Throughout the 2022 season, 22-year-old Bassmaster Elite Series rookie Jay Przekurat has made a statement in the Falcon Rods Rookie of the Year race by leading the majority of the season. Przekurat was kind enough to show us around his 2022 Nitro Z21 XL powered by a 250-horsepower Mercury ProXs before the start of the Whataburger Bassmaster Elite at Pickwick Lake.
The bow of the boat is home to a Minn Kota Ultrex trolling motor. Like the majority of the Elite Series field, Przekurat's trolling motor is home to multiple transducers. Amongst the transducers is a Humminbird MEGA Live Imaging, Humminbird MEGA 360 Imaging and a built-in MEGA DI. At the bow, he has a Humminbird Solix 12 as well as a Humminbird Helix 12. The Solix 12 is used exclusively with MEGA Live Imaging, as where the Helix 12 is used for mapping and down imaging.
The Nitro 21 XL has a lot of deck space, giving Przekurat plenty of room to mount his electronics without causing a cluster. A look a the layout of the Nitro 21 XL. One of Przekurat's favorite features of the boat is the amount of storage it provides him. ...
Not seen in the previous two images is the duel day boxes at the bow of the boat. Przekurat will stash extra soft plastics that he knows he'll be using a lot of during the day in these two compartments. Although one of the boxes was empty at the time, Przekurat says he likes to keep finesse tactics in one compartment and creature baits and craws in the other compartment. Basically they're divided by spinning rod baits and casting rod baits. The 21 XL has a very deep rod box, allowing Przekurat to carry more than enough rods with him during events.
During practice, he typically carries 30 to 40 rods with him, but during the event he tries to narrow it down to around 15 rods. The driver's side rod box is home to a variety of miscellaneous items. Given the fact that the center compartment is divided to create two boxes, Przekurat keeps the left side designated to mostly power fishing tackle as well as terminal tackle, and the right side is designated to finesse fishing tackle and soft plastics.
A look at the left side of the box. And over to the right side of the box. The first box the Elite Series rookie pulls out is full of Strike King 4.0 Magnum Squarebill crankbaits.
"This has become one of my favorite crankbaits," Przekurat said. "I wasn't much of a crankbait fisherman until I started fishing down south, but a bigger squarebill like this is super versatile."The next box he pulls out is his Strike King Thunder Cricket Vibrating Jig box.He keeps the box organized by color and size.
The Wisconsin pro's favorite trailer for the Thunder Cricket is the Strike King Blade Minnow. Przekurat keeps it pretty simple with his color selection when it comes to Blade Minnows. White, green pumpkin and black/blue are his main three choices.Given the fact that Przekurat was gearing up to fish an offshore event on the Tennessee River, he of course had some magnum worms as well. This is the Strike King Bullworm.
The 21 XL houses a massive cooler that also serves as a step to the front deck of the boat. Przekurat chuckled when he realized his emergency toilet paper was also stashed away in the cooler. Przekurat keeps the cooler filled with waters, sports drinks and snacks. ...
In front of the passenger seat is a pull out compartment where he keeps his culling system and other various items. ...At the console, Przekurat has two Humminbird Helix 12s.
One of the units is used almost exclusively for mapping, and the other is used for a mixture of down and side imaging. ......
At first glance, the compartment between the two seats doesn't appear to be for much of anything, but it's actually home to several of his good luck charms. The first good luck charm is "squishy fish," an item that was left in his boat by Adam Neu. Przekurat believes that Neu is still unaware that he left it in his boat long ago.The second good luck charm is a marble. Heading into the final Central Open of the 2021 season, Przekurat was in a great position to qualify for the Elite Series, and a random guy at a car wash gifted him this "lucky marble." He went on to qualify for the Elite Series, so he's kept the marble in hopes that it actually is lucky.
The last of the good luck charms is a set of jigs that his girlfriend made for him. A look at the livewells. Behind the driver's seat is more tackle, including his deep-diving crankbaits.
You're probably wondering why he's got a bottle of shampoo in the back of the boat, but it's actually T-H Marine G-Juice. The compartment behind the passenger's seat is home to a spare prop, tools and Strike King Rage Swimmer Swimbaits. Przekurat is running four Tracker Lithium batteries.
A Minn Kota Precision On-Board Battery Charger keeps all of his batteries charged up. A T-H Marine Atlas Jackplate allows Przekurat to move his Mercury outboard up and down quickly. Two 8-foot Minn Kota Raptors have been crucial to Przekurat's early success in 2022 when fishing shallow.
