When is Enough, Enough?

[Brett's_daddy]

Okay, I have gotten into bass fishing about 4 years ago and really enjoy it! I've had my successes as well as my fair share of failures but it's always been fun regardless. I have scraped every loose nickle and dime I could find whenever I had the opportunity and purchased a fair amount of tackle over the past 4 years...everything from top water (my favorite) to plastics, to jigs to spinnerbaits to cranks to jerks. My wife has been after me lately for the amount of tackle I have and asked me when is enough enough? I have always dismissed it as she does the same thing with shoes, watches and purses so I have always viewed her complaints as just a tad hypocritical but the other day I was looking over my tackle and said to myself...darn, there's a ton of lures here and then a little tickle in the back of my mind was saying maybe the wife is right...when is enough enough? I mean if I can't catch bass with the amount of tackle I have there's got to be something wrong.... . I honestly have about maybe a half dozen more lures on my mental wish list but the Bait Monkey seems to be always rattling his cage to be let out but I know if I do the lil' bugger will bite me and I'll end up with another new lure. I must admit that I give in to some "revenge" buying too, when the wife is being a real witch or she has just treated herself to a new purse or some new shoes etc. I have been guilty of using that as an excuse to procure some new tackle  . Seriously though, have any of you hit that point where you take an inventory of all your tackle and say...DARN, I have too much tackle but...you say it quietly so that the wife doesn't hear you?

[dman]

I'm at the point where i know what works for me in my waters.  Its just maintaining/replacements now.  Not to say I wont try new baits but i'll know if they fit into what I do.  i used to just get everything - the monkey had me tight in his grips.  And yea, I now say it all the time - I have too much tackle  

[Rudy523]

Nope

[12poundbass]

Well gentleman it sounds like the OP's wife's Jeti mindtricks are taking hold and he's given up on himself. Unfortunately we must let go. Her forces are too strong and there's nothing more we can do. Let us remember him for the good times. 

   Let us now focus  on the introduction thread and welcome the new batch coming in.

 

 

?

[Brett's_daddy]

1 minute ago, 12poundbass said:

Well gentleman it sounds like the OP's wife's Jeti mindtricks are taking hold and he's given up on himself. Unfortunately we must let go. Her forces are too strong and there's nothing more we can do. Let us remember him for the good times. 

   Let us now focus  on the introduction thread and welcome the new batch coming in.

 

 

?

Don't give up on me yet Obi-wan......I said that I think about it sometimes but there's always a video on YouTube of a new lure and some guy catching a 10lb. bass on it that snaps me out of it and releases the Bait Monkey once again!!!

[WIGuide]

There are days I wonder the same thing. Those are usually the days I'm chucking the same bait all day and it's working, but then there are the days you think to try something new and you have a great day. I guess enough is enough when you think it's enough and can somehow keep that darn bait monkey off your back. 

[Choporoz]

6 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

Well gentleman it sounds like the OP's wife's  mindtricks are taking hold and he's given up on himself. Unfortunately he must let her go.

 

 

?

FIFY

[CTBassin860]

I don't have an absurd amount of tackle.I too have what works in every color I need.I just gave a kid at work a ton of stuff I'll never use or didn't like.Even sold him one of my rods.Im in downsize mode.I can only carry so much and can only throw one at a time.

[12poundbass]

1 minute ago, Choporoz said:

FIFY

Lol. You scared me! With the stupid auto correct mistakes these days I had to double check to make sure that's not how it came out.

[Pro Logcatcher]

I don't have enough money to get everything I need!

[FreddoB]

OK - I'll add that I'm a self-proclaimed "gear head"! There - I said it. Enough is enough when stuff isn't being used and we're still holding onto it for "some" reason. Learning to fish for bass now (as a newb to targeting them specifically), I've started the collecting new baits as I'm learning new techniques. I've see a post telling a reader to but every color worm you can get and other posts stating one or two colors are "enough" (well maybe three). I also believe "less is more" but I'm no minimalist by any stretch. So "enough is enough" is when we've learned what works best in the situations we come upon. This spring, on my 5' UL, I was using an Arkie Sexee Tail Shad, a little 2" plastic on a jig head. I could do nothing wrong and I was almost catching fish accidentally. I suppose I could have quit buying other baits and learning new techniques right there. That setup caught me LM, crappie, bluegill, pumpkin seed, and even pickerel and all inside of a few hours. But we're fisherman! I'm a gear junkie! But then about a week ago I was on a familiar lake and my chatterbait wasn't getting bit so I switched to a wacky rigged worm and started catching bass like it was a different day on the water. So after all this typing I'll suggest that "enough is enough" is quite a personal thing (and spouse input does NOT count). But guys and gals.... PLEASE by all means, spend within your budget... Catchin' fish can be challenging enough!!

[onetime]

It happens, we buy stuff because "it's the next big thing" most of us are guilty of it. I have purged my tackle a few times, about due again. Try to figure out what baits/colors work best for you, and go with that. Having too many choices of baits/colors may actually hurt you more than help you. I'm not one to talk, as me and the Bait Monkey are best buds, do as I say, not as I do 

[JustJames]

I thought of that too when I have close to 100 bags of different type of plastic, you know what I did? buy even more bags.

My wife just caught me bought another casting rod, so I told her I NEED this for my kayak setup so I don't loose other.

[Jar11591]

For me, collecting tackle, rods, reels and other fishing equipment is all part of the sport that I'm so passionate about and obsessed with. So I guess enough is never enough. 

[BuzzHudson19c]

No such thing as too much tackle or too many guns.

[Columbia Craw]

Never is an absolute. Stay away from absolutes.  

[Team9nine]

If you're entertaining the question, then "enough" is probably within sight 

[david in va]

As long as you have the spare cash, no problem. If you are buying and don't have the spare change it is too much.

 Like I have said before , if  you see something you want and have the extra $$ to get it, you may as well have a pocket full of rocks

David

[fishwizzard]

2 hours ago, BuzzHudson19c said:

No such thing as too much tackle or too many guns.

 

Lately I have been selling the guns to buy tackle.  

 

I hit a similar point a month or so ago.  I went through all my gear and anything that I had never fished or caught on got moved to a box.  Every quarter I am gonna do the same thing, cull out what I have not used or caught on and put it in the box.  

 

I have grand plans to donate the entire box next December, but we shall see.  But even just having my tackle area less cluttered has been great and really helps me focus on fishing what I already have.  I still buy new stuff, but it only a little here or there.  I have managed to resist the last two sale holidays, so it must be working at least a little.  

[contium]

I mainly just maintain now. My boat is my tackle box and it is at capacity. Anything new means something goes to make room. 

[CroakHunter]

I have hit the point of "enough is enough" for me. I know what I like to throw and what works in the water I fish. I dont get out as much as I would like with working 60hrs a week and with a baby on the way. I de-cluttered earlier in the year and stocked my stepdaughter and wife's tacklebox and they were tickled pink...til a box came in the mail from tackle warehouse. Lol. I'm done buying until I run low on something. 

[IndianaFinesse]

Sounds like you probably shouldn't be reading this thread https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/147176-latest-tackle-purchase-thread-bait-monkey-victim-support-group/?page=215#comment-2171157  or worse yet, this thread https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-forums/topic/175280-the-latest-sale-thread/?page=53  

[beardown34]

While you are far from the first husband to try to figure out their wives on an internet forum, you would be the first to succeed in doing so   

 

I am in my 3rd year of bass fishing, limited to residential ponds for very short periods of time (90 minutes at most). Because I don't have anyone around me to share lures and tips with me, the only path to learning has been by buying for myself. The combination of plastics coming in 8-10+ packs, as well as the need to get to $50+ on most sites to get to free shipping, has led to an accumulation of tackle well beyond my ability to consume them in the foreseeable future. 

 

I am coming to accept that I don't need to catch every fish, every day. I am not and never will be a tournament angler -- ie there is zero financial impetus for me to be able to cover every single fishing scenario on any given day. That is allowing me to highly de-prioritize trying to collect every single lure for every single presentation. However, I don't think I could have reasonably come around to this conclusion without having purchased a fair amount of tackle to begin with (again, unless I happened to have someone near me who could share lures with me and teach me, without spending my own dime).

 

Let's be honest -- most days a hook + stick bait will get you bit. At the same time, I acknowledge that I get much more satisfaction out of a texas rig or jig bite, as compared to a ned rig bite, and I definitely don't get any gratification at all out of a live bait bite (except for catching bluegills with worms I dug up with my kids). As such I do find it gratifying to have some variation in my tackle box. 

 

I have no idea what winter is like in Vermont, but here in the Midwest mother nature allows for a built in 3-4 months of tackle reflection. I find that a good time to re-assess what if anything I need, or what new things I want to try in the upcoming season. Also as the years go by, I have a better understanding of when BPS and TW will have their sales, and what they will have on sale -- and this allows me to not be so trigger happy because now I know if I don't need it this year, it will be probably just be on sale again next year.

 

I also made a (in my mind, wise) decision to invest in a couple hundred bucks worth of TW gift cards over winter (December I believe), when they were 10% off. 

 

As for being motivated in any way by what your wife buys in terms of making your own purchases ... 

[A-Jay]

Two possible solutions to the perception of 'too much tackle'.

1. Buy a bigger boat.

2. Sell some tackle and use the money . . . . . to buy more tackle.

There ya go.

A-Jay

 

[Raul]

5 minutes ago, A-Jay said:

Two possible solutions to the perception of 'too much tackle'.

1. Buy a bigger boat.

2. Sell some tackle and use the money . . . . . to buy more tackle.

There ya go.

A-Jay

 

 

 

I don't purchase tackle to fish, I've fished with pretty much the same handful of lures that work for me almost all the time everywhere I've been to for the past 3 decades, yes, beolieve it or not, there's tackle that works practically everywhere, it ain't the arrow; I purchase tackle because I like it, hunting for lures is fun ! And hobbies are supposed to be fun, holes into which you sink your money, some people like bikes, others like to excercise and so on, one of my hobbies is purchasing tackle.