good luck out there,
BIG ED
