Why don't tackle retailers cater to tournament anglers? Tournament bass anglers buy more tackle than anyone else who fishes, but go into most tackle stores and you'd never know it. Backwaters Tackle, on the other hand, knows it in spades.

You get what you want there quickly and easily, and you can also get hard-to-find tournament-winning products and the best colors – and as we all know, getting the good colors can be pretty tough.

We've all been there. A unique tournament-winning bait hits the market, and no one has them. We search the Internet and even call the manufacturer to try to get a couple of the baits in our tackleboxes. But the baits are either on back-order or no one knows when they'll have more.

With Backwaters Tackle, those days are over.

Not only do they keep a finger on the pulse of tournament fishing nationwide, they make sure you can get to them. They have two retail outlets (Somerset and Lexington, Ky.), a Web store at www.backwatersonline.com and, in the super-cool category, two of the largest and best-equipped tackle trailers in the world. That's right: At some point during the year, you might be lucky enough to shop for the latest, greatest stuff right there by the launch ramp.

First Impression

We first saw one of the Backwaters trailers at the 2003 FLW Tour Championship in Richmond, Va. We thought it was awesome. The trailer was top-notch (organized and well-lit), and the product lines were exceptional: more than 3,000 different SKUs. Now that's a bunch of product.

We routinely overheard comments like "I've been looking all over for these." That's in large part because Backwaters carries specialty colors – including ones you can't get anywhere else – and has one of the largest selections of Japanese and regional baits.

Tournament-Born

As you might expect, Backwaters Tackle was born out of the need to find for tournament-tested baits. Owner Bill Smith is an avid tournament angler, and was having a tough time getting the baits he wanted.

"When we were on the road fishing, it seemed we could never find a tackle shop that had what we needed," he says. "As a tournament angler, I knew that dilemma. I got to thinking about it, and decided that the answer was a tackle trailer."

He built his first trailer in May 2003. A month later he opened his first retail store in Lexington, and after that came another trailer and another store in Somerset. He felt that if he could get the products the pros were using – from big-name and smaller manufacturers – to anglers as fast as he could, he'd be successful. Sounded like a good plan to us too, and judging by his growing sales volumes, he's onto something.

In 2004, Backwaters Tackle trailers are traveling to every Bassmaster Tour and BASS Elite 50 event, and will also be at the Bassmaster Classic and FLW Tour Championship. If you go, check them out. Smith also hopes to get his trailers to the Bassmaster Opens this fall.

For on-line shopping, check out www.backwatersonline.com.