"Rich mans sport"

[Ratherbfishing]

My mom, who is now 88 was ACTUALLY perusing through a B.A.S.S. periodical she found on a table in the facility where she now lives (I could tell she was REALLY bored).  Anyway, after a few minutes she put it down and proclaimed, "Fishing is a rich man's sport."  I wasn't completely surprised by her "I lived through the depression" attitude but I couldn't argue her point either-based on the various advertisements and depictions of high dollar boats, gear, and the like- so I just said, "If you were rich before, you won't be afterwards." On the other hand, if I didn't have fishing to spend my money on, I can't imagine what trouble I might be getting into.  Am not sure where I'm going with this except, with a few exceptions, I feel like I've done a pretty good job of keeping my wants and "needs" within reasonable bounds.  How do you all feel about your spending habits?

[Frise]

What I do is at the beginning of each month I will put change in a piggie bank along with some dollar bills. After about 3 or 4 months I will go out to a Bass Pro or some other fishing shop. 

[Klebs01]

Fishing is probably the cheapest hobby there is. Get some line, a hook, and a bit of bait and you are participating. So the cost of entry is maybe a dollar.  Like any hobby, people will take it much further. If people are willing to spend money, others will fill the market demands. 

[scaleface]

I have spent way to much on fishing but most of it is unnecessary . When I was a kid I used whatever dad had and he didnt have much . Catching fish with the bare essentials develops skills and I am lucky enough to have a lot of good fishing spots  available .

[roadwarrior]

Life is a marathon, not a sprint.

I really got the bug in 1997 when I "discovered" the Senko. For the past 19 years I have built a nice of collection of high end gear. Almost ever rod & reel I have ever owned is still being fished by friends or other BassResource.com members. Although I occasionally buy this year's newest and bestest (sic) lures, most of my collection has been accumulated over the years. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part I only add one rod & reel a year and try to sell or sometimes give away stuff I am not using or replacing. Be patient and selective and you too can have almost everything you want, it just takes time.

 

 

[68camaro]

For the average layman I don't think bass fishing is expensive, but I do agree we make it expensive on ourselves by our desire for best, newest, shiniest, most tech. laden, and in large quantities.

Like Klebs01 says, at is core it ain't that complicated or expensive.

 

[whitwolf]

11 minutes ago, roadwarrior said:

Life is a marathon, not a sprint.

I really got the bug in 1997 when I "discovered" the Senko. For the past 19 years i have built a nice of collection of high end gear. Almost ever rod & reel I have ever owned is still being fished by friends or other BassResource.com members. Although I occasionally buy this year's newest and bestest (sic) lures, most of my collection has been accumulated over the years. Of course there are exceptions, but for the most part I only add one rod & reel a year and try to sell or sometimes give away stuff I am not using or replacing. Be patient and selective and you too can have almost everything ou want, it just takes time.

 

 

This is a very solid post!

The only thing I can add Is this: Having "stuff" doesn't make the fisherman, wanting "stuff" doesn't mean It will make you a better fisherman, and needing "stuff" is most always a matter of perception. 

It takes years to understand yourself as a person and this applies to your fishing Identity. I used to be all about "stuff" and used maybe 10% of what I thought I really "needed." I made a conscience decision to buy what worked for me, try to buy things on sale(It doesn't always work  )and I came to this Important realization that, speaking only for me, quality will most always trump quantity. As for expense, as RW quite eloquently states there's no rush.

[Mike L]

Can't really add much to what was already said except that..I like your Mom! you're a lucky man. 

 

Mike 

[alzun664]

I agree with whats been said so far. You dont "need" to be rich to enjoy fishing and you certainly don't "need" to spend thousands of dollars to catch fish. 

[Evan K]

It can be as expensive or cheap as you want it to be.

I have a set allowance for any personal spending I do per month. If my focus is on my fishing hobby that month, that's what I'll spend it on.

[flyfisher]

Pick up any exclusive magazine for a particular sport or hobby and you could say the same thing.  As far as gear goes and my spending I am pretty set for a while except for terminal tackle which needs to be replaced every so often.  I am currently saving for both a new house and a new trailer to haul my kayaks around with so that takes precedence over any other fishing stuff right now.

[A-Jay]

I was doing pretty good there for a while.

Then after seeing some pictures here of Mutant Mexican bass,  I made the mistake of making that first trip.

Everything's been all kinds of out of hand ever since . . . .

A-Jay

[blckshirt98]

It can be as cheap or as expensive as you make it.  If you're in it just to catch fish you can buy some cheap Ande's mono, a pack of hooks, wrap it around a plastic water bottle, and make a dough ball or dig some worms out of the ground.  If you fish from a pier you don't even need a license.

Unfortunately for myself and I think the majority of us, part of the fun is gearing up - picking out the rods/reels/lures you're going to use for that day and getting your tackle packed up for a day on the water.  It's like those action movies where the hero walks into a weapons cache/armory with 100 different types of guns and explosives and he gets to pick and choose what he feels like using to kill some bad guys.  We just do it with tackle.

[Raul]

Fishing can be as expensive as you want to make it.

I have other much more expensive hobbies: breeding show dogs & video gaming

There are more games behind those, actually I own like 5 times more games than those you see in physical form, I have HDDs full of games.

[lo n slo]

I've always been the frugal sort. As a kid/teen, I walked the banks. When my kids were young and times were lean, I had a 12' johnny and a trolling motor. In '92 I bought a used 16' Sea Nymph /25 hp Johnson and used that old gal for 20 years until I retired from the water works. I now have my '96 Javelin. 

Fishing IS the ONLY hobby I have. If I'm not on the water, I'm thinking about it, reading about it, watching it on tv, and like now, talking to you guys about it. I spend my "side money" on tackle and gas, and I can be on the lake in 15 minutes when the urge hits me. Life is good.

[tholmes]

Any hobby is as expensive as the participant wants it to be. As long as you're not taking food off of your family's table, spend as much as you want. Better than spending it on hookers and coke.

 

Tom

[drew4779]

I first really got into it in college when money was super tight.  It was cheap compared to my friends who were always on the links.  Some of those same friends and I were talking not long ago about this when I realized their clubs and my combos weren't too far apart cost wise.  They're greens fees are similar to the cost of filling up my boat.  Based on my golfing skills, I still believe I'm ahead just based on how many balls I typically lose in 18.

[Fishing Rhino]

4 hours ago, whitwolf said:

This is a very solid post!

The only thing I can add Is this: Having "stuff" doesn't make the fisherman, wanting "stuff" doesn't mean It will make you a better fisherman, and needing "stuff" is most always a matter of perception. 

It takes years to understand yourself as a person and this applies to your fishing Identity. I used to be all about "stuff" and used maybe 10% of what I thought I really "needed." I made a conscience decision to buy what worked for me, try to buy things on sale(It doesn't always work  )and I came to this Important realization that, speaking only for me, quality will most always trump quantity. As for expense, as RW quite eloquently states there's no rush.

That's a matter of perspective.  For the younger fisherman that might be true.  For those of us who have run most of life's marathon, that's another story.

[ww2farmer]

Expensive is relative, in all hobbies. Get in where you fit in.

[Airman4754]

I think if you spend your money in stuff you will actually use then price shouldn't be much of a factor, but spend wisely. 

Buy the biggest, fastest, baddest boat you can, once. If you can't outgrow it then you don't need to move up constantly. You can recarpet, repower, rewire, have the gel coat redone, etc. as time goes on. It will be a lot cheaper than buying a new boat every five years realizing you need 21' and 200+ hp. The real difference between my eleven year old TR21x and the new one is the new model is one inch wider and has a cool organizer in the bow compartment. That's not worth $30k more. 

Buy equipment once, even if you don't have a lot of money. Be patient, check eBay, check the classifieds on forums, Craigslist, etc. There are a lot of pro fisherman out there that "upgrade" a ton of equipment every year and sell their barely used stuff for 50% or less than the retail price. That's how I built up my rod collection.

For bait just wait for places like Tackle Warehouse to have a mega sale. I just got $800 worth of tackle for $330 during TW's 25 Day sale. 

 

 

 

[Sam]

Try golf if you want a rich man's sport.

[primetime]

It's only a Rich man's sport if you choose to buy only the most expensive gear. I am pretty happy with all my gear and I rarely buy the latests and greatest, but I will buy the "Best" reels from a few years ago that are on clearance using this rational...

If a reel retailed for $300 in 2012, then I would expect that reel to last 10-15 years. So if I buy it now for $100, then it should still last just as long. I still use the same Bass Pro Extreme Fishing Rods I purchased in the 90's and they work just fine.

Other than buying a Fishing Licence, you only essentially need one rod, one reel, some line, a pack of hooks, pack of weights, and a pack of worms...And you could possibly win some tournaments if you end up finding the fish.

Magazines have to make money from advertising as well as subscriptions. High End tackle seems to get the most press as far as advertisements, so I can see how one would make that conclusion when reading a buyers guide. 

Just buy what makes you happy. To each person that will be something different. I would argue that you can buy more high quality lures and equipment for fishing today than ever before. Companies like Strike King, Pradco etc. have stepped up with really nice lures for a very fair price. House brand lures have also become much better in the last few years. I love how much better fishing line has become and the prices are still good for the most part.

[corn-on-the-rob]

4 hours ago, tholmes said:

Any hobby is as expensive as the participant wants it to be. As long as you're not taking food off of your family's table, spend as much as you want. Better than spending it on hookers and coke.

 

Tom

I am more of a Pepsi guy myself... 

 

Back on topic:

I would agree that many fisherman spend a decent amount of money yearly on fishing, but there is a big difference denoting it as an "expensive" sport. As others mentioned, most of what we buy isn't truly necessary and can be expensive. The big difference is here is that those who do spend the money probably don't treat this as a hobby, but more of a passion. When you truly have a passion, you make it work. This isn't something we do because we have money and time on the side. We do it because we live and breath fishing. We do whatever it takes to be in a position to pursue this passion at the expense level we want. If you are being responsible about it, you can't put a price on passion.

 

[tander]

4 hours ago, Sam said:

Try golf if you want a rich man's sport.

I golf and it is expensive. I work at a golf course part time so my golfing green fees, cart, driving range is free. The money I make working there go to my fishing expenses.

[Sam]

9 hours ago, tander said:

I golf and it is expensive. I work at a golf course part time so my golfing green fees, cart, driving range is free. The money I make working there go to my fishing expenses.

And Tander, what about the cost of those cow bells that you ring after every birdie? When you wear them out you need to get more and more and more and more, etc.