Lost all my Tackle where do I start?

[Unclepepsi]

Ok so this week my tackle box fell of a friends boat and all my stuff collected over 25 years gone. I am disabled and doing the long wait for a disability hearing. The question is on very limited money where should I start rebuilding for bass fishing the waters in Maryland. Like I said money is limited but I want decent lures that will work. Where would you guys start on replacing everything if you had to. What would you get first, second...

[loudcherokee]

I would start with your favorite methods of fishing, ie jigs, plastics, reaction baits like spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, etc or crankbaits. So for example if your favorite way to fish was soft plastics, start by buying some weights, worm hooks, etc and check out the dollar bins at walmart. You will often find lots of Yum plastics in there. Someone else posted that they got a ton of zoom plastics for really cheap there too.

 

LC

[S. Sass]

I agree as some call them your confidence baits would be first as you know you will use them. And I agree with loudcherokee a LTB  or MTB subscription would be a great way to get some nice lures for a reasonable price. Also search around the flea market here. I have seen some nice deals here and in the clearance/sale section of many of the bait websites.

 Sebile clearance priced baits 

Cabelas Footloose, Bandit 100, and 200 Series

I also find a lot of lures on clearance at my local Walmart.  

[Unclepepsi]

3 minutes ago, S. Sass said:

I agree as some call them your confidence baits would be first as you know you will use them. And I agree with nothing a LTB  or MTB subscription would be a great way to get some nice lures for a reasonable price. Also search around the flea market here. I have seen some nice deals here and in the clearance/sale section of many of the bait websites.

 Sebile clearance priced baits 

Cabelas Footloose, Bandit 100, and 200 Series

I also find a lot of lures on clearance at my local Walmart.  

Thanks

4 minutes ago, S. Sass said:

I agree as some call them your confidence baits would be first as you know you will use them. And I agree with nothing a LTB  or MTB subscription would be a great way to get some nice lures for a reasonable price. Also search around the flea market here. I have seen some nice deals here and in the clearance/sale section of many of the bait websites.

 Sebile clearance priced baits 

Cabelas Footloose, Bandit 100, and 200 Series

I also find a lot of lures on clearance at my local Walmart.  

Thanks

 

[Further North]

UnclePepsi: If you have homeowners insurance they will likely cover the cost of replacing your tackle.

If you're renting, not sure if renter's insurance will.

Either way, it's worth a call, you're looking at hundreds if not thousands of dollars to replace a tackle box.

I had a tackle box full of fly fishing gear stolen from my boat, home owner's covered it at almost $2,000.

[LunkerFisher]

I agree with starting with your favorites and hitting the clearance bins.

If it were me, I would definitely start off with:

3/8 and 1/2 oz jigs (6 or so of each with an all-purpose head design)

6 lipless cranks (2 of each in my favorite 3 colors)

2 spooks (white and black)

2 frogs (white and black)

4 poppers (1/2 and 1/4 oz)

4 3/8 oz spinnerbaits (2 double willow or tandem and 2 single Colorado)

3/0 worm hooks

5/0 worm hooks

size 2 hooks for dropshot (dealers choice)

1/4 oz dropshot weights

3/16 oz jigheads (ball and shakeyhead)

3/16 and 1/2 oz bullet weights

 

hope this helps, sorry to hear about your loss

[Unclepepsi]

4 hours ago, Further North said:

UnclePepsi: If you have homeowners insurance they will likely cover the cost of replacing your tackle.

If you're renting, not sure if renter's insurance will.

Either way, it's worth a call, you're looking at hundreds if not thousands of dollars to replace a tackle box.

I had a tackle box full of fly fishing gear stolen from my boat, home owner's covered it at almost $2,000.

Unfortunately I live in an apartment and don't have renters insurance, thanks for the advice though.

[WRB]

Usually tackle boxes float for a time period and if open the floating lures are on the surface.

Start by replacing only the stuff you actually use most of the time.

Tom

[Unclepepsi]

22 minutes ago, WRB said:

Usually tackle boxes float for a time period and if open the floating lures are on the surface.

Start by replacing only the stuff you actually use most of the time.

Tom

Yeah it fell off while we were moving at a decent speed down the Potomac by the time we circled it was gone, as my back is screwed up (hence the disability) I was not able to jump in after it. Right now I have one pack of red shad 6 inch worms. lol. I think I might just call it quits till next year, kinda bummed after a trip to bass pro and walmart earlier.

[the reel ess]

I'd buy a tackle box first. 

If it was me, not knowing where you fish or what kind of water (weedy, sandy, rocky) I'd start with T rig worms and medium and deep diving cranks like the Normans L'il N. Mostly because when I transitioned from crappie to bass fishing, those were all I had and managed to catch fish.

[Unclepepsi]

7 minutes ago, the reel ess said:

I'd buy a tackle box first. 

If it was me, not knowing where you fish or what kind of water (weedy, sandy, rocky) I'd start with T rig worms and medium and deep diving cranks like the Normans L'il N. Mostly because when I transitioned from crappie to bass fishing, those were all I had and managed to catch fish.

I fish mostly Maryland, lakes,ponds, rivers and the wonderful Chesapeak Bay

[wiel0059]

Sorry to hear that man! I'd start with baits that are multi-purpose and 'year' round sort of baits. If I had to start someplace the baits I'd go to would be:

-Zoom Trick Worm (or similar shape) in Green Pumpkin or similar - Can fish it t-rigged, on a shakey head, wacky rigged or on a Drop Shot for Smallmouth or Largemouth, etc.

-Zoom Fluke in White - Smallmouth and Largemouth go-to for me, year-round.

-Squarebill (cheaper) - A KVD 1.5 in a shad and bluegill will cover a lot of bases

-Medium Diver (cheaper) - A Strike King 3XD has caught a ton of largemouth and smallmouth for me.

With those 4 baits, you don't have a ton of money invested and you could probably catch fish most days.

[Unclepepsi]

4 minutes ago, wiel0059 said:

Sorry to hear that man! I'd start with baits that are multi-purpose and 'year' round sort of baits. If I had to start someplace the baits I'd go to would be:

-Zoom Trick Worm (or similar shape) in Green Pumpkin or similar - Can fish it t-rigged, on a shakey head, wacky rigged or on a Drop Shot for Smallmouth or Largemouth, etc.

-Zoom Fluke in White - Smallmouth and Largemouth go-to for me, year-round.

-Squarebill (cheaper) - A KVD 1.5 in a shad and bluegill will cover a lot of bases

-Medium Diver (cheaper) - A Strike King 3XD has caught a ton of largemouth and smallmouth for me.

With those 4 baits, you don't have a ton of money invested and you could probably catch fish most days.

Thanks man good advice

 

[Deleted account]

13 hours ago, Unclepepsi said:

Ok so this week my tackle box fell of a friends boat and all my stuff collected over 25 years gone. I am disabled and doing the long wait for a disability hearing. The question is on very limited money where should I start rebuilding for bass fishing the waters in Maryland. Like I said money is limited but I want decent lures that will work. Where would you guys start on replacing everything if you had to. What would you get first, second...

That sucks. A while back, one day I fished for bass all day, and fished on a bluefish head boat that night. When I got back to my Wrangler about 1 AM, I found someone had broken into it and attempted to steal it. They broke the steering column, and made offf with my tackle boxes and 3 rods (and some other crap I didn't care about). Had pretty much every fresh water lure I owned there. Didn't realize how much, until I figured out what it would cost to replace, and it was like $1500 in 1980s money. Let me know if you need to borrow some lures, life is too short not to fish every chance you get.

[Unclepepsi]

2 minutes ago, reason said:

That sucks. A while back, one day I fished for bass all day, and fished on a bluefish head boat that night. When I got back to my Wrangler about 1 AM, I found someone had broken into it and attempted to steal it. They broke the steering column, and made offf with my tackle boxes and 3 rods (and some other crap I didn't care about). Had pretty much every fresh water lure I owned there. Didn't realize how much, until I figured out what it would cost to replace, and it was like $1500 in 1980s money. Let me know if you need to borrow some lures, life is too short not to fish every chance you get.

Thanks for the offer man, I should be fine though, I is crazy to think about how much money was in that tackle box

[Cgolf]

I would start with the basics, some Grubs 3-5" (Kalins or Zoom are cheap, Kalins are the best imo) and some tubes which are also cheap. Toss in some jigheads and you could probably be back bass fishing for under 20 bucks. If fishing a lot of weeds I really like the slider heads which BPS may carry for both the tubes and grubs. I have also had good luck with the 4" BPS squirmin grub. My grub and tube box is the only box that I will never leave home without, because they still probably catch the most bass for me. Yum crawbugs have been dynamite for me too on river systems. 

Hope you get back to fishing this year, I couldn't imagine a year without it now, it is my mental break from this crazy thing we call life.

[J Francho]

I'd start with what I wanted to throw today, if I was going out soon.  It's that simple.  Let your needs dictate what you buy.  Don't just grab whatever shiny, new doodad because the salesperson (or us :P) told you to get it. 

[Josh Smith]

What is your preferred type of lure?

Josh

[Raul]

Out of the gazzillion dollars I have invested in tackle I´m pretty sure that with around $500 ( or maybe even less ) I would have all the lures I really fish with 95% of the time in 95% of the places if I lost all my stuff like you did. Sad considering all the money I´ve spent throughout the years but ....... purchasing s*t I´m not going to use is as fun as fishing.

[Unclepepsi]

I like assorted soft plastics and jigs the most along with the bomber type lures

3 hours ago, Raul said:

Out of the gazzillion dollars I have invested in tackle I´m pretty sure that with around $500 ( or maybe even less ) I would have all the lures I really fish with 95% of the time in 95% of the places if I lost all my stuff like you did. Sad considering all the money I´ve spent throughout the years but ....... purchasing s*t I´m not going to use is as fun as fishing.

I agree collecting was just as much fun

4 hours ago, J Francho said:

I'd start with what I wanted to throw today, if I was going out soon.  It's that simple.  Let your needs dictate what you buy.  Don't just grab whatever shiny, new doodad because the salesperson (or us :P) told you to get it. 

good advice

[Oklahoma Mike]

Honestly, you don't need much to get you back in the saddle. I remember when I was a kid I'd take out and fish the ponds and streams all day, and aside from the one lure I had tied on (usually an inline spinner) I might carry an extra 1 or 2 lures along just in case I got snapped off. I bet there were summers as a young teen where I fished the whole season on less than 5 lures. 

You don't need to invest a pile of money on tackle to enjoy this sport. To hear you say that you may just give up til next year sounds silly. Keep things simple. Just grab 1 or 2 lures that you have confidence in and enjoy the act of fishing. 

[snake95]

19 hours ago, Unclepepsi said:

think I might just call it quits till next year, kinda bummed after a trip to bass pro and walmart earlier.

Definitely don't call it quits!!!  

Just to reinforce what OK Mike said so well, keep it simple, keep it cheap.  In fact, you can even look at working with some basics as part of the challenge and fun of fishing.

I started fishing hard only about a year ago, after a decades-long lull.  I can't think of a better way to reset your mind from negative to positive as to spend even a short time out fishing.  I'm sure there are physical benefits to getting out too.  For me, everything about fishing has been positive: getting outdoors, spending time with others (or alone!), plus enjoying the learning process, including getting on this board.

The other day I was out with my little girl: her Barbie combo, a hook, and gulp bait was less than 10% of the cost of my baitcasting setup and lure (maybe 2% if you included my tackle box in the equation).  She caught a nice crappie and a keeper bass (if we kept fish).  Me: zilch.  (Barbie combo is optional).

Spend what you can, when you can.  For about $10 you can walk out with a pack of 20 trickworms, 3/0 worm or WG hooks and maybe some weights. When you save up or get another $10, grab a pack of paddletails and jigheads, and maybe $2 more for a pack of stickbaits.    Flip near cover, or if you are impatient like me, swim them with weights on, or take them off to fish near surface as the water warms in MD.  I didn't use plastics until I learned from this board, but they are versatile, and the cheap ones work too.  If you get snagged and have to break off, you don't feel so disappointed.

I'm pretty frugal, and I've tried several approaches to find affordable tackle, from auction sites to checking out every store I could.  I would say the most successful cost-wise has been to check out the clearance section and occasional specials at big-box stores, and to track the fliers from the big-box sporting stores.  For example, there are weekly ads for DSG and others that show what the loss-leader tackle are for that week to entice fishermen and women into the store.  That said, I'm 100% all for supporting your local tackle guys, and if you have any you can go to, stop in there and ask for recommendations to suit your budget and the conditions.  Good luck and stick with it!

 

 

[S. Sass]

I have some stuff I was considering throwing up on the board to sell dirt cheap or to give to a new young person trying to get started. I have been fortunate enough that some others here gave me more than I actually purchased from them  Also as others have said baits I will never use seem to accumulate. I would be willing to send you a package that may help motivate you to get back on the saddle if you are interested?

 

[loudcherokee]

58 minutes ago, S. Sass said:

I have some stuff I was considering throwing up on the board to sell dirt cheap or to give to a new young person trying to get started. I have been fortunate enough that some others here gave me more than I actually purchased from them  Also as others have said baits I will never use seem to accumulate. I would be willing to send you a package that may help motivate you to get back on the saddle if you are interested?

 

Awesome idea. I could probably pitch in a few bags of plastics as well.

LC

[S. Sass]

Just to clarify I said send you a package but rereading that I didn't mean like a single package of worms or something. I meant like a jump start of many different types of lures/baits. Similar to what I did here.