Do we all carry too much tackle for too many techniques

[Oregon Native]

I support the industry....could I put on a grub or tube and catch fish in salt and fresh water fish....yes.  But so what....love trying new stuff....

Different baits....different fish

Seems to work...

[flatcreek]

I'd rather carry it and not need it than need it and not have it.If I don't catch'em it's my own fault for sure.

[Catt]

Do we all carry too much tackle for too many techniques?

 

I'm absolutely a plastics freak  ?

 

Texas Rig, Wacky Rig, Shaky Head Weightless T-rig, Carolina Rig, Jig-N-Craw, Mojo Rig, Rage Rig, or Drop Shot.

 

I'm gonna be casting, flipping, pitching, punching, dragging, shaking, dead sticking, or skipping.

 

I don't care if its grass, brush, timber, rocks, docks, pads, lay downs, shore line or off shore. I don't care if its pre-spawn, spawn, post spawn, summer, dog days, fall, winter, morning, noon, or night.

 

When I find a worm, craw, lizard, creature, stick bait that the bass love I buy em by the hundreds.

[tcal4404]

I definitely carry too much tackle. 

 

Topwater is something that on most trips I always will toss early on, because if they are hitting topwater...you do not want to miss out on that! So much fun! Lowlight conditions are when they are more likely to work, but there are days when the fish are looking up and will crush topwater all day long, before the lure hits the water sometimes. Even if it seems fruitless many times, totally worth it for when it's what they want

[J Francho]

I take three tall 3700 boxes, a smaller terminal box, spinnerbait wallet and small FTO speedbag of plastics.  Typical trip is five to six rods and reels.  Sometimes only one or two.  What goes in those boxes depends on when and where I'm fishing, and for what.

[MassYak85]

The way I see it is this. We buy tackle to try and cover all our bases, to be ready for whatever conditions we might encounter. Could we take a single worm and hook to the lake and catch fish most days, sure. But rarely would that be "the best" way to catch fish that day. The thing is a lot of times we might go to the lake and use 1, 2, 5 lures out of hundreds. It doesn't mean the rest were useless and we shouldn't have brought them, it's just that once we narrowed down what would work. Each lure is a tool and as long as each "tool" serves a legitimate purpose and fits a condition that you might possibly be faced with, I don't think it's wasted space. 

[Cgolf]

6 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

The way I see it is this. We buy tackle to try and cover all our bases, to be ready for whatever conditions we might encounter. Could we take a single worm and hook to the lake and catch fish most days, sure. But rarely would that be "the best" way to catch fish that day. The thing is a lot of times we might go to the lake and use 1, 2, 5 lures out of hundreds. It doesn't mean the rest were useless and we shouldn't have brought them, it's just that once we narrowed down what would work. Each lure is a tool and as long as each "tool" serves a legitimate purpose and fits a condition that you might possibly be faced with, I don't think it's wasted space. 

I agree with this and justify my tackle choices this way. I will say though that sometimes I get blocked. Say for post frontal bass, I have 10 different lures/techniques I could catch them on and I spend way too much time figuring out which option to use.

 

Maybe I just need to figure out where they are holding, up in the water column or bottom, pick the lure/technique based on this, so that does mean I need to try and carry multiple lures/techniques;)

[NYWayfarer]

Yes.

 

I downsized what I carry and I still carry to much.

[crypt]

when I'm fishing out of the airboat I carry 2-3 rods and a small drybox. gotta save the room.load up  for whatever the conditions are.Now when I take the bass boat,yeah I take everything I can put in it. bank fishing 1-2 rods, small bag not much else.

[OCdockskipper]

In addition to wanting to make sure I have on hand what the fish want, I think I carry a bunch of tackle to vary things up and avoid monotony.  For example, when I am catching fish mainly on a T-rig plastic worm, I find myself wishing that the fish were more active and would chase down a moving bait.  When I am getting bit on a jerkbait, I eventually get tired of continually working the bait and wish the fish would eat something that doesn't require such an active presentation.  When the Ned rig is loading the boat, I often wish they would hit something where I could feel the strike.  Then when I get some topwater action, I find myself looking forward to the fishing some bait with a better strike/landing ratio.

 

In other words, all that tackle keeps me happy 

[Ratherbfishing]

I say no but my pack mule begs to differ.

[scaleface]

If I'm not getting bit I have a tendency to change lures instead of presentation . Less is sometimes more .

[RPreeb]

15 hours ago, padon said:

Yeah I probably bring more than I need but I always have that what if in the back of my mind.also the last couple seasons I've forced myself to try some different lures and techniques just to learn about them.plus I like tackle.lol

This^^ +1

 

For my photography, I sometimes just want to work on a single lens to practice technique, but I've found that if I head out with only that combo, I'm doomed to stumble across the perfect setup for a lens that's sitting at home.  Therefore, I take my camera pack with all of my lenses, even if I only intend to use one of them.

 

The same thing is true of my fishing tackle.  Every time I've left a particular type of bait at home, that seems to be what I ultimately want to use, so I mostly take it all.  The good thing is that since I'm just getting a start on bass fishing, I don't have all that much stuff yet.

[Deleted account]

I'm seeing a trend where some folks think there is this "magic" lure which is the only lure that will catch fish on a particular day, and not having it would be a catastrophe. The more likely scenario is that once you find fish, there will be several lures that will work. When I go out fishing and don't do well, my thinking is I didn't find them, I didn't figure out what to do, or I zigged, when I should have zagged. I can count in one hand the times I have in all honesty thought that I would have caught them if I had a particular lure. Of course I've been doing this for almost 1/2 a century, so there is that, now I feel old...

[Cgolf]

2 minutes ago, reason said:

I'm seeing a trend where some folks think there is this "magic" lure which is the only lure that will catch fish on a particular day, and not having it would be a catastrophe. The more likely scenario is that once you find fish, there will be several lures that will work. When I go out fishing and don't do well, my thinking is I didn't find them, I didn't figure out what to do, or I zigged, when I should have zagged. I can count in one hand the times I have in all honesty thought that I would have caught them if I had a particular lure. Of course I've been doing this for almost 1/2 a century, so there is that, now I feel old...

That is what is cool about checking the baits that the Elites or FLW guys use. They all thought they had the magic bait and it can be a completely different bait or color from the other top finishers.

[J Francho]

3 minutes ago, reason said:

I'm seeing a trend where some folks think there is this "magic" lure which is the only lure that will catch fish on a particular day, and not having it would be a catastrophe. The more likely scenario is that once you find fish, there will be several lures that will work. When I go out fishing and don't do well, my thinking is I didn't find them, I didn't figure out what to do, or I zigged, when I should have zagged. I can count in one hand the times I have in all honesty thought that I would have caught them if I had a particular lure. Of course I've been doing this for almost 1/2 a century, so there is that, now I feel old...

Truth! And that magic bullet trend has been around forever.  Often times, it's reinforced by anglers trying something new that takes them to a new place - deep cranks, drop shot, or c-rig that takes them off the bank.  A frog or weedless spoon that takes them to the slop.  A skipping bait that takes them deep under docks or over hanging trees. Success with the new bait means it must have been that special bait, but really it was location.

[WRB]

How many Elites are fishing using hair jigs with pork rind trailers....? The answer is we don't know because none of those anglers have sponsors for that old forgotten lure that catches most of my big bass. It's usually a type of lure in lieu of a specific brand and I am have in my boat nearly every type known. Just need to remember where it is when I think of trying it, the decision is usually spontaneous.

Tom

[J Francho]

9 minutes ago, WRB said:

Just need to remember where it is when I think of trying it, the decision is usually spontaneous.

 

For me, that's the hard part!

[MassYak85]

I wouldn't say there's ever a magic bullet, just that once you find fish (location is definitely going to trump lure choice) subtle differences can increase your success, it could be color change, size change, etc. I'd rather be prepared to make the change is all I'm saying. I can't imagine anyone would disagree that at certain times a pink jerkbait and the same ghost minnow jerkbait would yield different results, obviously that's a little extreme but you get my point. 

[padon]

41 minutes ago, reason said:

I'm seeing a trend where some folks think there is this "magic" lure which is the only lure that will catch fish on a particular day, and not having it would be a catastrophe. The more likely scenario is that once you find fish, there will be several lures that will work. When I go out fishing and don't do well, my thinking is I didn't find them, I didn't figure out what to do, or I zigged, when I should have zagged. I can count in one hand the times I have in all honesty thought that I would have caught them if I had a particular lure. Of course I've been doing this for almost 1/2 a century, so there is that, now I feel old...

I think that is very true.location is everything. then there is type of presentation, meaning something moving fast , slow etc.i want to have a couple types of baits to cover most situations im likely to face.but if im fishing a deep hump I may catch them on jigs trigged worms trigged creatures Carolina rigsetc. they all would probably work the key is fishing the lure where the fish are at the speed they want much more than color profile etc.and like tom said I have favorite baits for certain situation that work for me that other guys probably wouldn't even own. but we all catch about the same numbers at the end of the day.

[Turkey sandwich]

Fishing out of a kayak and 14' aluminum has taught me to prioritize baits for the conditions.  There's rarely a reason I should have a box of hair jigs sitting in my crate in the middle of August, and I'm probably not going to be doing a whole lot of frogging here in PA in January.     

Still, I have gear. Lots and lots of gear. 

[Deleted account]

19 minutes ago, MassYak85 said:

I can't imagine anyone would disagree that at certain times a pink jerkbait and the same ghost minnow jerkbait would yield different results, 

Agreed, which is why I carry  Sharpies.

[Columbia Craw]

I organize my baits by type and or technique.  If I fish my home lake, I know I won't be fishing deeper than 10 feet so I can eliminate a bunch of baits and several rod/reel combos.  I try and apply this to any body of water.  I error on the side of caution if I think there is a chance I might need some lures and or a combo.  

[Can't Catch Bass]

You should be ashamed of yourself for asking such a question!

[Cgolf]

15 hours ago, Oregon Native said:

I support the industry....could I put on a grub or tube and catch fish in salt and fresh water fish....yes.  But so what....love trying new stuff....

Different baits....different fish

Seems to work...

 

I support the industry as well, I will just not carry it all in my boat at once. The rest will be available for the next trip. That said a tube and Kalins grub are my 2 best lures of all time, but I too like to learn new to me techniques. I have yet to fish a soft plastic behind a split shot, one of these years I will give it a toss. 

 

51 minutes ago, Can't Catch Bass said:

You should be ashamed of yourself for asking such a question!

 

Not at all, because if I can limit my choices and streamline my thought process that will mean more fish in the boat for me.