How To Become Fishing Gear Tester

[bknap]

I have always wondered how people get new baits and tackle then try them out for companies and give them feed back. I would be very interested in it, Im just not sure how to get started into it. if any of you guys could help me out id be interested !

Thanks,

Brandon

[islandbass]

That would be sweet, but these companies probably get such feedback from their pros. Still, it couldn't hurt to contact the companies that you would want to do that for.

[BassAssassin726]

Yea, sorry to say but unless you are a "pro" its probably not going to happen unfortunately.

[Sam]

Earn your aeronautical, aerospace, civil or mechanical engineering degree and have a career in the tackle industry.

A Professional Engineering designation is a tremendous plus and will make you more marketable.

The pros design and try out the protypes. But they have to work with engineers to design the baits and to make adjustments.

You will have to know how to operate a computer that has programs that mimic the bait in the air and water. Macintosh computers do this extremely well.

You are talking about an industry that invests millions of dollars in research, design, advertising, packaging, payrolls for engineers and scientists and their assitants, benefit plans for everyone involved, pension plans, shipping, ICAST to introduce the new products, freebies given to the pros, percentage of sales to the pro hawking the products, square feet of research and warehouse space, areas for shipping, office space, telephone and copy machine costs, postage, sales people, computer web sites, computer programs, IT people and finally sales income.

The manufacturers of production baits don't fool around. They want people testing their products on various types of water at different times of the year. People they can count on and depend on to give them the feedback.

Small independent companies have lower overhead and once in a while they strike pay dirt, like Gary Yamamoto and his Senkos which he developed on his own and started selling them out west.

I was asked to test an interesting bait seveni years ago. It was a white plastic tube in the shape of a torpedo with a metal eye on the front to tie the line and a rubber skirt on the back. The two hooks were inside of the body and when a fish hit it the hooks would pop out and hook the fish. The bait was designed to be fished on top and through grass, pads and structure without getting hung up.

Needless to say I did not give it a good write up. It was a disaster. The hooks did not deploy; it was heave; and the white body with the two large beedy eyes did not make a good presentation. I have never seen that bait being marketed. I still have the protype somewhere in my collection but have never thrown it again.

Don't be discouraged. Contact the bait companies of your choice and ask them about their bait testing programs and if you can be involved. They will give you their hiring paramaters and you can then decide if you meet the criteria.

Good luck and let us know what you find out.

[Michael DiNardo]

Although I am not a bait tester, I would say that a good command of the English language, both written and verbal, would be a bonus. Also, being able to give a speech, or presentation in front of a larger number of people should be mastered.

Mike

[OkobojiEagle]

... or you can know someone in "Product Development"

oe

[Tizi]

If you get a YouTube Channel and enough followers, you can go to companies and inquire...guys get free kayaks to test/rate for example.

[Fishing the tides]

What companies are worth trying to field test fishing lures for 

[ChicanoAngler]

I want to do the same thing. My plan is to start a youtube channel and buy different baits, maybe the bait of the week for my area and do my own reviews. If I can manage to get a decent following then I'll start hi ting down opportunities!!!

[garroyo130]

If your goal is strictly to test baits, your best bet would probably be to volunteer at a local high school with the fishing club or form a local organization.

 

I'm inclined to believe that organizations are much more likely to donate to these types of causes as they are not strictly business ventures. 

 

I took a couple of paint and body classes at a local community college a couple of years back and I managed to get some paint companies to send us some gear and some local companies to donate paint for free. I do feel that it made a difference to speak as a representative of an organization instead of an individual.

[Cgolf]

I think some smaller companies let their field staff try out new lures before release for input, but generally by that point they may be pretty close to production. It also depends on the product too, as some may not need a lot of field testing when so much can be done in a tank now.

[MAN]

I can't begin to tell you how hard it actually is for a product developer to find someone good to test rods, reels and lures. 99% of the time you get the below. When you find someone good.....you hold on to them for dear life.  

 

* The yes person. Everything they get is cool and works great all the time.. every time.

* The "got to find something wrong" person. Has never tested anything that worked right.

* The "I go fishing litterly every weekend" person. Who's still never had a chance to get out on the water 8 months after receiving your samples.  

 

[Tim Kelly]

I used to be on the committee of a couple of different national fishing clubs and we were often sent bits of gear to review for inclusion in the club magazines. What a pain in the backside! When I get to go fishing, I want to fish. I don't want to be messing about with some bit of tackle I wouldn't have chosen and then having to decide whether it is fit for purpose and better or worse than what's currently available, then do a write up on it. When I was on the second club's committee I made a point of saying I wouldn't do any reviews and left it to those who thought it would be cool to try out new gear.

Hats off to the guys that do tackle reviews and testing. It massively compromises your fishing time, so I hope you're being compensated for it!

[A-Jay]

I've been a Tackle Tester for Years ~

Of course I had to pay for all of it but hey, I tested it.

?

A-Jay

[Cgolf]

2 hours ago, MAN said:

I can't begin to tell you how hard it actually is for a product developer to find someone good to test rods, reels and lures. 99% of the time you get the below. When you find someone good.....you hold on to them for dear life.  

 

* The yes person. Everything they get is cool and works great all the time.. every time.

* The "got to find something wrong" person. Has never tested anything that worked right.

* The "I go fishing litterly every weekend" person. Who's still never had a chance to get out on the water 8 months after receiving your samples.  

 

 

While I haven't tested fishing product, my real job is testing hardware and software for the scientific community. It takes a special mindset to test stuff and it is surprisingly hard to find people that can think like that, and we try and hold on to them when we find them. Doing a review is one thing, trying to explain to someone that the baits action is just not right and how it isn't right is very difficult. So I can totally believe the 99% number. Maybe I should switch fields and go work for Berkley, Strike King, or Rapala;) 

[Big Hands]

Your best chance to do that (if you're not a pro) would be to get to know some of the local lure makers in your area. If they see that you would be a trusted, knowledgeable, articulate and skilled ally, they might want your help. 

 

Honestly, I think most "R&D" is borrowed from other companies

[GreenPig]

Like A-Jay I'm also a gear tester. Buy, use it, and buy more (feed back) if works.

[Sphynx]

I expect these sorts of gigs to be few and far between, and the economic ramifications on the way/under way from 2020 are going to limit them even further, computers, test tanks, and pro's already being paid are your competitors, and many of these pro's have long and very good relationships with these tackle companies (Strike King and KVD may as well be inseparable by now) and considering that both of them want similar things from the R&D process, a bait that will sell like fire and catch great big fish reliably, it's a natural fit. Not all pro's have the communications and organizational/analytical ability to effectively test baits that are experimental, but there are a number I'm sure that do...given the physics generators on these newfangled computers these days I am sure a lot of the testing can be done in a tank and modified from there, and then get pushed out to a few trusted pro's for testing, there are always exceptions, but an exception is never the rule, building a relationship with someone in touch with these things in the company/companies your interested in is likely your best bet.

[Bluebasser86]

Hundreds, if not thousands of channels out there already doing that exact same thing. Setting yourself apart from all the others is going to be the hardest part. Very few are doing so successfully.

[Boomstick]

This thread is almost 8 years old. I'm wondering how this turned out, because if they started back then, there wasn't as many people to compete with doing the same thing on Youtube and thus should be quite a bit easier to stand out. Some years before that, I almost did that with various guitar related gear when nobody else was doing it.

 

These days, it would be pretty hard to get free gear to test out as a Youtuber. First you're going to have to build your channel and get a good number of subscribers and a consistent view count. That will take years, especially with more competition. Then you can approach companies that are not already sending gear to anybody else, if any exist.

[Boomstick]

20 hours ago, ChicanoAngler said:

I want to do the same thing. My plan is to start a youtube channel and buy different baits, maybe the bait of the week for my area and do my own reviews. If I can manage to get a decent following then I'll start hi ting down opportunities!!!

You have the right idea if your goal is eventually to get free stuff. Keep an eye out for lure makers that haven't sent anything to anybody else on Youtube as far as you have seen, because they might be a good place to start. It may take quite a while, but I would try to focus on keeping the quality of your videos and content high off the bat.

 

Don't be afraid to review some stuff you already have as well. Reviewing a bait that you have versus a new one is a different type of review, but it can also save you money and time as you already know where it works etc.