Few things stick with you as an angler, than losing a bass fishing tournament by a few ounces on a penalty for a dead fish. It’s not happened to me in a long time as it was so painful the first time. Obviously livewells on today’s boats do a much better job keeping fish cool and oxygenated. But a good weigh-in bag is a good investment too.
I got to use the Bass Mafia Body Bag recently in a tournament and have used it a time or two to transport fish from one boat to another as well during photo shoots. So I thought I’d share my insight on this product for getting your fish from the livewell to the scale in an easy and careful fashion.
Several features of the Body Bag stood out to me including the following:
- Zipper for security
- Shoulder strap for weight
- Durable material for long use
- Compact and storable
It zips
A lot of weigh-in bags have velcro enclosures or no enclosure at all at the top of the bag. I found the zipper easy to operate both empty and full of water and bass. The zipper is nice because I’ve been around a lot of tournaments in the last decade and have seen bass get out of bags, hit hard on the concrete and die.
I’ve seen a bass jump out of an anglers bag and into another anglers bag in the weigh-in line. That’s a bad deal. I’ve seen guys get to the scale put their fish down, only to realize there are now only 4 bass in there and one had escaped in the weigh-in line. The zipper alleviates all of those scenarios.
Shoulder the weight
The bag comes with an adjustable shoulder strap. The strap allows an angler to shoulder the weight of water and bass. Sometimes those bags weigh 40-50 pounds with water and bass in them. That’s a lot to hold in your hand, especially if you’ve already got issues from cranking on a reel for hours at a time or your hands are tore up from handling so many fish.
Built to last
The Body Bag features a durable outer nylon material and a smooth waterproof material on the inside. The double welded seam construction ensures no leakage to and from the weigh-in lines. I have slung the bag in and out of boats, set it on docks and hot concrete and had no issues thus far with it. The handles are strong and showed no signs of strain or deterioration after filling it full of water.
I like the black and yellow lettering too as it made it easy to find in my compartment full of tackle and clothing.
Peace of mind
Empty, the bag zips up and folds down to take up next to no space in your boat locker, under a truck seat or stuffed in any nook or cranny out of the way until you need it next time. Because the material is flexible and strong, it shows no sign of wearing out from folding like a lot of bags I’ve seen in the past.
And one reason I have my own weigh-in bag is because I’ve had to jump out of a broke down boat in a tournament and ride back with another competitor and a weigh-in bag makes it easy to do that, especially one this durable and that zips shut.
Where to buy
You can find the bags on omniafishing.com, tacklewarehouse.com, bassmafiatackle.com and other retailers that carry Bass Mafia products. The Body Bag retails for $26.99 which is a pretty good price compared to other bags on the market with less options. The Body Bag might be the last weigh-in bag you buy.
